OC HIGH / Student News and Views : Separate Ideas, Equal Access? : Student Alliance Goal Is to Foster Tolerance

Editor’s note: When the Fountain Valley High School Student Alliance, a gay support group, began meeting as a student organization in October, it triggered a public furor and demands that the group be banned from meeting at the school.

At the center of the controversy is an equal access policy, which makes it illegal to ban one group from meeting on campus during non-instructional time if another has been allowed to do so.

Student opposition to the alliance is being led by the Future Good Boys of America, which has been given the same status as the alliance under the equal access policy.

The Huntington Beach Unified School District is scheduled to vote Tuesday on whether to continue the equal access policy. If eliminated, no student groups would be allowed to meet on campus for non-school related reasons.

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Several friends and I got together a few months ago to form the Fountain Valley Student Alliance, a support group for homosexual students.

We were officially allowed to meet on campus and have done so ever since. About 40 students, consisting of both homosexual and heterosexual students, meet weekly to support each other and discuss issues that are important to them.

The group was formed to provide support for homosexual students, to educate others and to encourage tolerance and acceptance. The group is not about promoting homosexuality, it isn’t even about sex; the group is about providing support in an atmosphere where support is hard to find.

The group is important in showing homosexual students that they are not alone. The alliance hopes to give students a place to go where they won’t be judged.

Obviously, growing up gay is very difficult. Our group helps those students deal with the conflicts of being gay in a predominantly heterosexual world.

It is true that we, as students, are not 100% capable of solving every problem; we are not psychologists, nor do we claim to be. We know, however, that one of the most important things for high school students is to feel support and acceptance from their peers. This group also provides a place for other students to learn about differences in their fellow students. We want to promote tolerance.

It is disappointing to see people opposed to a group that seeks to help others. This opposition reveals the ignorance, misunderstanding and hatred in our community. Hopefully, the alliance will help eliminate this.

I hope that those opposed to us will realize that we are not a threat, and maybe one day we will help them too.

The alliance will continue to meet and do what we set out to do--help students and build tolerance. This is a chance for all of us to reach out to one another and grow in our understanding and acceptance of individual differences, whether they be about sexuality, beliefs, race, color or anything else. And that, after all, is what this group is trying to accomplish.