Gay-Support Group at O.C. School Debated

In a fierce debate over values and homosexual rights, more than 300 people filled a school board meeting room Tuesday to settle the issue of whether a student gay-support group should be allowed to continue meeting at Fountain Valley High School.

Parents and students, critics and supporters filed before the Huntington Beach Union High School board, each delivering two minutes of arguments that ranged from Scripture quotes to testimonials about the value of teen support groups.

“It’s a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t situation,” board member Jerry Sullivan said earlier Tuesday.

Those attending the meeting, which continued into the night, included a traditional-values coalition that has called gay-support groups part of a national effort “to overhaul straight America,” and gay-rights advocates who viewed the vote as a leap forward in fostering understanding of homosexuality.

Under the 1984 Equal Access Act, whenever a student group is allowed to meet on campus, other groups must be afforded the same privilege. All but four of Orange County’s 27 school districts have adopted equal-access policies allowing student groups to meet on campus before or after school or at lunch.

Tuesday’s crowd divided like a wedding party, with critics on the right and supporters on the left. A contingent of gay students from the EAGLES Center, a Los Angeles program for gay students, filled the front rows.

A 17-year-old girl stood alone before the board and described herself as a senior who intended to graduate from the EAGLES program.

“I don’t know how anybody can say we’re doing anything wrong,” said Christina Grant. “I am doing very good at EAGLES. I am going to UCLA. . . . My father is a Republican and a Christian and he still loves me,” she said, to the applause and cheers of supporters.

Parent Natalie Ballard said, “I have a gay child and I just came here to say I understand how scary it is to be in school and have no one to support you. I think everyone wants that support.”

Many critics of the equal-access policy laced their comments with religious references.

Ina Brinkmann, wearing an “I Love Jesus” button, presented the trustees with 120 signatures of people opposed to the policy.

“Love is big, but homosexuality is wrong,” she said, pledging to gather hundreds more signatures from her neighborhood.

Trustee Dirk Voss earlier Tuesday said he opposes “groups that are sexually oriented that are on our campuses. I don’t feel that it’s appropriate. It clearly violates our state Education Code to the standards regarding sexual education. It’s a slap in the face. . . . It clearly undermines the rights of parents to be in control of their kids.”

Public debate has raged since the gay-support group known as the Fountain Valley High School Student Alliance began meeting on campus in October.

In past weeks, school district officials and trustees have been deluged with letters and telephone calls from people on both sides.

Gay activists and gay alumni of Fountain Valley High turned out at a December board meeting and pledged their support for both the gay students and the equal-access policy. The meeting was attended by more than 200 people.

Parents and students vehemently opposed to the gay-support group, meanwhile, have held demonstrations and charged that allowing the group to meet promotes an immoral lifestyle.

Senior Robert Dodge, 17, one of the students who started a group called Future Good Boys of America in opposition to the gay-support group, said that equal access should apply only to “positive groups.” The law is so vague that any club could be started, Dodge said, including hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan.

“I think in theory the equal-access law is good, but it doesn’t have any limits.”

Dodge told the board, “Let our schools be a place of learning the basics and not some social engineer gobbledygook.”

A founding member of the Student Alliance, 17-year-old Ron Katz, listened to criticism of his group and then stood to respond.

“The group is not social engineering,” he said. “Sex does not take place in our meetings. Sex is not discussed.”

Student Angela Mrvos, 17, another Fountain Valley High senior, said she is not a member of the alliance but has friends who are.

“I think students should have the right to support people who have a different lifestyle. . . . Gay people aren’t going away. Lesbians aren’t going away, and the Fountain Valley Student Alliance is not going away.”

Trustees agreed that if the equal-access policy, in effect since 1990, was eliminated, it would affect an estimated 60 other groups at the district’s six high schools and one continuation school.

“The law is very black and white,” said Trustee Bonnie Castrey, who supported keeping the policy in place. “It’s not something the board can pick and choose. We either have a limited open forum or we don’t.”

Trustee Michael H. Simons also favored upholding the policy.

“It’s not our choice to make value decisions on what kids talk about as long as it’s not harmful. All we do is provide space and non-custodial supervision.”

Castrey said that if the policy was overturned, students affected would include Red Cross and Bible study groups, ecology and cultural clubs, peer assistance groups and poetry writing and reading groups.

“My personal philosophy is if you go to a closed forum, you would be depriving students of an activity they’ve already had on our campuses--and of the opportunity to have other activities in the community,” Castrey said.

The Student Alliance, with about 45 gay and heterosexual members, gather to offer support for gay members and a better understanding of gay and lesbian lifestyles to those who are heterosexual. The student group also wants to bring more awareness, tolerance and acceptance of gays and lesbians.