School Still Debating Gay Rights : Mores: Support group’s backers and organizers take comfort in board trustees’ backing, but opposing students and others say battle isn’t over. Next, a beer club?

While opponents of a gay support group at Fountain Valley High School vowed Wednesday to carry on their battle, supporters and members of the organization rejoiced in victory following a school board decision that allows the group to continue meeting on campus.

“I think (the Board of Trustees) recognized that we have the right to exist and they recognized the value of all their students and their diversity,” said senior Ron Katz, who is gay and a founding member of the Fountain Valley High School Student Alliance, which was formed in October as a support group for gay teen-agers. “We will continue to meet and do what we intended to do: to support, educate and encourage tolerance and acceptance.”

Huntington Beach Union High School District trustees voted 4-1 Tuesday night to leave intact a 1990 policy that allows equal access for all groups not related to the curriculum to meet in school facilities. Trustees decided to retain the policy as is rather than force the disbanding of an estimated 60 groups that meet on the district’s seven high school campuses. Trustee Dirk Voss cast the dissenting vote.

More than 300 people packed the board room and a nearby classroom set up with a public address system to accommodate the crowd. Those in opposition to the Student Alliance criticized officials for not holding the meeting in a larger facility. They also were upset that people from outside the community took up seats in the board room, while residents who arrived after the room filled to capacity were turned away.

Nearly 70 people addressed trustees during about 2 1/2 hours of testimony.

Students who have banded together in opposition of the Student Alliance expressed disappointment at the board’s decision. To show what they said is the absurdity of the district’s equal access policy, the students said they are gearing up to start new groups, such as a beer club.

“We’re trying to make the point that if you let in one (group) you have to let them all in, despite how immoral or damaging,” said senior Robert Dodge, who has been a vocal opponent of the Student Alliance, which has about 45 gay and straight members.

The beer club, for example, would be open to any student who wants to talk about beer, students said.

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But the board’s decision drew applause from teachers, gay rights advocates and former students who are gay--all of whom who have been closely following the issue since opposition started to mount last November.

“I’m really happy that it passed. I really had my doubts if they would keep it open,” said Kelly Bach, 27, a 1984 Fountain Valley High graduate who is gay.

“I’m happy that they did it not only for the Student Alliance, but for the other groups,” Bach said. “We’re finally taking steps in the right direction. It’s really important for people to learn to have tolerance for other people, whether the differences between people might be sexual orientation, religion or cultural differences.

“We also need to learn to respect people’s differences whether or not we might personally agree or disagree.”

Barry Barnhill, a member of the Orange County Federation, a coalition of leaders from gay and lesbian groups, said the board’s decision is a big step forward for the gay support group, but the elation may be premature.

“I have a certain amount of caution about my celebration because this issue is certain to come up during school board elections,” Barnhill said. “I’m sure some people running for the school board will use this issue to trigger voters who may be uneducated about the subject.”

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Indeed, critics of the decision said they plan to back new school board candidates or run for election themselves. One parent who addressed trustees Tuesday night even announced his candidacy at the podium, and Dodge said the idea to run has even crossed his mind.

Three board seats will be open for election in November.

Huntington Beach resident Bryan Bridges told trustees of his intention to run for a board seat. Leon McKinney, also of Huntington Beach, who ran unsuccessfully for a board seat in 1992, said he is considering seeking election as well.

“The community is not having its needs and desires addressed,” McKinney said.

Bridges said he publicly announced his candidacy because the current school board has “a blatant disregard for parents.”

“Parents need to know that there is someone out there running for office that has the parent in mind,” he said.

Bridges also charged that trustees have a “disregard for the community. . . . They could have come up with a policy to allow parents to exercise some control over their children.”

A number of parents Tuesday night said that the crux of the issue was parental rights--that parents should have a say in whether their children are involved in such unofficial school-based organizations.

Included in the trustees’ decision to keep the equal access policy is an order that parents be sent notices to inform them of the policy and list the various non-academic groups on school campuses.

“I personally feel that parents should be very much involved in what their students are involved in in school,” said Board of Trustees President Bonnie Bruce. “Because (the district) is not sponsoring these groups, we cannot ask for (parents’) permission. But I think we can try to make parents very much aware about the equal access policy--with a statement that we do not endorse or sponsor any of these groups.”

Meanwhile, Fountain Valley High Principal Gary Ernst said Wednesday afternoon that the campus was quiet and calm on the first day after the decision.