Trustees to Meet Tonight on Gay Alliance Club

Parents, students and activists are expected to fill the Orange Unified School District boardroom tonight to hear if school trustees will allow a controversial club at El Modena High School.

Students hoping to form a Gay/Straight Alliance club at the school have not been allowed to meet on campus while the board considers the question. The case has drawn fire from activists on both sides, with two national legal groups suing the school district on behalf of the students and a group of parents organizing a protest against the club.

After trustees delayed a decision Nov. 19 to confer with lawyers, the Lambda Legal Defense Fund and the People for the American Way Foundation--representing 10th-grader Anthony Colin and 11th-grader Heather Zetin, both 15--filed a discrimination suit.

Kendra Huard, director of the People for the American Way Foundation’s California office, has said that federal legislation prohibits school districts from discriminating against extracurricular clubs on the basis of political, philosophical, religious or other contents of speech at meetings.

On the opposing side, a group of parents has organized to protest the possible creation of the Gay/Straight Alliance. Group members distributed a flier urging residents to contact trustees to voice opposition to the club.

School district spokeswoman Judy Frutig said the superintendent’s office received 28 calls, faxes or e-mails Monday in response to the flier, all but one opposed to the club.

Heather said she expects the board will vote against allowing the club on campus, because students have resisted board suggestions that they change its name to “Tolerance Club” or something similar and that they say in the club’s mission statement that members will not talk about sexual issues.

“No other club has to put that in, and also ‘not talking about sexual issues’ is too vague,” Heather said. “We could talk about abstinence, and that can be considered a sexual issue.”

The meeting will take place at 7:30 p.m. at district headquarters, 1401 N. Handy St., Orange.