Principles Vs. Practicality in Gay Club Issue

An inner voice shouts at me to make a mental dry run at this before committing it to print.

Instead, I’m going to wing it and try to reconcile what seem to be conflicting gut feelings, neither of which I can shake.

Gut feeling No. 1: The Orange Unified School District is wrong in not allowing El Modena High School students to form a Gay-Straight Alliance club that would meet on campus.

Gut feeling No. 2: Two El Modena students are wrong in suing the district for its failure to do so.

I feel stronger about No. 1. Hundreds of gay-straight clubs, formed to foster tolerance of gay and lesbian high school students, have sprung up around the country.

It’s not by coincidence: Many gay teens go through public and private hell just getting through their high school years.

The Orange trustees should read up on the subject. If they did and if they truly cared about the well-being of all their students, they’d be in the forefront of supporting a tolerance club.

Instead, having caught flak from parents, the trustees shrank from the debate and put off a decision until next month.

One gets the feeling they’re hoping for a premature Y2K crash that would make the whole subject disappear.

Not content to wait for Y2K, however, two students sued the district last week, claiming its refusal to permit the club is discriminatory.

Citing a federal law that grants campus access to virtually any nonacademic student club, two national civil rights organizations signed on with the litigious students.

They argue that El Modena already permits about 20 nonacademic clubs, ranging from religious groups to jugglers.

A Trivial Pursuit?

Alliance organizers say about 50 students have said they’d be interested in joining a club. Fairness would seem to dictate they get one.

So why does my gut not like this lawsuit?

For starters, I like my civil-rights lawsuits limited to critical issues. Demanding a tolerance club because the jugglers have one, to my ears, almost serves to trivialize the real problems facing homosexual teens.

True, discrimination comes in big and small packages, but that doesn’t make every slight lawsuit-worthy.

A federal law guaranteeing that a club can meet at school seems, at best, just one more unnecessary law.

Students can meet after school anywhere they want and discuss life. Meeting on school grounds hardly sounds like a coveted legal right.

And I’d say the same thing to the jugglers.

The trustees’ balkiness is a reflection more of cowardice and lack of understanding, not outright discrimination.

The issue at hand isn’t how the district treats gay and lesbian students in the classroom or on campus; it’s solely about permitting them to meet on campus.

I realize the alliance is asking only for equal treatment.

Its leaders might argue I’m asking them to surrender a principle.

I probably am, but lawsuits come with a life of their own.

Setting the Wrong Tone

The question I’m asking is whether being unable to meet on campus represents, in real terms, a constitutional violation or merely an inconvenience.

I’m asking whether suing the district sets the tone the club wants to set.

Suing the district isn’t going to make it more gay-tolerant. If anything, it will make it less so.

Sometimes, martyrdom is the higher calling and the wiser decision.

More to the point, dropping the lawsuit opens the door to a much more desirable outcome to all this.

Namely, the trustees could have an epiphany.

They might say that they’re not crazy about the club but that, on reflection, their concern for the potential plight of homosexual students trumps their reluctance.

They might say that if a tolerance club improves understanding at El Modena, then let’s have one.

I’d like to see the trustees sanction the club and not just because they’re afraid of a lawsuit.

How about just because it’s the right thing to do.

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Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers can reach Parsons by calling (714) 966-7821, by writing to him at The Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or by e-mail at dana.parsons@latimes.com.