O.C. School Ordered to Allow Gay-Straight Club on Campus

A federal judge on Friday ordered the Orange Unified School District to allow a Gay-Straight Alliance club to meet at El Modena High School, and he cautioned education officials not to act as “thought police” over controversial student speech.

Even as U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter issued a preliminary injunction against the school district, about 15 demonstrators who oppose the student group chanted “Protect the Children” and waved signs outside the courthouse in Santa Ana.

The ruling was a victory for El Modena sophomore Anthony Colin, 15, and junior Heather Zetin, 16, who have been stymied in their attempts to have meetings at the school, said one of their lawyers. The students were not in the courtroom Friday because school was in session.

“This is the first time in the country that a Gay-Straight Alliance [club] has won an injunction to meet,” said the lawyer, Jon Davidson, a supervising attorney for the Los Angeles office of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund. “The opinion makes clear that this is not just a matter of protecting students’ expression rights; it’s about protecting students’ lives.”

In a hushed courtroom packed with spectators, the judge said little about his decision. But in a 23-page written ruling, he took the district to task, saying school trustees already had caused the students significant injury.

“This injunction is not just about student pursuit of ideas and tolerance for diverse viewpoints,” Carter wrote. Referring to gay teens’ high rates of suicide, he continued, “As any concerned parent would understand, this case may involve the protection of life itself.”

He added, “Though the state education system has the awesome responsibility of inculcating moral and political values, that does not permit educators to act as ‘thought police,’ inhibiting all discussion that is not approved by, and in accord with, the official position of the state.”

Moments after the ruling, a lawyer for the school district, which fought to keep the club out, immediately requested a stay until the district’s lawyers could appeal the decision. The judge denied the district’s request late Friday without comment.

School district trustees held a closed emergency meeting late Friday to discuss their next move. Options include banning all extracurricular clubs or dropping the case. (District officials estimate that they have spent less than $50,000 so far for legal fees.) The board conferred with its attorney for nearly three hours but reported taking no action.

Earlier, grim-faced trustees, lawyer James Bowles and the Orange superintendent had huddled in the courthouse lobby.

“We’re just very disappointed at the judge’s ruling for our schools and our communities,” Trustee Kathy Ward said.

After the school bell had rung for the day, Zetin said she was encouraged by the judge’s decision. “It’s a victory,” she said. “But there are many battles in this war.”

The injunction will allow students to meet at school while their discrimination lawsuit works its way through the courts. Carter previously has said he hopes the case is appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, so schools will have a clear and final ruling on whether clubs dealing with sexual orientation are permitted access under federal law.

Other experts doubted if the case needs to go any further, among them Anthony Scariano, a member of the National School Boards Assn.’s Council of School Attorneys.

The ruling “isn’t surprising to me at all,” said Scariano, who represents 200 school districts, mainly in Illinois. “This has been the state of the law for 20 years. You can’t tell the Boy Scouts they can use your facilities, but [turn away] the Black Panthers [because] you don’t like what they have to say.”