O.C. School Must Allow Gay-Straight Club to Meet

A federal judge on Friday ordered the Orange Unified School District to allow a student 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 opposed the club waved signs and chanted “Protect the Children!” and “Gay Clubs are Propaganda!” outside the courthouse in Santa Ana.

The ruling was a victory, said one of the lawyers for the club’s two founders, El Modena sophomore Anthony Colin, 15, and junior Heather Zetin, 16, who have been stymied in their attempts to meet at the school. 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 [chapter] has won an injunction to meet,” said the lawyer, Jon Davidson, an 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 Orange Unified School District, which fought to keep the club out, immediately requested a stay until the district’s lawyers could appeal to a higher court. Without comment, the judge denied the motion late Friday.

School trustees had scheduled a closed emergency meeting late Friday to discuss their next move. Among options would be to ban all extracurricular clubs or to drop the case. District officials estimate that they have spent less than $50,000 so far for legal fees.

Grim-faced school trustees, lawyer James Bowles and the district superintendent huddled in the courthouse lobby after the judge issued the injunction. “We’re just very disappointed at the judge’s ruling for our schools and our communities,” Trustee Kathy Ward said.

The suburban district of 31,000 students serves Orange and parts of Anaheim Hills, Garden Grove and Santa Ana.

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.”

Colin, her club co-founder, said 58 students have expressed interest in joining the group, which could start meeting in the drama room as early as next week.

“I believe this club is necessary just like every club is necessary,” Colin said, adding that its members “will come out of it with a perspective of respect and tolerance.”

While the club has stirred up a furor among adults, some El Modena students say they don’t understand why.

“There’s a Christian Club here and it’s not like every [student] is Christian,” said sophomore Virginia Duron, 16. “The clubs are for you to get together and talk about things, so I say let them.”

‘Promoting Sex?’ Sharp Disagreement

Before the trustees slipped into its closed-door meeting, a half-dozen people praised the board for standing firm against the club. The board conferred with its attorney for nearly three hours but reported taking no action.

“The primary purpose of this club was never about tolerance for everyone,” said Michael Fischer, a resident of Orange. “It will lure and trap kids into a promiscuous lifestyle. The future of our kids is at stake here.”

Sixteen-year-old Shannon Sigalas, whose mother is one of the activists opposed to the club, said she likes the club founders but dislikes their crusade.

“I think people in support of the club are pretty much rebellious teenagers,” she said. “Promoting sex? I’m sorry, but that does not belong in schools.”

The injunction will allow students to meet at school while their federal discrimination lawsuit against the district works its way through the courts. Carter has previously said he hopes the case is appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, so all schools will have a clear and final ruling on whether such clubs are permitted access under federal law. The judge said Friday that he hopes to schedule a summer trial date so the students can attend the proceedings.

Other experts doubted the case needed to go 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.”

Last month, Carter heard three days of testimony about permitting the club on campus. After hearing from El Modena’s principal, the club’s two teen founders and the leader of the local chapter of the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network, which supports the club, Carter said the issue before him would crop up at schools elsewhere--thus his hope for an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The students first proposed the club in September as a forum for students of any sexual orientation to address issues of acceptance and discrimination that aren’t covered in the classroom.

Whether to allow the club was the topic of a public forum and several school board meetings before the trustees voted unanimously Dec. 7 to bar the club from El Modena. The club’s few meetings have occurred on a patch of grass across the street from the school.

Trustees encouraged the students to reapply as a “tolerance club” if they vowed not to discuss sex, sexuality or other topics covered by the state Education Code. The students’ original mission statement said the club “wasn’t a sexual issue; it is about gaining support and promoting tolerance and respect for all students.”

The students, backed by the Lambda Legal Defense and Educational Fund, People for the American Way Foundation and the Irell & Manella law firm, filed a federal suit against the district under the 1984 federal Equal Access Act, a landmark law enacted to allow Bible clubs to meet at public schools after hours. Students also accused the district of violating their constitutional rights to free speech and equal protection under the law.

The law says that if a public school accepts federal funds and allows any nonacademic clubs to meet on campus--as El Modena does--it cannot bar others based on what might be discussed.

The school district, however, has argued that the club is not covered by the law because the club members could touch on curricular topics, including sex education. Thus, it could interfere with the school’s duty to provide appropriate sex education in accordance with state regulations. They further argued that the group appeared to be controlled by an outside interest, the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network.

The judge dismissed many of those arguments, adding that some seemed to be pretexts. That students might discuss sex education was not a strong enough link to call the club “curricular.”

“It takes a significant leap of the imagination to believe that the same board that voted unanimously against permitting this group on campus also has included the subject matter of what the plaintiffs intend to discuss in the curriculum,” he wrote.

As for outside influence, “the court finds as a matter of fact that outside organizations had no role” in the club’s formation.

To read the judge’s written opinion, point your browser to https://www.latimes.com/gayclub