Religious, Gay Clubs Allowed Back on Campus

Reversing an 11-year ban, officials in the Capistrano Unified School District have decided to allow religious and gay student clubs, as well as other extracurricular clubs, to form on high schools campuses.

The move comes even as other school districts are taking drastic steps to keep religious and gay clubs off campus.

Supt. James Fleming said officials with the district, Orange County’s third largest, decided to allow special-interest clubs because they feared a series of court decisions might force them to disband community service clubs otherwise. He added that the district planned to make an announcement about the new policy around the beginning of the school year.

Capistrano officials had taken special note of the legal battle neighboring Saddleback Valley Unified School District has fought since its board voted to ban a Christian club. Capistrano, which has more than 30 community service clubs ranging from the Key Club--the high school branch of the Kiwanis Club--to a feminist club, did not want to face a court case of its own.

Under the new policy, members of gay student clubs and religious clubs may use the school bulletin to advertise activities and meet in classrooms during lunch. Groups that discriminate or espouse hatred or intolerance toward minorities--such as the Ku Klux Klan, for example--would not be allowed, Fleming said.

Parents said they have mixed feelings about the new rules.

“The gay club doesn’t thrill me,” said Mike O’Connell, who has two children attending Aliso Niguel High School. “But I think schools have gone way overboard in trying to separate religion from society . . . and since they can’t make distinctions, the gay club would have to be included. But that is a disturbing trend.”

Several chapters of Fellowship for Christian Athletes already are run by students at Capistrano high schools. But until now, they have been forced to meet off campus during the evenings.

Fleming said district officials decided to change the policy because they did not want students deprived of opportunities that could enrich their lives or help them get into college.

Capistrano has forbidden special-interest clubs since 1990, when the Supreme Court ruled that schools must permit religious clubs if they allow other groups not directly related to academic courses.

“The general feeling was you didn’t want to create a lot of distraction,” Fleming said of the ban on clubs that emphasize religion or sexual identity. “Students need to focus on their studies.”

Capistrano, like many districts, continued to sponsor community service clubs such as the Key Club and the National Organization for Women by arguing that they were related to the curriculum because community service is a graduation requirement.

But a current series of court decisions won’t allow those opportunities unless schools also permit students to form other clubs as well, Fleming said.

“Many universities are looking at student involvement in clubs and services,” he said. “It’s important to give students an opportunity to be involved in such activities.”

Last spring, Saddleback Valley Unified kicked all service clubs off campus during school hours, although community service is a graduation requirement. Officials there said they had no choice after a California appellate court ruled that Saddleback Valley would have to allow a Christian club if it allowed the service clubs.

Parents, students and religious leaders were outraged by Saddleback Valley’s decision. They staged protests outside the district offices over the summer, vowing to unseat the school board if the policy is not rescinded.