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| Kerry Pacer, 16, a lesbian student at White County High School,
said the administration’s decision to eliminate all non-academic clubs at
the high school is a direct affront to the PRIDE club she formed. (Photo by Dyana
Bagby) |
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HOME > NEWS > LOCAL
By: DYANA BAGBY
COMMENTS |
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Two days after officially approving the formation of a controversial gay-straight
alliance at White County High School in Cleveland, Ga., administrators now plan
to ban all non-academic clubs beginning next school year.
The ban would mean the gay-straight club, Peers Rising In Diverse Education,
can exist for about two months before the school year ends May 27.
This proposal follows months of heated debate including a contentious school
board meeting in February in which preachers railed against homosexuality, as
well as a protest at the school by congregants of Rev. Fred Phelps’ church
in Topeka, Kan., which is known for protesting the funeral of slain gay college
student Matthew Shepherd.
“I’m anxious to get the club started and do what we can in the
little time we have,” said Kerry Pacer, 16, a lesbian student who has
been working to form the gay-straight alliance since January.
“I think this decision goes to show you [school administrators] are not
open to diversity. They don’t know how to react when faced with a problem,”
she said.
White County School Superintendent Paul Shaw and school board chair Kendyl Brock
denied this week that the board policy change was being made to keep out PRIDE.
“We’re working on revising all board policies,” Shaw said.
“Some clubs have by-laws, some don’t. Everything is just so loose.”
Brock said school club policies have been an issue for some time and the board
intends to approve the measure. In addition to PRIDE, clubs that will be disallowed
under the new policy include the Key Club, Interact, Students Against Drunk
Driving and Fellowship of Christian Athletes, she said.
Brock added she has nothing against PRIDE.
“What is wrong with a club that promotes equality and prevents bullying?”
Brock said.
But the uproar over the formation of a gay alliance in the rural town caused
incredible distraction and unwanted controversy to students and the school system,
she added.
“This whole thing has been very, very disruptive. I don’t know
what the future holds. [But] if we disallow non-academic clubs, we don’t
have to get into this,” Brock said. “[The controversy] is interfering
dramatically with what is going on in the school system.”
Shaw, the school superintendent, said White County High School officials made
a presentation at the March 24 school board meeting proposing the elimination
of all non-academic clubs at the high school beginning in the fall of 2004.
White County Principal Brian Dorsey did not respond to interview requests.
Just two days earlier, on March 22, the ACLU of Georgia announced in a press
release that the gay-straight club had finally been approved by the school system.
The legal group represented Pacer and other students wanting to form PRIDE.
Shaw confirmed the approval in an interview with Southern Voice.
“We were working in good faith to try to get things resolved. We wanted
to do what was morally and legally right,” he said at the time.
ACLU attorneys told White County school officials that PRIDE had the legal
right to form under the 1984 federal Equal Access Act, which prohibits excluding
any non-curricular clubs at schools receiving federal funding.
Beth Littrell, staff attorney for the ACLU of Georgia, criticized the school
district’s plan to ban all non-curricular clubs.
“The board’s action is not in the spirit of the negotiations and
goes against what we agreed. We didn’t intend for PRIDE to exist only
for one month,” Littrell said this week.
“This is a drastic and unfortunate measure the school board is taking
and is a bad idea for all White County students,” Littrell added.
The ACLU is considering options for future action, she said.
Faced with controversy over gay-straight alliances, school districts in other
jurisdictions around the country have also tried to ban all non-curricular clubs.
In a similar situation in Salt Lake City, the school board voted to eliminate
all 46 non-academic clubs to keep out a gay-straight alliance at East High School.
But in 2000, the Salt Lake City School Board reversed its policy of prohibiting
non-curricular school clubs after facing two federal lawsuits, as well as negative
national publicity, according to Lambda Legal, a national gay civil rights organization.
“The GSA and other clubs [in White County] may have some rights also
under the First Amendment,” said Greg Nevins, an attorney with the Lambda ...
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