Outrage Over School’s Club For Gays Shakes Utah

The Gay/Straight Alliance, a gay and lesbian high school club formed at a downtown campus here, has taken pride in helping youths struggling with their sexual identity to support each other.

“Going to high school when you are gay or lesbian is a miserable, lonely experience,” said 17-year-old Kelli Peterson, who founded the club at East High School in December. “I know, I’ve been beat up twice.”

But on Tuesday, the Salt Lake City Board of Education voted to squash the club. To do that, the board issued a blanket ban that would also kill the ski, chess, beef, Latino, Frisbee and Bible clubs.

The measure, which passed on a 4-3 vote after an emotional public meeting, takes effect in the fall.

“I can’t express how this decision bothers me to my very soul,” said board president Mary Jo Rasmussen, who voted against the measure. “These clubs are training grounds for future leaders, and the very reason a lot of students stay in school.”

Peterson fears that “the school board decision will only exacerbate the hate and violence that’s been going on against us for years.”

The gay club has spawned controversy across the state, from neighborhoods to the Utah Legislature, ever since word filtered out that it had petitioned the school board for formal recognition.

Republican majority leaders called a closed-door session of the state Senate to meet with top education officials. During a 90-minute meeting on Jan. 30, the lawmakers lambasted the educators for eroding family values and promoting homosexuality by allowing the club to gather under the guidance of faculty advisers.

Some senators threatened to ban all clubs statewide rather than allow the Gay/Straight Alliance to continue meeting. To avoid conflict with the federal Equal Access Act, which protects high school social clubs, they even considered forgoing $100 million in annual federal funds.

Ironically, the act was sponsored by Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, and enacted in 1985 to ensure that Christian Bible clubs could use public school facilities for extra-curricular activities. Hatch now says that local school boards have a moral obligation and the legal authority to keep gay clubs out.

The fact that the gay and lesbian club tried to use the act as a shield was “an unintended consequence,” Hatch recently told Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt.

A week ago, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the state Senate, contending that its closed meeting constituted a secret, illegal assembly.

“One day we will look back on this as one of the most shameful episodes in Utah history - but then, I say that once a month,” said ACLU executive director Carol Gnade.

State Senate President Lane Beattie acknowledged that, “yes, the meeting was illegal in that it was not closed properly.” But he defended the lawmakers’ right to meet behind closed doors over the matter because it involved potential litigation.

The Senate this week is considering two bills that would prohibit discussion of homosexuality at public schools and would restrict gay clubs by requiring parental permission to join them.

“I’m amazed that a small group of teenagers could cause so much trouble,” said Peterson, whose group has eight gay or lesbian members and 10 heterosexuals.

What is happening in Utah reflects a broader debate being played out nationwide.

“We are very concerned that Utah is joining a growing list of states that have introduced or plan to introduce bills to regulate school curricula or clubs,” said Kerry Lobel, director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in Washington.