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Student wants to start gay club
Permission denied until policy drafted
By TOM GUARISCO, Advocate staff writer
Martin Pfeiffer has stumped school authorities by asking for permission to start a Gay Straight Alliance chapter.
The McKinley High School senior said he wants to create the school club, as an affiliate of a national organization, so gay and lesbian students could get the same safety and respect assured all students.
Pfeiffer said he has endured name calling and social harassment ever since middle school. He is openly gay, but classmates ridiculed him before Pfeiffer even realized he was gay.
"There is a lot of education to do," Pfeiffer said.
But when he asked McKinley Principal Almenia Warren for permission to start the club, she said no.
So Pfeiffer asked officials at the East Baton Rouge Parish public schools central office to show him the policy preventing him from starting the club.
They could not.
Schools Superintendent Gary Mathews acknowledged in a letter to Pfeiffer that school system administrators have fallen short in guiding schools on such matters. Mathews has suspended all requests to start clubs until a policy is drafted.
Don Mercer, associate superintendent of curriculum and instruction, plans to have a policy drafted for the School Board's consideration on Jan. 27. He said Pfeiffer's request is on hold until then.
"It prompted us to say, 'Good point. We don't have a policy,'" Mercer said.
Baton Rouge's is not the first school board facing the issue of gays and lesbians wanting to assert themselves on campus.
There are more than 60 Gay Straight Alliance clubs in 12 southeastern states, and 700 nationwide, said Brenda Barron, southern field organizer for the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network. The nonprofit group tries to promote safe environments for gays and lesbians and is a sponsor of GSA clubs.
"It is fairly common for principals at first to have reluctance to start a GSA," Barron said. "They are just learning about it. About 5 to 7 years ago principals wouldn't even acknowledge lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered students."
Now, organizers are finding ways to overcome obstacles to the clubs.
In spring 1996 the Salt Lake City School Board decided it didn't want to allow the club at a school there. The board attorneys told board members they could not single out a club and ban it.
So the board banned all extracurricular clubs at all Salt Lake City schools. The ban covered everyone from the Young Republicans to Students Against Drunk Driving.
Instead of folding, the Gay Straight Alliance club at Salt Lake's East High School is thriving.
As it turns out schools are required by federal law to let clubs rent space after school. With the backing of a gay and lesbian community group, the Gay Straight Alliance meets weekly at East High School, said Camille Lee, a science teacher who is the club's sponsor.
"The one club they tried to get rid of is one of two clubs that have continued to meet," Lee said. "We have continued to thrive and grow."
Bob Pliley, principal of East High School, said there are still 30 curriculum-related clubs that meet, but he said it is unfortunate so many other clubs have folded.
"What we don't have is a chess club, which, of course, is too bad," Pliley said.
Pliley said he does not acknowledge that gays and lesbians are more likely to fall victim to persecution than any other groups. For example, he is fighting a long-standing tradition in which upperclassmen shave the heads of incoming freshmen.
"We suspended 12 people at the beginning of the year when they were implicated," Pliley said. "It's been going on forever and it makes me nuts."
Mercer said he will consult board attorneys and others in drafting the policy for East Baton Rouge Parish public schools. He also is researching events in other school districts.
However, Mercer said, he does not think the policy will follow Salt Lake City's.
"I'm saying this before talking to the lawyers, but I can't imagine us taking that position," Mercer said.
"The rules and regulations have to apply to everybody," Mercer said. "I don't think we can have a policy that everyone can meet except this club."
The new policy will require that every school club submit some information to system officials, such as the mission statement and when and where they meet, Mercer said. The information will tell school officials whether the club is extracurricular, or if it reflects and supports actual class work.
Though Pfeiffer graduates in May, he said he is convinced the club is needed. He has never been physically harmed, but said he has felt isolated and unsafe.
Adam Mastoon is founder of a nonprofit group called Shared Heart Initiative that tries to promote safer schools, universities and workplaces for gays and lesbians. He said that of the 500,000 youths who attempt suicide each year, one-third are gay.
Pfeiffer said that is a result of widespread fear and isolation among gay youth.
"It is due to a prevalent atmosphere of hatred, taunting, hostility and just plain old homophobia," he said.
He said he hopes the club will promote understanding and respect for gays on campus.
If he gets permission to start the club, Pfeiffer said, his first step will be to establish a time and a safe place for gays and lesbians to meet. Some classmates have said they would join, but the mere presence of the club would soothe the isolation other gay students feel even if they do not join, he said.
"Then we could begin to educate the greater student body," Pfeiffer said.
At East High School in Salt Lake City, advisor Camille Lee said that although the club's name is about sexual orientation, discussions at meetings rarely involve sexual activity, which is what many opponents to the club said they feared.
Members hold fund-raisers and Christmas parties and talk about their common experiences as students.
"It's interesting because the only time I heard them talk about sexual activity is when they had a speaker from the AIDS Foundation to come talk about safe sex," Lee said. "That's the only time in four years. That's such a minute part of it."
"I advocate the same things for these kids as with others -- high school is too young to be in a sexual relationship," Lee said. "The club is where they can meet other kids like themselves."
Lee said she believes the rate of sexual harassment directed at gays at East High School has dropped.
"Part of it is getting the dialogue going," she said.
Principal Pliley said he is not so sure the club has had any impact.
"I have no answer," Pliley said, explaining he has been at the school for only four months.
Asked if he had any advice for Baton Rouge school officials as they decide how they will handle Pfeiffer's request, Pliley said:
"Be very careful about limiting the number of ways that kids can connect because the connection is a hell of a lot more important than the traditionally avowed purpose of high school. The connection is a hell of a lot more important."
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jessea@uclink4.berkeley.edu (Jessea NR Greenman)
"Hey hey, ho ho, the 20th century has got to go."
Last updated 1/4/2000 by Jean Richter, richter@eecs.Berkeley.EDU