News :: GLBT
SC district OKs GSA but places restrictions on student groups
Thursday Jun 26, 2008
IRMO, S.C. - A South Carolina school district voted June 23 to allow students to form a gay/straight alliance (GSA), fearing banning such groups could prompt a lawsuit.
The Lexington-Richland School District 5 school board had considered a ban on clubs that don’t relate to academics or sports, which would have shut down a proposed GSA. But under the policy approved June 23 - which allows all student clubs - parents will have the option of not letting their minor children participate in any school club. Another provision prohibits student clubs from discussing sexually explicit topics, in keeping with the district’s abstinence-based curriculum.
The ban was considered after Irmo High School principal Eddie Walker announced he would step down at the end of the next school year because the GSA conflicts with his beliefs and religious convictions. In his resignation letter, Walker said a GSA conflicts with his professional beliefs because no other school club is based on sexual orientation.
At Monday’s meeting, Walker supported allowing all clubs, encouraging the community to move past the issue and look forward to the next school year.
"We’ve got to heal and move on from this," Walker said. "I think that’s a win-win provision."
Proponents told board members the club would provide a support network for gay students and their straight friends, as well as a forum for all students to discuss issues faced by the gay community.
"I was left humiliated and frightened with no one to talk to," John Dawkins told board members Monday night before the vote. Dawkins dropped out of a Lexington County school after other students repeatedly bullied him because he was gay.
"The role of a GSA is not only to offer a safe space ... but also a forum where points of view and differences of opinion may be discussed."
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