Condoning in-school clubs advocating deviancy will "expose adolescents to sexual experimentation that carry serious moral, psychological and health consequences, including depression and disease," argues a licensed school psychologist.
-- From "Judge: Gay student club must be allowed to meet" Associated Press 3/11/09
[U.S. District Judge Henry Adams] has ruled that a student club that promotes tolerance for gays at [Yullee High School near Jacksonville Florida] must be allowed to meet.
Adams ordered a local school board to grant official recognition to the Gay-Straight Alliance [GSA] and afford it the same privileges as any other student organization.
From "Fla. School Faces Lawsuit Over Refusing Gay-Straight Club" by Lawrence Jones, Christian Post Reporter 2/12/09
The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida has filed suit . . . on behalf of Hannah Page, 15, a freshman, and Jacob Brock, 16, a junior, who both claimed to have been harassed for being gay. The high school students said they wanted to establish GSA on campus to provide a safe environment for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender students and their straight friends.
Superintendent John Ruis told the ACLU in a January meeting and follow-up letter that the club will be permitted if the members change its name.
"We were willing to let the proposed GSA meet on the condition that the name of the club was changed to reflect the purpose of preventing bullying and discrimination," said Ruis in the letter addressing the case's lead counsel Rosenwald.
"A club name highlighting specific sexual orientations will not be permitted as it would violate school board policy," he wrote.
According to Ruis' letter, the ACLU was dissatisfied with the name-change request because it said the name of the club must communicate the "gay specific" purpose of the organization and contended it was illegal for the school board to "de-gay" a student club.
In an opinion piece for a weekly Florida newspaper, Dennis Todd, a licensed school psychologist in private practice, cited health concerns toward his objection to the GSA club at Yulee High.
He said allowing GSA would expose adolescents to sexual experimentation that carry serious moral, psychological and health consequences, including depression and disease.
"I believe that gay clubs will increase these problems," he wrote in the Fernandina Beach News-Leader.
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