US: After allowing gay-straight alliance, school board may once again move to ban it

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a white background.

The School Board at a middle school in Florida which temporarily allowed a gay-straight alliance club after it was threatened with legal action, may be attempting to make moves to ban the club once more.

The contentious issue began after a group of students, headed by 14-year-old Bayli Silberstein, at Carver Middle School in Leesburg attempted to start a gay-straight alliance club.

After the school initially ignored Bayli’s application to start the club, the American Civil Liberties Union put pressure on the Lake County School Board to either allow the club, or to ban all similar extracurricular clubs.

The ACLU argued that the School Board had violated federal law, as well as Bayli’s First and Fourteenth Amendment rights by refusing to respond to her application – in effect, denying it.

An attorney acting on behalf of the School Board is soon expected to offer more information about which extracurricular clubs would be allowed, under a new policy which would limit clubs to those which promote critical thinking, business and community service.

The meeting of the School Board is expected to take place on Monday.

At the time of the original board meeting, a plane was flown over the school board building in Lake County, urging it to allow all clubs.

The ACLU also threatened legal action against a Pennsylvania School Board which banned students from forming a gay-straight alliance.

In February, the Chambersburg Area School Board voted 5 to 4 against a motion to allow a group of students to form the GSA club.

 

 

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