Supporters Of Gay-Straight Alliance Want Permanent Status From Flour Bluff Independent School District

The Corpus Christi Caller Times News reports that although the Flour Bluff Independent School District's decided to temporarily allow a Gay-Straight Alliance to meet on campus, club supporters said they are concerned about what the district will do on a permanent basis. "I'm happy, but I don't want to get my hopes up," said Bianca "Nikki" Peet, the Flour Bluff High School senior who sought to form the club. "I have friends that are freshmen, sophomores and juniors who want to have the club. I hope that everyone can see that it is an asset to the school." Tuesday, the district's Board of Trustees voted 4-2 to temporarily suspend a 2005 district policy that prohibits non-curriculum clubs from meeting on campus while a committee determines how to address the policy in the future. Peet said she has not heard when the club can begin meeting on campus or if she will have to resubmit her request to form the club. Her initial request was denied. The committee will be appointed by Superintendent Julie Carbajal and will make its recommendations on non-curriculum club policies by the start of the 2011-2012 school year. Carbajal will form the committee and appoint who will serve on it. District spokeswoman Lynn Kaylor said Carbajal has not decided the process, adding that "They have all summer to work on (the recommendations)." The American Civil Liberties Union, which threatened legal action against the district if it prohibited the club, is waiting on an official response from the district before deciding what to do next, staff attorney Manuel Quinto-Pozos said. "We're certainly going to continue to monitor the situation to make sure that the student groups are treated equally," he said. The federal Equal Access Act mandates schools to offer equal opportunities for all students to organize. The legislation, approved in 1984, was seen then as an attempt to protect Bible study and other religious groups. The law has since been invoked by supporters of gay rights to protect the formation of Gay-Straight Alliances in schools. Quinto-Pozos said that if the Gay-Straight Alliance isn't allowed to meet on campus, neither should other non-curriculum clubs. Andrew Longoria, a senior at Ray High School and president of that school's Gay-Straight Alliance, said he is sceptical that Flour Bluff administrators will allow the club to stay permanently. "I feel like the school is just trying to get out of the fire," he said. "I don't want (Peet) to give up." The two board members who voted against the resolution, Wade Chapman and Steve Ellis, were not available for comment Wednesday.