GSAs banned in
North Carolina school district

The Rowan-Salisbury board of education in North Carolina voted unanimously Monday night to ban all gay-straight alliance clubs, including one at South Rowan High School. Without comment the board approved an amendment to the school's extracurricular activities policy banning "sex-based" student clubs, the Salisbury Post newspaper reported.

Board member Jim Shuping read aloud the complete text of the amendment. The policy uses the system's existing abstinence-only sex education policy as the basis for the ban. The board waived its usual requirement of two readings for policy adoptions, allowing the policy to be in effect when school opens next week.

Board chairman Bryce Beard said later that the new policy has been thoroughly reviewed by attorneys. He expressed confidence it can withstand a legal challenge.

"We have concerns that the policy...is illegal," Jennifer Rudinger, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Raleigh office, told the Post. "When a school allows extracurricular clubs, it's all or nothing. They can't discriminate.... They can't pick and choose."

"It's absolutely misnamed to call [the GSA] a sex-based club. It's inappropriate," Rudinger continued. "These kids want to create a safe environment, to foster tolerance and acceptance. It's inappropriate and factually wrong to call them some kind of sex-based club. It's really a shame."

Rudinger noted that the ACLU has successfully represented students who wanted to have a Bible club at schools that were initially banned. She said the same law protects the gay-straight alliance. (The Advocate)