Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender high school students do not choose to subject themselves to ridicule and bullying at a formative age. But the adults who run Chambersburg Area School District could have chosen to work around the policy detail they cited to suppress a social refuge for an oppressed and isolated segment of their student body.
The Gay Straight Alliance Club at Chambersburg Area Senior High School proposed a constitution based on a template from a national GSA organization, under which the club would select its faculty adviser. (This is important because an opposed administration could undermine such a club with its choice of an adult adviser.) The school board based its denial on district policy that requires administration to select student club advisers, subject to approval by the school board.
We expect a more humane outlook from adults charged with ensuring an equally supportive learning environment for all public school students. We also expect school board members to avoid needless exposure to expensive defenses against slam-dunk lawsuits.
Gay Straight Alliances generally date to the late 1980s. They have since spread nationwide as more enlightened school boards recognized the need to provide support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students. Smaller and less diverse school districts in Franklin County have hosted these clubs for years.
The irony here is that the hardest opposition to GSAs usually derives from religious doctrine. But the federal law that enables GSA clubs -- the Equal Access Act of 1984 -- was passed after religious groups lobbied for the right to host prayer groups and Bible studies on public school grounds.
The Equal Access Act requires secondary schools that receive federal money to provide equal access to all student-led extracurricular clubs, in terms of school grounds meeting spaces and school publications. Basically, if a school allows one such club it must allow them all.
The act has been subjected to legal tests over the years. It was ruled constitutional by the U.
But, you know, this really isn't about money. It's about protecting children.
A causal link between being gay and elevated suicide attempts is difficult to establish, for the same reason that an exact LGBT suicide attempt rate remains a moving target among this age group: Teens tend to hide their sexual orientation more than adults.
But there is considerable suggestive evidence. A synthesis of studies on the matter shows that 30 to 40 percent of LGBT youth have attempted suicide. A 1989 U.S. government report shows that gay youth are two to three times more likely to attempt suicide than their straight peers.
All of this stems from the fact that LGBT teens endure a hostile and condemning environment, verbal and physical abuse, and rejection and isolation from their families and peers.
We'd hoped that people closely connected to high school students would not need us to point this out to them.
We'd hoped that elected officials would display more courage and regard for the financial implications of such an easily contested legal matter. We'd hoped, in the end, for more concern for the well-being of these students.
- Matthew Major, opinion editor, can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org, or find him on Twitter @MattMajorPO.