Clovis Unified board OKs students' gay-straight club

Fresno Bee ^ | February 14, 2002 | Jennifer Fitzenberger

[FresnoDA]

The Clovis Unified School Board voted 5-2 to approve the club, with members Richard Lake and Susan Walker dissenting.

Supporters say the club promotes tolerance and equality among students of varying sexual orientation; people against the club say it promotes homosexuality and has no place in the schools.

[oc-flyfish]

Nope not yet. I am boycotting North County for their El Toro airport stance. :-)

Phantom of the Opera will be playing at the performing arts center this year so maybe I can hit the place then.

[Helix]

What the Hell is on his Face.......BUMP!

I've heard those referred to as "High-Impact Cushions".LOL

[Amerigomag]

The problem here is with the people of Fresno. Fresno was populated years ago by mostly southern and border-state Democrats, coming from WV, OK, AR, and TX.

Are you talking about Fresno, California?

If you are you need to visit the Secretary of State's web site and review the Fresno County voting results from the last few general elections.

[Migraine]

So what activities does a Gay club have?

I suppose they read Fairy tails, eat fruit loops -- you know: odds and ends.

[concerned about politics]

So what activities does a Gay club have?

No one knows. They shut and lock the door after they grab some 1st grade boy.

[afraidfortherepublic]

How did Edison get in first place???? What's going on in Fresno? Is Edison some kind of magnet school now? FHS 1956 -- when we were the best school in the city

[let freedom sing]

TFFW

[afraidfortherepublic]

(Is this part of the Condit House district?)

No! And they are not all liberals in Fresno, as you portray. The population comes from every State in the Union and every country in the world. Educate yourself before you sound off.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Is Pete Mehas still Superintendant? I went to high school with him, when high schools were fun and the clubs concerned themselves about politics, sports, journalism, science, photography, etc.

[let freedom sing]

What about club advisors?

Please close the closet after coming out.

[HennepinPrisoner]

TIf the parents did who help finance the school voted against the club the school should oblige to follow their lead.

No, the taxpayer-supported schools should abolish all extracurricular clubs in the school including religious-based clubs. If it costs so much as a penny to run the electricity in the room that they meet in, it is a taxpayer ripoff.

Actually, it is somewhat amusing that many of the same people that have been fighting tooth and nail to keep religion-based clubs in their taxpayer-funded government schools are all of a sudden angry and shocked that a decision like this could happen.

[tom paine 2]

How about a nice recall. We just recalled 15 county board members up here in Sturgeon bay WI.15!

[Amerigomag]

What's going on in Fresno

Apparently you've not been to Fresno in some time.

Bye the way if you plan a visit to your old digs (Fresno High School) wear a kevlar vest.

[AZLiberty]

Sign of the times: The student council for the high-school in our Phoenix neighborhood set up a Valentine's Day matchmaking service. Each student supplies a few facts about his/her/itself, and checks one of four boxes: Gay, Straight, Don't Reveal, or No Preference. The student council then finds the "best" match for each person, and posts Valentines with paired names on them on the gymnasium wall.

Our kids are homeschooled, so they missed out on this "fun" event.

[Illbay]

Valentines Day Massacare for Fresno Parents!

Can we please dispense with the hyperbole? This is not the title of the Fresno Bee article, I gather, so you're guilty of doing what we've been asked not to do: Posting articles while altering their titles.

This kind of thing belongs in the "comments" part of your post not the title.

[Deep_6]

re:
"..Of course now I'm going to be flamed....."

Not by anyone with a brain (and I'm happy to see
so many with a brain are here on this thread!)

You'll find there's some fear among the "right wingies"
regarding the supposition that one's sexual preference
can be swayed by association and/or education. 
It's an interesting concept, isn't it?

If you ask any of those same "conservatives" if they
could ever be persuaded to become homosexual, they
will insist they can not. But they manage to believe that
others can.

The desire to be with, love, or to have sex with, either
the opposite or same gender, cannot be changed. You
can no more change a heterosexual into a homosexual,
than you can change a homosexual into a heterosexual.

You'll hear stories about "psychological conditioning"
and "behavior modification" doing a great job of stopping
homosexuality in it's tracks, but they don't mention how.

The process involves the showing of pictures of the same
gender sexual organs as the "patient" and delivering a
painful jolt of high voltage electricity with each viewing.
That of course, will make the mere sight of the same 
sexual organs as the recipient, repulse that recipient 
(the mind is a wonderful thing). What they don't tell folks,
is the victim is usually left asexual. That is, not only repulsed
by the sight of their own organs, but devoid of sexual 
desire for the opposite as well. I suppose you'll see 
posts recommending that procedure as a great remedy 
for one's son or daughter. sooner or later. Or perhaps JR 
has thinned the ranks of the once very far right constituency?

In my opinion, God designed us all, for whatever reason 
He had. Some march to the beat; some have their own 
drummer, but we all should be marching in the same parade.
Freedom, is to allow those around you to live in the
lifestyle they choose without fear. 

There are times on "FR" that it almost appears the "conservative" 
political wing that had long spirited Freedom and Liberty for all,
has become a freedom robbing group, not unlike a certain more
liberal and socialistic political party.....

That doesn't appear to be the case yet on this thread and it warms
the heart to see common sense prevail.

(I thank you for posting against an anticipated firestorm,
it took guts)

[bettina0]

"De-sensitization of aversion towards abnormal behavior." That's what it's all about. Students will have to live in a global economy and they will have to be tolerant of all sorts of mores. What better place to indoctrinate kids than in the local indoctrination center, formerly the local public school. What is taught in the classroom in one generation is accepted in the culture by the next. The girl who said she was going to home school is smart. I hope a lot of people in Clovis think about home schooling or private schools.

[Cachelot]

Hmmm.. maybe a missing board member?

[Dimensio]

I don't see whats wrong with this. In most high schools any kids can form any club as long as they have teacher approval. I don't see anything wrong with Gay-Straight alliance. Of course now I'm going to be flamed, told I'm going to hell just because I tolerate other people's sexuality and told about all the evils of public school.

My understanding is that by law if the school allows after-school clubs of one type to meet then they must allow clubs of any nature. There might be some restrictions on what is allowed, but I would guess that such restrictions could at most prohibit activity within the club rather than the club itself.

In order to legally prevent a gay-straight club from forming, the school would have to ban all clubs from meeting. I recall that a school district in Utah did this, banning all existing clubs (including a few religious-oriented ones) because they had no other legal option for blocking a proposed gay-straight alliance.

There are caveats having to do with faculty involvement, and I'm not sure how they would apply here. Still, it's nice to see so many FReepers who would rather the school district break the law than accomidate a requested club.

[Saundra Duffy]

Oh my God!!! I'm tellin' Lager.