Students push back against school board's gay attitudes
Brandon High School students Abbi Jones, Hunter Shannon, Richelle Brown, Arieana Myers and Whit Lee meet Jan. 15, 2015, at a coffee shop in Brandon, Miss.(Photo: Kate Royals, The (Jackson, Miss.) Clarion-Ledger)BRANDON, Miss. — Students facing a school district roadblock in forming a gay-straight alliance at their high school said those administrators are the reason their club is necessary.Earlier this week, the Rankin County School Board voted to require that students receive written parental consent before joining any school club. Superintendent Lynn Weathersby introduced the policy change as a way to prevent "gay clubs" from forming on campuses.But sophomore Hunter Shannon, who with junior Arieana Myers has worked to start the club, said a gay-straight alliance works to fight anti-gay bullying and harassment."Given I know so many people who would definitely support this and having adults who didn't was kind of devastating," freshman Whit Lee said. The teens were among a group of about a dozen students from Brandon High School who met Thursday after school to discuss their next moves.The Brandon students acknowledged that the new rule likely would discourage some students from joining a gay-straight alliance. Senior Lucas Bonham, who identifies as transgender, said he wishes a gay-straight alliance had formed earlier at the school when he came out."There's been times I didn't have anyone, and my family was bad with it at first," he said. "But students need this because it's a struggle trying to discover who you are and to think you're completely abnormal."After initial reports of the school board's policy change, the Human Rights Campaign and the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi voiced their concerns. Each noted that federal law protects religious, political or philosophical speech and prohibits any school that receives federal money from banning students who want to conduct a meeting in a limited, open forum.Robin Haney, Rankin County School District spokeswoman, said the school system has been advised to make no comment until it has reviewed and responded to the letter from the ACLU. The district has eight high schools and about 19,500 students total; Brandon High, about 12 miles east of Jackson, Miss., has almost 1,500 students."The policy does nothing more than require a parent's signature and parental permission for minor students to enroll in any club or extracurricular activity," Haney said in an e-mailed statement, noting the policy will be "applied equally to all clubs and students."Charles Irvin, legal director for ACLU Mississippi, said the ACLU will be monitoring the district's practices to ensure the new policy is being enforced for all clubs.Related:Europe anti-terrorism raids lead to dozens of arrestsJan 16, 2015
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