OKEECHOBEE (FBW)-A school district in rural South Florida-which promotes an abstinence-only curriculum-has recently come under fire for refusing a "Gay-Straight Alliance" to meet at Okeechobee High School.

The American Civil Liberties Union announced Nov. 15 it filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Miami on behalf of Yasmin Gonzalez, a senior at Okeechobee High. Gonzalez alleges the school's principal, Toni Wiersma, and the Okeechobee County School Board, violated the federal Equal Access Act.

Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit litigation, education and policy organization is advising the School Board.

The district's superintendent, Patricia Cooper, told Florida Baptist Witness there's a "distinct" possibility the presence of such a club on the campus might be dangerous and could cause "significant disruption" at the school which serves 1,300 students in grades 10-12.

The school district, which serves Okeechobee County's population of nearly 40,000, adopted the nationally recognized "Character Counts" (CC) framework for its curriculum more than three years ago, Cooper said, before she began as superintendent. CC is a secular, ethical framework emphasizing, trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.

Within that framework, the district has promoted abstinence from sex, drugs and alcohol to its 7,000 students-and teaches reproductive health in the context of science rather than sex education, said Cooper who is also a member of Oakview Baptist Church in Okeechobee.

"Our position is that the formation of this club would cause significant disruption in the school," Cooper told the Witness. "We feel that, because this group is dealing with sexual orientation, there would be disruption."

Cooper said five students initially approached Wiersma, the high school's new principal, and told her they wanted to begin the club. Involved in resolving unrelated violence at the school, Wiersma asked the students to speak with her at another time.

The next time the students approached Wiersma, in mid-October, they had procured written bylaws, a teacher-sponsor and had contacted the ACLU, Cooper reported. Wiersma immediately sought assistance from Cooper in how to respond to the students.

"My position was then and remains that we are an abstinence-only district, that our clubs are primarily dealing with curriculum or curriculum-related clubs and organizations and we would decline the request," Cooper said. "We are an abstinence-only district and its abstinence from any kind of sexual behavior, whether it's heterosexual or bi-sexual or homosexual, whatever it is."

Cooper said she and Wiersma agree student safety is also a primary consideration.

"We're bound to protect these students by law and to keep them from harassment and things of that nature," Cooper said. "We are concerned about the students who are wanting to form this club as well as the other students on campus. We are a very conservative, rural area and we are just very much concerned about the effect of this club and its formation on the entire school and the community."

Gonzalez told several media outlets the school refused to allow her to take a girl to the prom last year, but this year she had been allowed to take a girl to the homecoming dance. News reports also included unspecified complaints concerning threats, violence and insults.

A few weeks ago Gonzalez reported 60 students meeting at a local library-but other members of the community said they have seen no more than 12 assemble there.

ACLU attorney Robert Rosenwald told the Orlando Sentinel Okeechobee administrators have "a moral and legal obligation to obey the law and stop sending the signal that their gay and lesbian students are second-class citizens."

Citing other clubs which meet on campus, including a Crime Watch and Key Club, Rosenwald said they are not curriculum related.

Cooper told the Witness that depends on one's definition of curriculum-related.

Key Club and Interact Club, for instance, Cooper said, affect the body of courses as a whole and "specifically" assist the students in completing community service hours credited to them for Florida's Bright Futures and other scholarships.

The 1985 Equal Access Act being touted by the ACLU has long been used to give Christian clubs the same rights as other student-run organizations operating on public school campuses. Across the nation, however, the act also has been used to allow controversial groups such as the Alliance to meet at schools.

The Orlando Sentinel reported Dec. 3 there are 115 such clubs across Florida, which include 20 in Central Florida. The report said there was controversy about the clubs in Charlotte and Pinellas counties, and last year more than 1,000 parents signed a petition calling for a ban in Hillsborough. The School Board there is now considering requiring parental approval for joining any after-school club.

LIBERTY COUNSEL RESPONDS

Matthew D. Staver, founder and chairman of Orlando-based Liberty Counsel, said Florida law requires abstinence-based sex education curriculum and that the use of the federal Equal Access law has been mostly tied to after-school Good News Clubs which he said are reaching children across America.

"I think just because you have one bad apple doesn't mean that you spoil the whole bunch," Staver said, in reaction to those who think the federal Equal Access law has been wrongly applied in the case of the "gay"-straight alliances. "There are great things that are happening with Equal Access. ... [J]ust because there's one organization that is distasteful doesn't mean that we ought to throw Equal Access out the door."

Staver said the Good News Clubs have been used "to share the Gospel, to teach good morals and character to our young people and [to] provide them opportunit[ies] for community service." The Child Evangelism Fellowship, which promotes the clubs voluntarily, asks for parental permission for children ages 5-12 to attend, he said.

With "gay"-straight clubs, however, Staver said Florida requires abstinence-based sex education curriculum and so he will look at two things-whether "gay"-straight clubs "would be promoting sex promiscuity" and whether parental permission is appropriate.

†"What we are wanting to do in these particular situations in regards to these 'gay'-straight clubs-since they have a potential to be harmful to these students-is to make sure, number one, they comply with the law and don't teach sexual promiscuity, and number two, that parents, at least at a minimum, know that their children are going to these clubs," Staver said. "[Y]ou don't want children just wandering into a club and being injured by the kinds of propaganda that is being promoted in a 'gay'-straight club and I think you put the control back into the parent's hands."

COMMUNITY SUPPORT

A veteran educator, Cooper received her undergraduate degree in education from Stetson University which was formerly affiliated with the Florida Baptist State Convention. A graduate of Okeechobee High School, Cooper taught first in Okeechobee County and then in Highland County for more than 25 years before going to Okeechobee County as superintendent. She said her "initiation" as superintendent began with four hurricanes which hit the area within her first two months-but even those pale in comparison to the current situation.

"I would say that the far-reaching effects of this issue have been my biggest challenge," Cooper told the Witness. "[C]ertainly the universal effect of this and the effect of this on the community as a whole and what we stand for is critical in this issue."

And recognizing the power of prayer, Cooper said she and Wiersma asked members of the local ministerial alliance, including Randy Huckabee, pastor of First Baptist Church in Okeechobee, to meet with them shortly after the announcement that a lawsuit had been filed.

"We requested the meeting; the principal and I, and I can tell you it was inspiring to feel the support and to know that prayers and support are continuing to go up for us and out for us," Cooper said. "I can also tell you that this community has displayed huge amounts of support for our position, for our stand and they are comforting and reassuring.

"I grew up in this community and the values, the conservative family values that were here when I grew up are still here by and large," Cooper continued. "And it's just good to know that people haven't strayed far from those values."

Cooper requested that Christians "keep lifting us up" in prayer during this time and that Congress should consider giving back to the school boards the "local control" she said is under threat of being "usurped" in this case.

"It's definitely an ironic twist" that the federal Equal Access law is being referenced in this case, Cooper said. "I don't know about the misuse or abuse of it; I just think that it's possibly being misapplied."

Huckabee, who is also a member of the Florida Baptist Convention's State Board of Missions, said he and 24 others initially met in Cooper's office to pray for her and Wiersma just after the lawsuit was announced. Many of the ministers-from Lutheran to Episcopalian-continue to meet on a weekly basis at First Baptist to share information so that "our people will get the whole truth," Huckabee said. "This has just brought us closer to stand on one more truth."

Describing the community as close-knit, Huckabee told the Witness there are many organizations which promote a loving acceptance for all persons.

"Establishing tolerance and acceptance for the homosexual lifestyle and for kids being involved in other sexual relationships" is the goal of the "Gay-Straight Alliance," Huckabee continued. "And that's where we as a community say we just don't want that here at Okeechobee."

That doesn't mean Huckabee advocates harassment of any kind. In fact, he said the school's principal, Wiersma, on a daily basis has asked the students involved if they have experienced any problems and made it clear they are not to be targets of unkind behavior. Likewise, his church and others have instructed their young people to behave in a Christ-like manner towards all involved.

"Our concern and our challenge that we've given to our students at First Baptist and in the other churches is that we show the spirit of Christ to these young people-regardless of where they have put themselves as far as their choices-that God still loves them and we're going to love them regardless of their sin," Huckabee continued. "But we're not going to accept or in any way try to enable them to stay involved in sin."

In a "loving" and "respectful" way, Huckabee said the youth also have been asked to adopt a proactive posture "by standing up and saying, 'I'm not going to be involved.'"

As for people who poke fun at the town of Okeechobee, calling it the "Bible Belt" of Florida, Huckabee said the Lord and His Word have not changed.

"I don't see any reason why we need to change when it comes to our convictions, especially when they line up with the Scripture," Huckabee added.

The need for prayer is also something that hasn't changed, he said.

"The greatest thing that Florida Baptists can do for Okeechobee right now is just continue to lift our school board and our administration up in prayer - that they will not waver or get weary, but will stay the course. I know if it goes to court ... the enemy just wears you down and you just get to a point and you say, 'Let's not fight. Let's just roll over,'" Huckabee warned. "I just don't want that to happen. I want our leadership to know that we'll ... hold their hands up and lead them through battle."