ACLU files suit against Nassau schools over ‘gay’ club

Pastor urges ‘prayer’ after judge’s comments

Mar 7, 2009
JONI B. HANNIGAN
Managing Editor

JACKSONVILLE (FBW)-A Nassau County pastor attending a hearing in federal court March 4 about a “Gay-Straight Alliance” (GSA) at Yulee High School said he believes it’s a matter of prayer.

The School Board of Nassau County has been sued by the ACLU on behalf of Hannah Page, 15, and Jacob Brock, 16, students at Yulee High School who late last year organized a GSA at their school which met only nce.

At the hearing for a preliminary injunction, Frank Sheppard, the school board’s attorney, said students were not denied access as has been claimed under the federal Equal Access Act, but were told in order to continue to meet they needed to change the name of the organization to exclude sexual orientation to comply with school board policy.

After the hearing, Page told reporters she believes the judge understood their mission statement and that the club is not “about sex.” Having “gay” in the name of the group “doesn’t allow any misunderstanding of what the group is about,” she said.

“It also shows that being gay is OK and that it’s not shameful to use the word ‘gay’ and if we changed our name it would put out the message that this school is ashamed to use the world ‘gay,’” Page said.

Rusty Bryan, pastor of Brandy Branch Baptist Church in Bryceville, said he believes U.S. District Judge Henry Adams had already made up his mind before the school board presented its side in an hour-long hearing at U.S. District Court in Jacksonville.

In the hearing, Adams asked few questions of ACLU attorney Robert Rosenwald, who introduced Page and her mother, Summer Page, who is also a party to the lawsuit; and Brock and his father, Clifford Brock, who is not a party to the lawsuit. Brock’s mother, Sheryl L. Williams, a party to the lawsuit, was not present.

In making his case, Rosenwald said there was a “serious problem” in Nassau County schools for homosexual students, though not unique for students who find themselves at the receiving end of harassment and bullying elsewhere. He asserted that after the organization was formed the school board planned a “series of maneuvers” to prevent the club from meeting.

Rosenwald argued GSA’s do not disrupt school or present a safety issue and that the school district should bear the burden of showing that it did in order to “invalidate the rights of others.”

“There are, simply stated, a ton of cases,” he said, which cite the federal Equal Access Act as the rational for allowing such groups to meet.

Frank Sheppard, the attorney for the school, said in his rebuttal the “drastic remedy” asked for required the ACLU to prove the students would be harmed, not the other way around.

“We did not deny [the group] access,” Sheppard said. “That is fundamental here.” Instead, the club had been asked to change their name.

Just moments into Sheppard’s presentation, Judge Adams asked him rhetorically about the school board’s motivation.

“Is it the school board’s position that all gay children should stay in the closet?” Adams asked, saying he was “thinking out loud” that having a GSA-type organization “may be successful.”

“Unless you put them all in the closet and nobody knows,” Adams continued.

Outlining the case for the school district, Sheppard said the school board has an abstinence only policy—hence the requirement to keep sexual orientation out of the club’s name. In addition, he said, the district can “properly restrict speech about sex” even while providing a limited forum for free speech.

Students “struggling with their sexual identity” should discuss the matter with their families, ministers, counselors and other adults, Sheppard said.

In closing comments, Rosenwald said Page, who also tried unsuccessfully to initiate a GSA at Yulee Middle School, became disruptive there during a GSA-related “Day of Silence,” when she and other students, wearing t-shirts representing different points of view, appeared to create “tension” in the cafeteria.

Page’s response, yelling and cussing, occurred on the way to the principal’s office after the students were told they needed to stop, Rosenwald said. “Hannah didn’t take it in an adult fashion. Disruption happened because the school didn’t respond legally,” he added.

Viewpoint discrimination already takes place in the school, Rosewald said, because non-curricular groups like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes requires its officers to sign a statement which among other things pledges abstinence from pre-marital sex, homosexuality and pornography.

Waving an FCA “Play Book,” Rosenwald said he pulled from the Internet after the brief was filed, he offered it to Sheppard, who asked Adams to disallow Rosenwald to continue with the “new” material.

Adams let Rosenwald proceed but granted Sheppard 72-hours to file a written response to the new information.

Outside the courthouse, Rosenwald said “the court seems to get the argument that the plaintiffs made.”

“He seems to sympathize with the plight of the students,” he added.

Brock said he is optimistic. “I believe [a GSA] will change a lot of people’s viewpoints on gay students.”

Sheppard told the Witness he will file a supplemental brief about the FCA information, but the two organizations are “entirely different” and their name, “which is the issue” does not highlight sexual orientation.

David Drake, director of missions for the Northeast Baptist Association, attended the hearing and afterwards said he was shocked by some of the judge’s remarks, particularly the question about “hiding gay kids in a closet.”

Drake told the Witness he believes the matter should be left up to Nassau County Schools superintendent John Ruis and the school board.

From a Christian perspective, Drake said he believes in sexual abstinence, and since Florida just passed Amendment 2, maintaining marriage should be between one man and one woman, that it is especially important to be careful to look at what “agenda” this club might have as well.

Even in public school, where both believers and non-believers co-exist, Drake said the school board has a responsibility to promote policies that are for the well-being of everyone, “red, yellow, back or white, gay lesbian, straight.”

“One of my fears and my concerns is that a club like this going to increase discrimination against these young men and women and they do deserve a right to be protected and they shouldn’t be harassed or maligned in any way regardless of their sexual persuasion,” Drake said.

Ruis, who is also a member of River Road Baptist Church in Hilliard, told the Witness in a phone interview after the hearing, and not speaking directly about the case, that the school and district have extensive policies in place to handle bullying and harassment.

“That’s something that happens for a variety of reasons with a kid and sometimes for no reason,” Ruis said. “None of us as teachers, administrators or parents want any of our children to go to school and be bullied or harassed, regardless of what the reason is.”

Ruis said he would “like to think” the district is pretty aggressive in handling such matters and one of their primary functions is in providing a safe environment.

Inherent in a school environment, especially at the high school level, however, Ruis said can be the question of “being too careful and not being careful enough.”

Often, “those things are something in conflict and at odds with regard to somebody’s freedom of speech or expression and disruption on campus,” Ruis added. “I encourage our school administrators to err, if they are going to err, on one side or the other, err on the side of the safety and wellbeing of kids.

“Do you do that because of somebody’s orientation or belief? No, you try and deal with it for the safety and the wellbeing of the children,” Ruis said.

Ruis said he appreciated the prayers and support of his church friends like Bryan, pastor of Brandy Branch Baptist, who he taught as a young man in Sunday School.

Bryan said he believes Ruis is “standing for what’s right and for godly principles,” but fears the judge had his mind made up before he even entered the courtroom, given his remarks.

“I just think we need to pray that God will send godly leaders and godly judges,” Bryan said.

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