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The clubs insist they have a legal right to meet under the federal Equal Access Act, which makes it illegal for a school to ban some extracurricular clubs if it allows others. Ironically, passage of the act was spearheaded by Christian conservatives who wanted public schools to make room for faith-based organizations. That all-or-nothing approach provides a draconian solution to alliance opponents. In November a federal judge in Utah ruled against a Salt Lake City alliance because a school board had decided to ban all extracurricular clubs. Robert Thorup, a lawyer and parent who opposed the Salt Lake City alliance, argues that adolescence is a "formative time, not the time to be exposed to the extremes of sexual behavior." But it is parents and opponents of the alliance who appear to be the most explicit about sex at the school-board debates. In El Modena, as part of their arguments, they brought up graphic details of pedophilia, bestiality, anal sex and, as a GLSEN representative said, "how gay people all have AIDS."
Many straight kids join the clubs for reasons more social than sexual. Some are simply offended by homophobia. Keysha Barnes, 18, the heterosexual daughter of a lay leader at a Mormon church in Salt Lake City, objected so strongly when her school banned a gay-straight club that she signed on as a plaintiff in a suit against the school board. Despite being defeated in court, she says her family and friends now take gay rights more seriously because of her stand.
Others see an opportunity for leadership. Jordan Heimer is hetero and a part of the gay-straight alliance at Staples High, where, as co-captain of the wrestling team, he says, "I help set the tone" in school. "Preaching doesn't work," he says, "but I try to use humor--or, in the case of freshmen, bullying--to let them know how stupid they sound when they use words like faggot."
Finally, some straight kids join to learn to be proud of their families. Ross Cohen, a high school freshman in the Midwest, says that in middle school, he was afraid to talk about his mother, who is a lesbian. Now, as a member of an alliance, he feels comfortable that "no one would say anything. And if they did, someone would tell them off." And that's exactly what Anthony Colin and the El Modena alliance are trying to do.
--Reported by Dan Cray/Orange