Student organizers of the club had earlier refused a proposed compromise Tolerance Club, contending in sworn testimony that the use of the word gay in the title of the club was important to announce that being gay or homosexual is not bad. The federal court held that the Equal Access Act, a statute enacted by Congress in 1984 so that religious student groups could meet on school grounds, also applied to any student group, unless the School Board could prove that the club would be a major disruption to the education of students. The school board had contended that because the Gay-Straight Alliance dealt with subjects already addressed in the schools human sexuality curriculum, it was not covered by the Equal Access Act. The court rejected that argument, noting that although homosexuality was addressed in the teacher s edition of a human sexuality textbook, it was not actually taught to students.
Few options are open to the school board, none of which are attractive.
First, the school board could appeal the court s decision, challenging one or more of the possibly erroneous factual findings or legal conclusions made by the court. But appeals are time-consuming and costly. In the meantime, the trial judge has denied the school board s request for a stay pending the appeal, which means that the student group will be able to meet on campus, publicize itself at the school s Club Rush, post flyers, make announcements over the school s public address system, and have a group picture in the yearbook. Second, the school board could relinquish all its federal funding, because the requirements of the Equal Access Act only apply to schools that accept federal funds the result of an erroneous Supreme Court decision 65 years ago, which let Congress interfere in areas, such as public schools, over which Congress had no constitutional authority, simply by imposing conditions on federal funds. Third, the school board could simply ban all other non-curricular student organizations, because the requirements of the Equal Access Act would then no longer apply.