A
Washington,
D.C.
based
organization
is
using
Georgia’s
parental
permission
law
as
a
template
to
get
similar
legislation
passed
in
five
southern
states
in
its
attempts
to
ban
gay-straight
alliance
clubs.
The
Family
Policy
Network
is
currently
seeking
lawmakers
to
propose
legislation
mandating
parental
permission
for
students
to
join
any
non-academic
clubs
such
as
GSAs
in
North
Carolina,
Virginia,
Tennessee,
Alabama
and
Texas.
“The
primary
reason
we
believe
legislation
is
necessary
is
because
educators
are
in
lock-step
with
the
liberal
social
agenda,
such
as
abortion
and
the
homosexual
agenda,”
said
Joe
Glover,
president
of
FPN.
“We
need
to
guard
the
fox
that’s
in
the
hen
house.
Schools
want
to
hide
the
fact
they
are
involved
in
promoting
deviant
lifestyles,”
he
added.
FPN’s
campaign,
launched
this
month,
is
a
direct
result
of
a
July
14
federal
court
ruling
requiring
White
County
High
School
in
Cleveland,
Ga.,
to
provide
space
for
a
gay-straight
alliance
to
meet
on
campus.
The
ACLU
sued
the
Georgia
school
district,
citing
the
federal
Equal
Access
Act,
after
the
White
County
high
school
principal
in
2005
banned
all
non-curricular
clubs
at
the
school
to
keep
out
the
GSA,
named
Peers
Rising
in
Diverse
Education,
or
PRIDE.
“Georgia
taught
us
something
because
the
federal
court
wouldn’t
ban
the
club,”
Glover
said.
“We’ve
been
looking
for
three
years
at
crafting
legislation
to
give
parents
awareness
of
these
clubs
and
to
allow
parents
to
prevent
participation
if
they
so
choose.
It’s
a
no-brainer
—
why
not
give
parents
this
information?”
Glover
acknowledged
the
campaign
has
just
gotten
underway
and
no
lawmakers
have
yet
signed
on
to
sponsoring
such
bills,
but
said
the
group
plans
to
have
people
on
board
when
state
legislative
sessions
begin
in
January.
‘Opt
out’
vs.
‘opt
in’
The
controversy
over
the
White
County
GSA
prompted
conservative
Georgia
lawmakers
to
propose
a
parental
permission
bill,
the
first
such
bill
to
win
approval
in
the
nation,
according
to
officials
with
the
Gay,
Lesbian
&
Straight
Education
Network.
Sen.
Nancy
Schaefer
(R-Turnerville)
proposed
the
original
legislation
to
require
parents
to
give
permission
for
a
student
to
join
any
school
club.
Gay
rights
activists
argued
the
bill
was
simply
an
attempt
to
keep
GSAs
out
of
high
schools,
noting
that
students
who
are
afraid
to
be
open
about
their
sexual
orientation
with
their
parents
would
not
ask
for
permission
to
join
the
clubs.
The
Georgia
General
Assembly
eventually
approved
a
watered
down
version
of
Schaefer’s
bill
that
requires
all
public
schools
to
inform
parents
and
guardians
about
what
extracurricular
clubs
are
available
at
their
child’s
school.
If
a
parent
or
guardian
deems
a
club
unsuitable
for
their
child,
they
can
then
“opt
out”
the
student
from
that
club
by
signing
a
form
and
filing
it
with
school
officials.
Glover
said
FPN’s
proposed
legislation
would
require
an
“opt
in”
requirement
that
would
dictate
parents
and
guardians
give
permission
before
a
student
can
join
any
non-academic
club.
FPN’s
campaign
is
part
of
a
movement
to
take
back
schools
from
what
it
deems
as
the
“infiltration
of
homosexual
activists
in
schools,”
Glover
said.
“Kids
go
to
school
to
learn
how
to
read,
write
and
about
history
—
and
are
not
sent
to
pursue
alternative,
sexual
lifestyles,”
he
said.
Alex
Mason,
a
policy
analyst
with
FPN,
told
the
Christian
news
organization
Agape
Press
in
an
Aug.
23
story
that
FPN’s
proposed
legislation
would
likely
cause
GSA
club
participation
to
decrease.
FPN
has
ties
to
the
virulently
anti-gay
American
Family
Association,
led
by
Donald
Wildmon,
as
well
as
anti-gay
activist
Peter
LaBarbera,
who
is
listed
as
a
national
adviser
on
FPN’s
website.
Courts
clear?
Glover
said
because
courts
are
“not
consistent”
when
it
comes
to
GSAs,
passing
state
laws
is
the
best
way
to
ensure
parents
understand
such
clubs
exist.
But
Eliza
Byard,
deputy
executive
director
of
the
Gay,
Lesbian
&
Straight
Education
Network,
said
the
courts
are
“very
clear”
on
the
issue
of
school
clubs,
including
GSAs,
because
of
the
federal
Equal
Access
Act
passed
by
Congress
in
1984.
The
law,
originally
passed
to
protect
religious
clubs
in
public
schools,
states
in
part:
“It
shall
be
unlawful
for
any
public
secondary
school
…
to
deny
equal
access
or
a
fair
opportunity
to,
or
discriminate
against,
any
students
who
wish
to
conduct
a
meeting
within
that
limited
open
forum
on
the
basis
of
the
religious,
political,
philosophical,
or
other
content
of
the
speech
at
such
meetings.”
“There
is
no
ambiguity
there,”
Byard
said.
“It
is
disingenuous
for
FPN
to
claim
there
is
a
lack
of
clarity.”
Groups
such
as
FPN
that
characterize
GSAs
as
clubs
devoted
to
sex
are
also
part
of
the
problem,
she
...
