CLOVIS, NM – The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico sent a letter to Clovis Municipal School District Superintendent Terry Myers today urging “immediate approval” of a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) club at Clovis High School in Clovis, New Mexico. The letter noted that “students have been waiting approximately two months for your approval to begin meetings…Unreasonable delay in approving the GSA singles this organization out as receiving unequal treatment compared to other student organizations.”  The ACLU said it is “prepared to take whatever legal action is necessary to defend the legal rights of students seeking to form the GSA.”
“We’re calling on the Superintendent to act in good faith and to approve the GSA now,” said ACLU-NM Executive Director Peter Simonson.  “Don’t delay this decision in hopes it goes away over the summer.  The students have waited patiently and they’ve followed all the procedures required of them.  They deserve this club.”
GSAs are student-run extracurricular clubs that bring together lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and straight students to support each other and promote tolerance, and are common in public school districts throughout New Mexico and the nation.
Student Steven de los Santos first made the request to form the GSA in February 2011. However, last month the school board for the Clovis Municipal School District voted to ban all non-curricular clubs from meeting during school hours or using school resources, making it harder for club organizers to publicize meetings. The GSA was still not given approval to form as a non-curricular club.
In the letter, the ACLU of New Mexico calls attention to the fact that some non-curricular clubs have been allowed to meet after school since the board vote. The school cannot refuse to allow a GSA to meet without violating the First Amendment and the Equal Access Act.
"Although the superintendent insists that the change in policy was not due to any particular club request, the fact remains that the GSA still has not been given approval to meet,” said ACLU-NM Staff Attorney Alexandra Freedman Smith. "If other clubs are allowed to meet, the school cannot exclude certain groups while allowing others.”
The ACLU letter points out that the GSA has a faculty sponsor, the students have submitted a detailed description of this student club and they have agreed to hold meetings after the school day is over.
“We’ve been waiting for months for the school board to give us permission to meet, even if that’s after school hours,” said de los Santos. “All we want is to form a club that will promote tolerance and offer support to students who just want to be themselves, but we’re running out of time before the school year ends.”
For a copy of the demand letter, please click HERE.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Micah McCoy, (505) 266-5915 Ext. 1003 or [email protected]

###

CLOVIS, NM – Today, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico called on Clovis Municipal School District School Board Members to allow students at Clovis High School to form a non-curricular Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) club. On Tuesday, April 26, board members will meet to consider abolishing all non-curricular student clubs in order to block the club’s formation.
Gay-Straight Alliances are non-curricular, student initiated and student run clubs, with the goal of providing a safe, supportive environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning (LGBTQ) and allied straight youth to meet and discuss sexual orientation and gender identity issues, and to work to create a school environment free of discrimination, harassment and intolerance. Currently, there are more than 3,000 GSAs in schools throughout the United States. In a 2009 survey conducted by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), students who attended schools with GSA groups were more likely to report feeling safe at school and less likely to report harassment due to their perceived or actual sexual orientation.
Today, ACLU of New Mexico Staff Attorney Alexandra Freedman Smith sent a letter to the Clovis School Board, urging that they not deny high school students the personal enrichment and opportunities provided by non-curricular clubs:
“Non-curricular activities are a vital part of any educational program and provide students with enriching and rewarding experiences. At Clovis High School, you have non-curricular service clubs, religious clubs, a chess club, and other similarly engaging groups. To simply discontinue these clubs would deprive all students of a rich and diverse set of activities to engage in outside of class. Eliminating these clubs would doubtlessly diminish the vibrancy of the high school community in Clovis.”
The full text of the letter can be read HERE..
Under federal law, if public schools allow non-curricular clubs—such as Chess Club or the Fellowship of Christian Athletes—they have created a limited open forum and must give equal access to any students who wish to form additional non-curricular clubs. Once this limited open forum is established, school officials may not discriminate against any club based on its viewpoint.  However, some schools attempt an end run around this law by abolishing all student non-curricular clubs, blocking access to not only GSAs, but all other non-curricular clubs as well.
“It is a shame that Clovis the School Board would consider such drastic action, all just to prevent students from creating an open, safe place at school for LGBT youth and straight allies to gather,” said ACLU of New Mexico Executive Director Peter Simonson. “LGBT students are often the targets of bullying and may have no other place where they feel accepted and supported. To deny them this support—while simultaneously denying every other student the opportunity to participate in other non-curricular clubs—is unjustifiable.”
The ACLU of New Mexico invites students from other school districts to file a legal complaint online at aclu-nm.org if they believe that their school is attempting to prevent the formation of GSAs, censoring websites with content geared towards the LGBT communities or otherwise discriminating against students based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 25, 2011
CONTACT: Micah McCoy, (505) 266-5915 x1003 or [email protected]

###

We have revised the ACLU of New Mexico Privacy Statement because we want to clarify and provide more information about our collection, use and protection of information collected on this website, particularly as technology has evolved.  In addition to clarifying our collection practices, the revisions include a description of our use of Short-Term Cookies.
To learn more click here.