Principal: No GSA Here Until We Get Legal Advice!
Long Process, Lack of Support Discourages Gay/Straight Alliance at Fair Haven Union High

by Jen Calkins

     The principal of Fair Haven Union High School told students, faculty, and staff that he would not allow a gay/straight alliance to be started at the school until the school had obtained legal advice. The statement came in an all-school assembly after a small group of students attempted to form such an organization.
     B.J. Rogers, Director of Outright Vermont, a statewide organization that in part works to make schools safer for students who are or are perceived to be GLBTQ, said he was invited to Fair Haven Union High School in mid-January to speak with students who were interested in starting the alliance. Five or six students and a staff advisor were present at the meeting.
     “The basic purpose was to identify what they wanted to do,” Rogers said.
     The group decided to display posters to get other students interested in joining the group. They went through the school’s procedure of having the posters approved by Principal Bob Gray’s office. The poster went through several edits before it was accepted.
     After the poster’s wording was agreed on, the principal’s office told the students that they could display the posters only in three specific locations around the school. However, one student decided to hand them out in the hallway, which resulted in a negative reaction from another student. A teacher stepped in to avoid an altercation, and alerted Gray.
     Gray said in a phone interview that the encounter was more serious than described. “Actually, the student tried to force the flier onto another student, who kept saying, ‘No, no, I don’t want it.’”
     According to Rogers, Gray saw that the GSA was causing disruption at Fair Haven Union, and he therefore saw it as his responsibility to end it.
     “At that point, he pulled everyone into an assembly and told them that there would be no gay-straight alliance until he got legal advice on what had to be done,” Rogers said.
     Principal Gray said, “What I told them in the assembly was that the process was on hold, because we wanted to do it right. It was clear that there were real differences of opinion, and I didn’t want any anger or disruption in the student body.” Asked about a rumor that half the student body had stood up and applauded, he denied it. “A few students started applauding, but I said right then that that was exactly the kind of response I was not expecting from the students at our school. And they stopped.”
     Gray was also asked about a rumor that one of the students was told that if coming to school was uncomfortable or fearful, the student should consider being home schooled. “Who said that?,” asked Gray indignantly. “Told by whom? I can only say that that suggestion did not come from me or from my staff.” Gray later clarified his statement, explaining that he had spoken to gay students about home schooling, but not as an alternative to forming a gay-straight alliance. “I never discussed homeschooling with gay students,” he said, “as a way of avoiding forming a gay-straight alliance.”
     After four weeks, during which Gray hired a lawyer, he held four separate assemblies, one for each grade. He reported that, while the students seeking to form a gay-straight alliance had the legal right to meet in the school building, it was an outside group, not school sponsored. In order to be school sponsored, a group must apply to the school board for approval. Gray cited a group that wanted to start a bowling team whose application for school sponsorship was denied by the school board.
     At the assemblies, said Gray, the lawyer talked about the school’s obligation. “We have a limited open forum policy. He talked about civil rights, freedom. I think he did a pretty nice job presenting it. We let everyone know that those students had a legal right to meet.” He insisted, “The school never took a stand against the gay-straight alliance at any time. We just didn’t want to get into an emotional issue. At no time were the students told they couldn’t have such a group. In fact, I told them they could, but they’re not a school sponsored group.” As an example of another outside group that’s not school sponsored, Gray said, “we have a prayer group that in past years have met around a flag pole.”
     On April 9, the school held a meeting to answer possible questions that parents and community members might have regarding the issue. According to Rogers, the vast majority of people in the room were faculty and staff from Fair Haven Union High School itself, and there were 15 parents. Gray said that there were 25-30 parents in attendance, responding to letters and copies of the agenda sent home to the parents of all 585 students.
     Ten people comprised the panel, including Principal Gray, the assistant principal, the superintendent and the assistant superintendent, a member from the Vermont Human Rights Commission, two representatives from the Department of Education, an attorney representing the state, the school’s attorney, and Charles Johnson from the Safe & Healthy Schools project. Gray noted that BJ Rogers was also present and spoke to the meeting, “and no one tried to stop him.”
     “Of all the panel members, one was a woman, one was of African American descent, and none were queer,” Rogers said.
     Since that meeting, said Gray, the students who wanted to form the gay-straight alliance have come by the office to request a form for the use of the building – required of all outside groups. The form itself has not yet been filed as of press time, however.
     “Our students here are pretty nice kids and they needed to go through this whole thing. We just tried to put the facts in front of them and take the emotions out of it. We let them know what the law is. I think our community did a nice job,” said Gray. Gray is in his third year as principal of Fair Haven Union High School, having come from Sunapee, New Hampshire.
     The Fair Haven Union High School incident occurs in light of recent studies that show GLBTQ youth are more likely to engage in certain risky behaviors than their straight peers. The 2001 Vermont Youth Risk Behavior Survey states that GLBTQ youth are more at risk for depression, alcohol and drug use, suicide, and are more likely to be infected with HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
     However, a recent study by Institute for Gay and Lesbian Strategic Studies (IGLSS) showed how GLBTQ youth are benefiting from gay-straight alliances in schools.
     “With this study, IGLSS has substantiated the role that gay-straight alliances play in creating safer school environments for LGBT youth,” said Stacy Roth, executive director of IGLSS. The study went on to state that creating gay-straight alliances is only one step in making schools safer for GLBTQ students.
     “Recent studies show that LGBT youth are at risk for harassment and bullying by their peers. Schools must create policies that address these concerns,” said Dr. Pat Griffin, a principal investigator of the study. “With regular turnover of student leadership and adult advisors, and without policies and support from school principals and other administrators, the lasting effects of a good GSA will be limited. The entire school setting must be involved.”