BY JOELLYN MANVILLE AND JOHN LANGFORD
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - Thousands of high school and
middle school students walked out of classes and took to the
streets here Friday, February 23, to protest a school board
decision to ban all extra-curricular school clubs. The board
had enacted the measure three days earlier as a way to bar
the recently formed Gay-Straight Alliance student group. The
fight has drawn national attention.
At East High School, hundreds of students rallied across the street from the school chanting "we will fight for our rights" for some time before going back to class. Some 1,500 students walked out at West High School, and hundreds of them marched to the state capitol building and held a rally there. Youth at Northwest and Bryant middle schools also joined in some of the protests.
While most students expressed outrage at the club ban, and many support the right of the Gay-Straight Alliance to exist, a few students held up a sign reading, "SAFE - Students Against Faggots at East."
Earlier in the week, 120 supporters of democratic rights for gays, most of them students, marched from Liberty Park to the Salt Lake City District School Board meeting. About 100 speakers from the packed floor addressed the school board for one minute each, most of them to speak against the proposed ban on clubs. Pat Reynolds, a West High student, complained that the board had "a moral vendetta against one certain club. It also has no respect for our opinions or what we believe in."
Trever Dreyer, West High student body president, asked that the board "not eliminate the clubs, whether we agree with the East High Gay-Straight Alliance." The board voted 4- 3 to ban the clubs, though.
The day before the walkout, the state senate approved a bill barring teachers and school employees from "promoting illegal activities" both on and off the job. State Senator Lyle Hillyard argued during the debate that "you give up some of your freedoms when you sign that contract and go to work." Activists have denounced the bill as a way of preventing clubs such as the gay rights group from gaining teachers' support, and as a general attack on free speech.
The Citizens Alliance for Hate Free Schools has called a demonstration for Saturday, March 2. Protesters will gather at the federal building in downtown Salt Lake City at noon, and then march to the Capitol for a rally there. Endorsers of the march include the National Organization for Women and the American Civil Liberties Union.
John Langford is a member of the United Steelworkers of America; Joellyn Manville is a member of the Young Socialists and the East High Gay-Straight Alliance.