Hotly disputed bill fails in Virginia Senate

Denounced by gay-straight alliances across the state, the source of widespread debate throughout Virginia has finally found a new home: the trash can.

Delegate Matthew Lohr, R-Harrisonburg, proposed a bill authorizing school boards to prohibit the use of school facilities by any student organization promoting “sexual activity by unmarried minor students.”

Opposition quickly arose against the proposed law from more than 60 organizations in Virginia, including the American Civil Liberties Union, Equality Virginia, and other assorted groups, because of the bill’s alleged goal to disband gay-straight alliances. The alliances intend to provide support for gay students and to foster dialogue with the rest of their peers.

“When asked in the subcommittee hearing if he could think of any other organization that this would affect, Delegate Lohr couldn’t think of any others besides gay-straight alliances,” said Jeremy Kidd, president of Queer Action, a VCU student organization devoted to political activism around gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues. “It’s really obvious that this is an attempt by a really homophobic delegate to give school boards the authority to push (gay-straight alliances) off.”

Lohr denied singling out gay-straight alliances.

“Certainly the bill never mentions any organization by name,” he said. “It’s not even limited to homosexual sex. To me, sex is sex whether it’s heterosexual or homosexual. I just don’t think our public schools are really the place where clubs should be formed that discuss it and promote it.”

Although Lohr claimed the bill didn’t gun for gay-straight alliances at large, he cited it was inspired by one particular gay-straight alliance’s actions at Manchester High School in Chesterfield County. In March 2005, the group invited gay author Greg Herren to give a talk and do a book signing, but was stopped by the school principal one week before the scheduled visit.

“When they did some research on some of the books Herren had worked with, one of them was about ‘Frat Sex: Gay Sex in College Fraternities,’ Lohr said. “Some of the book covers on his works were very, very explicit and revealing and, in my opinion, inappropriate.”

Shortly after the incident, Lohr argued that the Chesterfield County School Board should have had the authority to disband the student organization.

Gay-straight alliances were first barred by a school board and subsequently reinstated by district court ruling in Orange County, Calif., in 1999. Since then, numerous gay-straight alliances have successfully filed suit against school board bans, typically citing violations of the First Amendment and the 1984 Equal Access Act. Initially supported by religious organizations that were kept out of public schools in the 1980s, the act ensures any student club the right to meet as long as the school allows at least one other non-curriculum based club to meet outside of class time.

Still, Kidd said he worries many don’t have the power to fight legislation like Lohr’s if it were passed.

“A lot of school GSAs are not in the position to sue if this were pushed by their school boards, and there probably wouldn’t be anything they could do about it,” he said.

While Lohr’s bill should not directly affect gay-straight alliances, opponents of the bill say Virginia school boards could potentially construe its language in a way that would eliminate the groups from their schools.

“I think it’s crap,” said Kathryn Jackson, a junior and psychology major at VCU. “If they use school facilities to teach about safe sex and family planning, I don’t think that’s a bad thing. It’s promoting health, not necessarily ‘go out and get some sex now.’ We want healthy people.”

Still, others doubt that any student groups would be affected at all. Sophomore business-administration major Jeff Andriliunas said, “What organization does that? I’ve never known any type of activity like that at school.”

Lohr said he doesn’t think any organization sets out to promote sexual activity.

“There could be organizations that veer off course and head down that road, and this is what this bill is aimed at,” he said.

Despite easily passing the House of Delegates with a vote of 70-29, after a month of deliberation, the bill was voted down 9-6 in the Senate’s Education and Health Committee on March 2. A similar law in 2005 passed in the House and died in the same Senate committee.

While Kidd said he expects to have some variation of the bill return each year, Lohr said he has doubts about resubmitting his bill.

“The committee seems to be pretty set in their vote, so if the Senate Education Committee is exactly the same, then it probably wouldn’t be much use,” he said.