What was supposed to be a peaceful protest to call attention to the harassment suffered by GLBT students on a daily basis in high schools across the country ended up with more than a dozen students being removed from class and sent to the principal’s office at Carlsbad High School last month. Students at the North County high school sought approval from administration to observe the Day of Silence, on April 21, but when they were turned down because of testing on campus, members of the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) chose to go ahead with the silent protest.

“This was simply one more ‘no’ and the students decided they were going to do it anyways,” said Kurt Dearie, the GSA’s faculty advisor. “The teachers and administrators did know that it was going to take place and this particular teacher decided that he was going to have a surprise oral presentation so he could then say they were disturbing class and send them out.”

Since its inception two years ago, the GSA at Carlsbad High has had an uphill battle. When students originally tried to form the club on campus the school board initially turned down their request. After learning its actions were discriminatory and that it had put the school district at risk for a lawsuit, the board reversed its decision. Earlier this year, student requests to do an exhibit on the Transgender Day of Remembrance were turned down by the school’s administration. Now, as a result of this latest run-in, members of the GSA are working more closely with the school administration than ever before to make sure that things are moving in the right direction at Carlsbad High.

“The day of silence is a great opportunity for students and teachers alike to engage in dialogue about LGBT issues,” said Jeremy Kraut-Ordover, head of the local chapter of the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN). “The need for further dialogue is only highlighted when fear and bigotry are the answer to this event. I am heartened to see that the principal at Carlsbad High is taking a stand against bigotry. I hope that we see a continued path toward acceptance, tolerance and mutual understanding and GLSEN stands ready to support this and any other school district in that mission.”

To better understand their rights, six members of the GSA, along with parents and the club’s faculty advisor, Dearie, met with AJ Davis of The Center’s Public Policy Department and local attorney ME Stephens, who works closely with the department.

“Their biggest concern is that students in the future will be supported for doing the Day of Silence,” Davis said. “They were obviously very upset that 15 students were removed from school this year, but their biggest concern was that they want to know that training is going to occur to make sure teachers and administrators understand safe school issues and AB 537. They want to ensure that’s going to happen because they’re all seniors and they’re all leaving.”

When meeting with the students, Davis explained to them their rights under AB 537, which adds gender identity and sexual orientation to the protected classes in the California education code. In addition to possibly being a violation of their First Amendment rights of free speech, the teacher who removed the students from class could be in violation of AB 537.

“From what I understand from the students, there has definitely been some issues that need to be addressed as far as being in violation of AB 537,” Davis said. “Also, from what I understand from the students, the principal is being supportive of them and is taking care of the situation.”

Davis added: “I think it definitely looks promising. It sounds like the principal is on our side and some of the board members are supportive ofthe LGBTQ youth. This is not a situation that is impossible to fix. It’s fairly easy to fix if you will reach out and accept the resources that are available to you.”

In the last month Carlsbad High School has become somewhat of a battleground for GLBT students and their allies. The school’s nationally recognized Lancer Dancers team performed at Youth Pride here in San Diego earlier this month, evoking a call to action from the conservative organization Concerned Women for America. They urged parents to voice their concern with the school district over the Lancer Dancers’ participation in the event.

“I believe the general tenor is live and let live amongst most students,” said Dearie. “It’s outside groups like Concerned Women for America and people within the community that will become very vocal and it’s very difficult to gauge how much, if any, support they actually have.”

Dearie hopes that by getting representatives from The Center involved in meeting with the students it will open up an opportunity for more diversity training within the school and more openness about about students’ coming out and the issues that go along with that.

“One of the real difficulties is you have more students who are open about their sexuality, and more teachers even,” Dearie said. “In the political environment with constitutional amendments and so forth, these issues are going to just keep coming up and no one has the experience of how to handle them. Whether they are well meaning or not they may very much want to deal with it correctly, but it’s new and it’s frightening – but hopefully there will be some resources that they will be able to give to administrators that will help them do their job the best that they can.”