NEW YORK (AP) — New York City officials defended the creation of a new public high school for GLBT students July 31 after the head of the state Conservative Party threatened to file a lawsuit against the school.

At a City Hall news conference, supporters of the Harvey Milk High School said it was needed to protect gay and lesbian students from harassment and physical attacks.

“These kids are the most likely to be hurt or to hurt themselves,” said City Council Speaker Gifford Miller.

Councilmember Margarita Lopez said students who will attend Harvey Milk “are there because they have been brutalized. This program provides them with a safe haven and a chance to get an education.”

State Conservative Party Chair Michael Long, a vocal critic of the school, said it illegally discriminates against students based on sexual orientation. He said he’s looking into filing a lawsuit against the city to shut the school down. The city has spent $750,000 to expand the school.

“The issue is whether taxpayers’ money should go toward segregated schools and promoting the gay lifestyle,” Long said. “We are looking at taking many angles against this.”

Harvey Milk High — named after San Francisco’s first openly gay city supervisor, who was assassinated in 1978 — is open to anyone regardless of sexual orientation and could withstand any constitutional challenge, Miller said.

“Those who throw around conservative principles and deny our students the right to a safe education ought to look more carefully,” he said.

But Long said he believed the school segregates despite the fact that enrollment was not officially limited to gay students.

“I am not convinced that this isn’t totally a gay school,” he said. “What would happen if 150 straight kids wanted to attend?”

The school is an expansion of a two-classroom public school program that began in 1984. A GLBT youth advocacy group, the Hetrick-Martin Institute, has managed and financed the program since its inception. Renovations will be complete in the fall and officials at the school said it is open to any child threatened in school, straight or gay.

Earlier in the day, more than 80 Hispanic ministers voted unanimously to back Long’s effort to file a lawsuit.

“Every child suffers violence, not only the gay children,” said Rev. Ruben Diaz of the New York Hispanic Clergy Organization. “You do not fight violence through segregation — segregation in this country is over.”

Diaz said that separate schools may be needed for students with physical disabilities, but not for students of different sexual orientations.

“These people are normal,” he said. “Normal people do not need special education.”

Long said news of the high school has “hit a nerve all over the country,” adding that he’s received hundreds of e-mails opposing the school — many from gays and lesbians who believe that segregated schools are a step in the wrong direction.

“What’s the next step?” he asked. “All gay colleges?”