LGBT students face harassment and discrimination on a daily basis. Students in many schools in Illinois and across the United States have established gay-straight alliances.
Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) are formed and led by students who see them as a group that provides a safe place to meet as well as addresses issues of discrimination, tolerance, and school safety.
The Equal Access Act, which was passed by Congress in 1984, provides that high schools that receive federal funding and allow at least one after-school club to meet and use the school’s facilities may not deny any student club the same treatment based on the content of what they want to discuss.
The Act states,
It shall be unlawful for any public secondary school which receives
Federal financial assistance and which has a limited open forum to deny
equal access or a fair opportunity to, or discriminate against, any
students who wish to conduct a meeting within that limited open forum on
the basis of the religious, political, philosophical, or other content
of the speech at such meetings. 20 U.S.C. 4071(a)
A high school has a limited open forum when “such school grants an offering to or opportunity for one or more noncurriculum related student groups to meet on school premises during noninstructional time.” 20 U.S. 4071(b).
A “noncurriculum-related club has been defined by the United States Supreme Court as a club “that does not directly relate to the body of courses offered by the school.” Board of Educ. of Westside Community Schools v. Mergens, 496 U.S. 226, 239 (1990). Such clubs would include a chess club and a community service club. Examples of curriculum-related clubs include language clubs such as the German Club, Math Club or Psychology Club.