Students Descend on Protesters Across From El Modena High

A brief melee broke out Wednesday at El Modena High School as 30 or so students swarmed a dozen anti-gay protesters across the street from campus and shouted at them to go away.

The students rushed across the street as the poster-waving protesters, most of them recent transplants from Utah, shouted “Stop gay clubs!” and “Stop the propaganda!” Students retorted, “Shut up!” and “Go home!”

The scuffle came just as school was letting out for the day, about two hours after the first campus meeting of El Modena’s Gay-Straight Alliance, a student support group attended by more than 50 students. A federal judge ruled

Friday that the Orange Unified School District, which had banned the club, must allow it to meet on campus. The after-school flare-up on Spring Street in Orange briefly escalated into a shouting and shoving match when one club opponent swatted group founder Anthony Colin in the head with a cardboard sign. Colin, 15, attempted to yank a protester’s sign away. No one was hurt or arrested, said an Orange police spokesman.

“This was totally unexpected,” said Judy Frutig, the district’s public information officer. “It was a little scary for a period of time.”

The flare-up, which lasted for 20 to 30 minutes, halted traffic along Spring Street for a few minutes. Police arrived within 20 minutes and dispersed the crowd.

Wednesday’s incident was the latest involving the student club.

With the support of many local parents, the Orange trustees unanimously voted to bar the alliance in December, citing concerns that the club might be influenced by outsiders and could impede the district’s ability to provide appropriate sex education for students. Last week, a federal judge overruled the trustees and ordered them to allow the club to meet until their civil rights lawsuit against the district is heard this summer.

After six months of waiting, it was a relief for the club to finally convene, said Colin, who was elected alliance vice president.

“This was the day, this was the day!” Colin exulted. “I was so happy.”

At the meeting, students appointed a committee to draft the club’s constitution and they munched on cookies. Sex was not discussed, said students who attended the meeting. Meanwhile, school administrators watched outside the drama room to ensure that no one harassed the club members. One student was suspended when he snuck around an assistant principal and approached the room where the club met.

After school, things heated up. Just as the final bell rang, a handful of anti-club parents joined protesters from Utah calling themselves the America Forever Foundation in holding signs and chanting slogans. Group member Sandra Rodrigues said her group had been invited to Orange to battle the club for as long as it takes. They are now living in Costa Mesa, she said, and plan to become a fixture in Orange.

“I’ll be here for six months, eight months, [whatever] time it takes to help these children,” Rodrigues said.

During the lunch hour, El Modena was quieter, although media workers lined the sidewalk, and one woman staged a quiet protest against such clubs by displaying posters showing AIDS patients.

“It’s a gateway to a lifestyle that can be very destructive,” protester Brenda Vasquez said. Students “need to know the whole truth, because the whole truth is not being talked about here.”

The school board is scheduled to meet tonight to plan its next move after last week’s courtroom defeat. It could do anything from banning all extracurricular clubs, which at least two trustees oppose, to dropping the lawsuit altogether. Board President Linda Davis cast doubt on the latter option during a brief press conference Wednesday.

“We don’t like [the club], and we don’t approve of sex clubs for kids,” she said. “We are sure they are going to be talking about sexually related issues. It’s not appropriate for kids under 18.”

Off campus, many--but not all--El Modena students expressed a live-and-let-live attitude about the club. But they added that they are weary of their school’s time in the spotlight. The suburban campus, which serves both working class and more affluent neighborhoods, has been besieged by media workers and blanketed with fliers likening the school to a gay dating service. Anti-gay graffiti has been scribbled on bathroom walls and the campus has been tagged with a new, unwanted moniker, “Homodena,” students said.

“We shouldn’t be having this [club] here,” fumed one 17-year-old senior. “We’re supposed to be learning. This is ruining our school. It’s giving a bad reputation to our school.” El Modena senior Bre Nickum, 17, said she supports the club and might attend a meeting out of curiosity, but won’t become a regular member. Students who are angry about the club are mainly concerned with El Modena’s image, she said.

“It’s not as much a fear of the gay club, but of the school’s reputation,” she said. “I’ve heard from people already, ‘Oh, you go to the gay school.’ ”

Senior Addry Cordero, 18, said any instances of anti-gay sentiment at her school “just shows you how immature these kids are. It’s like a fear of the unknown. They don’t want to accept that there are gay people at our school.”

But junior Megan Stapleton, 16, objected to the club’s presence.

“I don’t think they should have it because the reputation of our school is more important than the topic of the club,” she said. “We are known as the gay school.”

* NEW CLUB PROPOSED: Two Mission Viejo High students have submitted a proposal to start a gay support group. B4