Source: The State (Columbia), WACH-TV, WDEF-TV, Miami Herald blog,
Columbia, SC -- The principal of a high school here says that he'll resign next year rather than oversee a school where students are allowed to form a Gay/Straight Alliance (GSA) club.

Eddie Walker, lead administrator at Irmo High School, announced his resignation to students and faculty Wednesday after the school board explained to him that he must allow a GSA group to form on campus.

School board members say it's an all or nothing situation. Either you allow non-curricular clubs, or you don't. Since there are many at Irmo, GSA supporters have the right to form a chapter on that campus. The Federal Access Act won't allow discrimination against a club unless it's illegal.

South Carolina Equality Director Ray Drew says the group provides support for gay, lesbian and straight students from an often hostile environment in our schools. Reports show, last year 31 percent of gay students were threatened or injured and 18 percent were physically assaulted because of their sexual orientation.

In a letter to Lexington-Richland 5 school board members Walker says, "My decision to resign is a personal choice based on my professional beliefs and religious convictions."

Walker implies in his letter that "gay" can only mean "sex" and that he can't stand the thought of being at a school where that sort of thing might happen. He feels if students join the club, they'll start having sex.

"The formation of this club conflicts with my professional beliefs in that we do not have other clubs at Irmo High school based on sexual orientation, sexual preference, or sexual activity," Walker wrote in his letter to the school board. 

"In fact," he continued, "our sex education curriculum is abstinence based. I feel the formation of a Gay/Straight Alliance Club at Irmo High school implies that students joining the club will have chosen to or will choose to engage in sexual activity with members of the same sex, opposite sex, or members of both sexes."

Gloria Talcove, a foreign language teacher at Irmo High, is the club’s sponsor. She would not say to The State, a Columbia, SC newspaper, how many students came together to form the club or when they came to her for help. But she doesn’t think the attention the club has received should be a cause for concern about the students’ welfare.

"This whole thing is a little bit of a non-issue really," Talcove told the newspaper, noting Gay/Straight Alliance clubs are found in other states.

"They are clubs like any other club."

Talcove called media coverage of the situation “a major distraction” from schoolwork and upcoming exams.

"I really just want the school to recover equilibrium. It's a wonderful school. I have a wonderful principal. I think the world of him," Talcove said.

Kevin Jennings called Walker’s decision a first in his 20 years since founding the first Gay/Straight Alliance chapter at a school in Concord, Mass. He is now director of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, based in New York.

“I have never heard of something like this before,” he told The State. “I find it bizarre.”

Either the principal does not understand the club, or he is misrepresenting its intent, Jennings said.

Sean's Last Wish, a group formed to lobby for hate-crimes legislation in South Carolina and named in honor of a young man who was killed in a gay bashing, yesterday denounced the principal's resignation announcement.

Elke Kennedy, whose son Sean was murdered last year in Greenville in an anti-gay hate-crime, said, "GSA's give students who are gay bi and straight, a safe place to support each other, talk about issues and work to end homophobia. Many GSAs function as a support group and provide safety and confidentiality to students who are struggling with their identity."

She called Walker's suggestion that a GSA club would promote sexual activity "completely ludicrous and unfounded."

The Rev. Benny Colclough, a member of the SC Equity Coalition board, said he was troubled by Walker’s declaration that he will step down a year from now.

"This is going to permeate the atmosphere for a whole year and cause harm to the school -- and the members of that club that is going to be allowed to be organized," Colclough told The State. "It doesn’t just affect him, but the entire student body."

Kevin Jennings called Walker’s decision a first in his 20 years since founding the first Gay/Straight Alliance chapter at a school in Concord, Mass. He is now director of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, based in New York.

“I have never heard of something like this before,” he said. “I find it bizarre.”

Brent Childers, executive director of Faith in America -- which describes itself as "a unique voice in the GLBT social justice movement -- called it "a shame that the principal ... decided to place religion-based bigotry and discrimination over his former commitment to his students and staff."

According to a report by WACH-TV, Irmo High School students have mixed emotions about principal Eddie Walker's decision to quit, although the station found only one student to express such emotions.

"I really don't want him to go because he was doing such a great job," student Brion Hayes told the station.

Hayes added for the Fox-network station, "I don't think school is the appropriate place to have a gay club."

WDEF talked to a parent, Brenda, who supports the Walker's decision.

"You're not putting them, like, oh, you know, you're lepers," Brenda explained. "But we've got to stand for what our foundation of our nation was about."

"You stand for what you believe in, your principles, but don't try to change others," she told the station.

A young woman who attended a Florida high school that had a gay-straight club explained to WDEF, "Everyone has equal rights,"

"People used to make fun of and beat up gay people just because they were different, well this is a program to make everyone feel they belong."

His resignation would be effective at the end of the 2008-09 school year.

School district officials confirmed to The State the resignation and said they intend to retain Walker as principal throughout the next school year, despite his beliefs.

“He signed his contract,” said Michelle Foster, a district spokeswoman. “His resignation is his decision.”

This isn’t the first time Irmo High School has found itself embroiled in a public debate over sexual orientation, reports The State.

Ten years ago this month, then-principal Gerald Witt refused to let the Indigo Girls — two openly gay singers — perform a free concert on campus that was the prize in a student-journalism competition. Witt faced pressure from parents and community leaders to cancel the concert.

Full article: Irmo High School principal resigns | WACH-TV
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Irmo high principal set to resign over club | The State