A slim plurality of Utahns would allow student gay and lesbian organizations to meet at schools rather than ban all non-cur-riculum clubs.
Thirty-five percent of Utahns who responded to a recent Deseret News/KSL poll said they would allow the clubs.However, 28 percent said local school boards should specifically ban gay and lesbian student organizations, even if it means a court battle.
Twenty-nine percent favored banning all clubs.
The poll of 607 Utahns was conducted March 2-6 by Dan Jones & Associates Inc. The poll has a 4 percent margin of error.
Until recently, local school boards had been told they had two choices in the matter: ban all clubs or allow all clubs so long as their activities do not violate the law.
Attorneys for the Utah School Boards Association recently announced their study indicates there is a third option - ban controversial clubs and test the issue in court.
The legal opinion is contrary to interpretations by lawyers for the Utah State Board of Education, the Salt Lake City Board of Education and the Utah Attorney General's Office.
The issue came to the forefront late last fall when a small group of East High School students petitioned their principal to form a Gay-Straight Alliance at the school.
The request sent school officials scrambling for legal advice. The Utah State Board of Education and the Utah Legislature went behind closed doors to discuss the issue and determine if there was anything the bodies could do to keep gay and lesbian students from forming sanctioned clubs on Utah's high school campuses.
A Deseret News/KSL poll indicated 44 percent of Utahns believe gay and lesbian clubs should probably or definitely be allowed to meet on school campuses. Twenty-five percent said all clubs should probably or definitely be banned rather than allow homo-sex-ual organizations to form on campus.
In the midst of the statewide debate, the local school board voted 4-3 to prohibit non-curriculum clubs from meeting at school beginning this fall.
Meanwhile, the Legislature considered two bills that addressed the issue. Ultimately, the Legislature adopted one, which would prohibit public schoolteachers and volunteers from encouraging, condoning or supporting engagement in illegal conduct in their official capacities.
The limitations also apply to school employees acting in a private capacity if their conduct "results in a material or substantial interference or disruption in the normal activities of the school."
The Utah Education Association has asked Gov. Mike Leavitt to veto the bill. The teachers' union believes the bill has a chilling effect on their free speech rights.
Leavitt has until midnight Tuesday, March 19, to decide whether to veto the bill, sign it or let it become law without his signature.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Deseret News/KSL poll
Do you prefer that your school district ban all non-curricular clubs, or should gay/lesbian clubs be allowed in the schools?
BAN ALL CLUBS 29%
ALLOW GAY/LESBIAN CLUBS 35%
BAN GAY/LESBIAN CLUBS* 28%
OTHER 3%
DON'T KNOW 6%
*Face legal action
Poll conducted Mar. 2-6, 1996, 607 residents. Margin of error +/-4%. Survey conducted by Dan Jones & Associates. Copyright 1996 Deseret News.