A Florida school board is expected to
vote Monday on a proposed policy banning gay-straight clubs.
The proposal was prompted by
eighth-grader Bayli Silberstein's efforts to form a Gay-Straight
Alliance at her school. Administrators at Carver Middle School in
Leesburg, Florida have rejected Silberstein's request two years in a
row.
When the American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU) of Florida stepped in on behalf of Silberstein, the school
board responded with a proposal to end all non-curricular student
clubs.
Silberstein will attend the Lake County
School Board meeting to deliver the names of about 50,000 people who
signed an online petition urging the board not to approve the
proposal.
The ACLU announced it would fly a plane
with a banner which reads “Stand With Bayli, Not The Bullies”
over the building as the board meets.
“I'm excited by all the support I've
gotten,” Silberstein said. “We need to do something about the
bullying at Carver. I really hope the school board will listen to
all these people saying that banning student groups is not fair, and
that we should be allowed to form a Gay-Straight Alliance.”