Here is today’s top story from the Harrisonburg Daily News Record:

HHS Students Face Anti-Gay Protest
City GOP Chairman Opposes Alliance
By JEFF MELLOTTDaily News-Record

Harrisonburg resident John Elledge is calling for the disbandment of a new student club, the “Gay and Straight Alliance” at Harrisonburg High School.
A spokesman for the group could not be reached Monday.
But Elledge, 43, city Republican Party chairman and an aide to Del. Glenn Weatherholtz, R-Harrisonburg, described the club as a “teenage homosexual advocacy” organization.
High School Principal Irene Reynolds approved the club. “It’s not a matter of a good idea or not being a good idea. It’s a matter of students’ rights and federal law,” she said.
Getting Approval
Students applied for club status Oct. 19, Reynolds said.
To gain approval, a student club must adhere to School Board policies and not be considered a disruptive force, Reynolds said.
The students must have a meeting place and a faculty member willing to guide students through the club-approval process and supervise meetings.
Students sought out English teacher Sheila Antonnicola, 42, of Harrisonburg, because they needed a sponsor for their club. “You don’t have to be gay. You don’t have to be straight. Yu don’t have to be anything to belong,” she said.
The club’s emphasis will be civic involvement, Antonnicola said. The students, she said, hope to break down barriers and increase understanding. “I think it’s great,” she added.
Equal Treatment
Elledge began contacting school board members last week after he found out about the formation of the club. He urges city residents interested in the issue to contact school board members.
While school board members were not part of the approval process of the club, Superintendent Donald Ford said the board could review and revoke the club’s recognized status for good cause. Ford said he also has similar authority. Messages left for most school board members were not returned.
Even as an approved group, Ford said, the club is not considered school-sponsored or endorsed. “Currently, we are obligated by law to give equal treatment to all students and that is what we intend to do,” he said.
Possible Trend
Elledge, who attempted to get the Bible-based Weekday Religious Education release time reinstated in city elementary schools, is disturbed by the recent sequence of events, including the school approval of the club.
“Notably,” Elledge said in a prepared statement, “the formation of the teenage homosexual advocacy group has occurred just a few short months after the entire cadre of Harrisonburg’s elementary school principals forcefully persuaded the administration and the school board to drive the cityv s 75-year-old Weekly Religious Education program out of the schools.”
At the time, school board members said they were responding to recommendations from principals and staff for better use of instructional time in light of growing state and federal academic accountability standards.
“I am willing to reserve judgment on the high school and elementary principals’ motives for now,” Elledge said, “but the succession of events sure creates the impression that they are hostile to the community’s values and are methodically implementing an agenda to drive religion from our children’s lives, subject them to the destructive forces of homosexuality during the most vulnerable periods of their emotional development, potentially expose them to people with unsavory proclivities from outside the school, and use them as tools to normalize the aspirations of the radical left.”
Shadow Cast
Ford took exception to Elledge’s linkage of the issues. “I find it quite objectionable that a statement would be made about reserving judgment on the motives of the high school and elementary principals,” Ford said.
“That particular comment, whether intended or not, does cast a shadow on the motives of these professional hard-working individuals,” he said.
Ford added that he would like to see Elledge reconsider his statement.
But Elledge stood by his words. “That’s certainly the impression that is out in the community,” he said of the events.