Education department letter provides support for gay-related student groups

From Advocate.com: Gay-straight alliance groups should be afforded the same rights and protections as other student clubs at public secondary schools, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan says. In a letter to the nation's educators, Duncan says that such student groups are protected under the 1984 Equal Access Act.

"The Act requires public secondary schools to treat all student-initiated groups equally, regardless of the religious, political, philosophical, or other subject matters discussed at their meetings," the letter states. "Its protections apply to groups that address issues relating to (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) students and matters involving sexual orientation and gender identity, just as they apply to religious and other student groups."

Read Secretary Duncan's letter.