Pressured by religious conservatives, Congress passed the Equal Access Act (1984), allowing secondary school students the right to form on-campus extracurricular religious and other clubs. Recently, a Gay-Straight Alliance Club at a southern California high school was granted court protection under this statute, despite the community's objections.…

This article discusses the Equal Access Act (EAA) as it pertains to high-school student clubs. It raises basics questions about EAA: What does "equal" mean? What level of access is required? Does the First Amendment's free-speech clause offer broader protection to student clubs than the EAA? (WFA)