preview

The Pros And Cons Of SAGA Groups

Decent Essays

Straight and Gay Student Alliance (SAGA) groups are student-organized clubs aimed at creating a safe and welcoming school environment for all students regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Critics of such groups are putting forward a strong effort to stop SAGA clubs from forming. However, SAGA clubs have formed in schools across the country spanning the last few decades. In opposition to their critics, many SAGA participants and students must jump through multiple hoops in an attempt to get their extracurricular organizations accepted in the public school system. From public criticism to school officials stalling, the creation and implementation of such clubs tend to face seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Religious right and social conservative groups continue to assemble with hopes of preventing such controversial groups from forming and potentially “tainting” their children. Even with all the disparagement regarding students forming extracurricular clubs, there are two main laws that ultimately protect students’ right to form extracurricular clubs at school: the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the federal Equal Access Act. While it is often difficult to legislate morality, many conservative, religious groups seek to do just that. Intolerance and occasionally blatant homophobic views of homosexuality in society perpetuates hostility towards LGBTQIA+ students. “Victimhood” is a strategy that the religious right

Get Access