Clovis High School may end all non-curricular clubs rather than allow a gay-straight alliance to form at the eastern New Mexico high school, the American Civil Liberties Union in New Mexico claims, according to a story in the New Mexico Independent.

The school superintendent told media outlets that a vote last night (Tuesday (April 26) on whether to disband all non-curricular clubs was unrelated to an attempt to form a gay-straight alliance at the school.

There is a federal law that says schools cannot stop such an alliance from forming unless they ban all other activities that aren’t directly tied to a class or other school curriculum.

One exemption would be athletics and other activities sanctioned by the New Mexico Activities Association.

The board’s vote will center on whether the district should continue its current policy of allowing any nondiscriminatory club, or whether it should adopt a new policy allowing only clubs related to school curriculum. No word on the outcome of that vote as yet.

The ACLU-NM contends that the vote is directly related and says it believes the district should allow the clubs to continue to exist.

According to the New Mexico Gay-Straight Alliance Network, there are 45 gay-straight alliances in high schools, universities and other youth groups across the state.