The Rockton, Ill. school board last week voted 5-2 to allow a gay-straight alliance club to meet at an area high school.

The September 19 vote reversed an earlier decision by a board committee, against the advice of the school board’s legal counsel, that had recommended the board be banned, according to a statement from the American Civil Liberties Union.

The club had been proposed by students last May, and will be allowed to begin meeting as early as this week.

“It’s just great that the board finally did the right thing, not only by the law, but also by their students,” said ACLU Illinois spokesman Ed Yohnka.

He added that the board had been moved from testimony by the students who worked hard to begin the alliance.

“The real credit goes to the students who fought for this. All through the process, they were thoughtful, deliberate and resolute,” Yohnka said.

“They reached out, got the information they needed and always had an intuitive sense of what was right and wrong,” Yohnka said, adding, “That’s a lesson we all could use a little dose of, even as adults.”

—Matt Simonette