But forming such a club at Currituck County High School has been anything but smooth.

Local pastors and parents have denounced the proposal. They've said the club could help spread AIDS, encourage children to engage in sex and persuade others to become homosexual.

"It just seems to me that it is very disturbing where we've come in society when something of this nature could come before us and be considered by so many," Scott Pollard, pastor at Moyock Assembly of God, said at a school board meeting this week.

Smiley began thinking about putting together the club after being harassed at school. That has included students putting chewing gum on the lock on her wall locker and teachers forcing her to tell her parents about her sexual orientation, she said.

"I was thinking last year how great it would be to be able to stop this," she said. "I want to be able to do something about this."

Smiley has asked for permission to form a chapter of the Gay-Straight Alliance at the high school. It wouldn't be a "gay club" for recruiting homosexuals and promoting sexual activity, but instead would focus on raising awareness about homosexuality among all students, she said. It also would provide an opportunity for gay students to talk with their peers instead of their parents or adults, Smiley said.

More than 130 people attended Monday's school board meeting to address the proposal and the board's policy on clubs, though board members did not discuss the matter publicly.

Members will consult with Superintendent C. Michael Warren and school attorneys before announcing a decision, board chairman John Barnes said.

The issue comes down to protected free speech, officials said. Schools can't discriminate against students who want to form a club with views differing from a community or school board, Ken Soo, the school district's attorney, told those in attendance.

"The activity you cannot limit is speech [that] you do not like," Soo said. "The great weight stands on the side of free speech."

Smiley, whose age and class level weren't available, said she understood the pastors' concerns and those of others who spoke at the meeting.

"I was raised as a Christian and I understand everything that the Bible says to me," she said. "I'm not forcing anyone to go to this club. But the First Amendment gives me the right to free speech. ... All we want is to have people treated the same."

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