UPDATE MARCH 4: The planned protest took place this morning. Caller.com, a news site out of Corpus Christi, reports the crowd reached 100 and, as might be expected in Texas, a handful of people gathered in a counter-protest across the street. See pictures from the demonstration here.

A local news report on the protest:

MARCH 3: We could use more heroes like 17-year-old Texas high school student Bianca “Nikki” Peet.

Four months ago Peet approached her school's principal with a request to form a gay-straight alliance (GSA) at Flour Bluff High School in Corpus Christi, Texas. Not only was her request refused, but last week, in an effort to close all loopholes, school officials decided to ban all extracurricular clubs.

By canceling all extracurricular clubs on campus, Flour Bluff ISD hopes to avoid the  Equal Access Act -- a federal law, passed in 1984, that requires schools receiving federal funding to offer "fair opportunities for students to form student-led extracurricular groups, regardless of their religious, political and philosophical leanings." The district still maintains that they do not have to follow the Equal Access Law.

Though Peet's fight has attracted support from such groups as Gay-Straight Alliance at Texas A&M University, the ACLU and GLADD, the superintendent of the school district, Dr Julie Carbajal, has said repeatedly there is “no chance” the district will approve the proposed GSA. 

A protest against the decision is planned at the school tomorrow (March 4). Paul Rodriguez, president of the GSA at Texas A&M University, said he’s expecting more than 300 people to attend.

“I couldn’t believe my ears,” Rodriguez told Instant Tea. “I couldn’t believe that an administration of a public school would actually go to that length to show hatred, to show intolerance. It’s just appalling.”

Rodriguez said supporters of the GSA have contacted both Lambda Legal and the American Civil Liberties Union, which are investigating. But the goal of the protest is to convince district officials to change their minds.

“As far as Nikki and her supporters go, they were very nervous about going to school today, because they don’t know what kind of hostility or bullying they’re going to face,” Rodriguez said. “They’re afraid they’re going to get blamed for all the non-curricular clubs not being allow to meet. We’re hoping to redirect that anger to where it really belongs. If we can get all those people on board and join us in this fight for equality, that would just be awesome.

Blaming the activists? Sounds familiar.

Show your support for Peet's struggle by signing this petition at change.org. You can also RSVP for tomorrow's protest here (can't make it to Texas tomorrow? RSVP as "maybe" to show your support and spread the word). Follow Peet on twitter here.

The email address of Flour Bluff's principal, James Crenshaw, is  jcrenshaw@flourbluffschools.net. The school's phone number is 361-694-9100.

This past weekend marked the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York and, of course, Pride celebrations there and in Toronto, where I had a fantastic weekend until I was apparently food poisoned (the alleged restaurant will remain nameless, though old-school videogamers will know of its legend).

But getting back on the horse and turning back to Stonewall, there were two big events this week that highlighted just how far -- and how little -- gay couple have come since then:  first, a disturbing police attack on a Texas gay bar on that very anniversary and then, on Monday, a lavish cocktail party for LGBT activists at the White House in which Barack Obama reiterated all the campaign promises he's made.

If Obama was Madonna (we can dream, can't we?), this speech was his 'Ray of Light' -- a splendid performance that, had it come a decade earlier, would have been revolutionary in setting the trends rather than following them.  Even straight guy Keith Olbermann was unimpressed:

In the wake of that Texas raid, police officials defended their officers and advised gay people to "take a deep breath" before getting upset.  Sorry sir, but it's far far too late for that (just ask Obama!).  The genie, as they say, is out of the bottle (and she's fabulous!) but what form her spell will take is a topic I leave for tomorrow...