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Following the lead of students at a nearby high school, a group of about 20 Huntington Beach High School teen-agers have formed their own support group for gay and lesbian students.
Members of the Huntington Beach Student Alliance said they decided to start a campus group after watching the struggles of a handful of Fountain Valley High School students who recently found themselves in the midst of a politically charged debate over their support group.
"This alliance gives gay students the opportunity to meet with people who are going through many of the same problems," said Erich Phinizy, 17, one of the Huntington Beach High students who founded the new group.
"Since high school is so much about being accepted, we wanted to start a club where that would be possible."
A spokeswoman with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance of Orange County said the Fountain Valley and Huntington Beach student alliances are the only such high school support groups she knows of in the county.
After months of heated exchange, the Huntington Beach Union High School District Board of Trustees voted in January to retain a district policy that allows...