Mayor Daley may have come out against the idea of opening the nation's second gay-friendly high school -- one of the Chicago's most progressive education proposals to date -- but backers of the Social Justice Pride Campus aren't backing down.

"We have a clear strategy," said Chad Weiden, who's up for the job of principal at the Pride Campus. "We're organizing right now. We're beginning media outreach. ... There's more to come, I'm just not ready to say what."

The Pride Campus proposal appeared to be moving along smoothly until the school board abruptly tabled the idea on Wednesday.  At the meeting, two parents spoke out against the idea, one going so far as to say: "We should be helping [students] out of that lifestyle, not helping them into it."  Activists on both the left and the right have expressed their own concerns over the Pride Campus.  But a series of community forums on the idea mostly drew supporters.

Following the decision, Daley spoke out:

One day after his handpicked school board put off a vote on the School for Social Justice Pride Campus, Daley explained why — by expressing his concerns.

“You have to look at whether or not you isolate and segregate children. A holistic approach has always been to have children of all different backgrounds in schools. When you start isolating children and you say, ‘Only 50 percent here, 40 percent here’ — same thing we went through with the disabled — then you want to do that when they’re adults,” Daley said.

The Pride Campus student body would include a half-and-half mix of gay and straight teenagers, so it's unclear how Daley could suggest it would "isolate and segregate" students.  Daley's complaint is also undermined by his previous support for schools that similarly separate students with certain backgrounds or interests. Military academies and single-gender academies have boomed under his administration.  And magnet campuses -- which tend to attract more privileged students -- have also spread.

Regardless, the show of political influence gives fodder to those who've long said that all the talk of community-driven reform, particularly under the Renaissance 2010 initiative, is unfounded -- that the decisions are ultimately made by a small circle of political insiders.

"What we all know here is that there's one person that has to be swayed to one side or the other: the mayor," said Rick Garcia, director of the gay-rights advocacy group Equality Illinois and an opponent of the Pride Campus. "I think the mayor has sent the message loud and clear."

It remains to be seen if a grassroots effort can sway the powers-that-be before the board votes on the proposal in mid-November. The protests against the Rickover Military Academy in 2005 brought hundreds of progressive opponents face-to-face with CPS officials, but also illustrated how tough it is to challenge the mayor.

Still, Edgewater residents who live near the Academy continue to press the school board, Ald. Mary Ann Smith -- and yes, even the mayor -- to move the school out of their neighborhood. The group passed a 48th Ward advisory referendum in March 2006 calling on CPS to “establish a formal process to receive community input regarding the removal of the Rickover Military Academy," but failed to get any subsequent action.  Nonetheless, the group of opponents continues to meet.

With that same spirit, Weiden says that committed backers of the Pride Campus are ready to pour lots of time and energy into making sure it opens in 2010. "There are a lot of supporters around us," he said. "They still want this to happen."