Message from:
The Coalition for Safer Schools of NYS, PO Box 2345, Malta, NY 12020
Email to:SARATOGANY@aol.com
The Real or Perceived Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Student Protection Project

FYI
ANCHORAGE SCHOOL DISTRICT
P.O. BOX 196614
ANCHORAGE, AK 99519-6614
Phone:(907)333-9561
Fax:(907) 272-3976 (ES)

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Anchorage Daily News, June 10, 2001
P. O. Box 149001, Anchorage, AK, 99514-9001
(Fax:907-258-2157 ) (E-Mail:letters@pop.adn.com )
( http://www.adn.com/ )
http://www.adn.com/opinion/0,2659,,00.html

Editorial: Protecting gay students
Anchorage schools should send strong message

Chugiak High graduate Hans Bernard ought to have a talk with Mayor George Wuerch. The young Mr. Bernard must be a pretty persuasive guy. Perhaps he could prevail upon the mayor to reverse his ban on the gay pride exhibit at Loussac Library.

Mr. Bernard helped launch a campaign to include sexual orientation in the Anchorage School District's anti-harassment policy. With luck and goodwill, the School Board will approve the addition at its meeting Monday night.

A member of the district's student advisory board, Mr. Bernard brought the matter to his colleagues, who unanimously endorsed the move. That's remarkable, considering how insecure many adolescents can be about the emotionally charged subject of homosexuality.

Credit also is due to Superintendent Carol Comeau and the School Board's policy subcommittee. They have endorsed the student advisory board's recommendation, which now goes to the full School Board for action Monday night.

This isn't a tough call. Schools in the Mat-Su area, often thought to be a conservative region of the state, have already adopted a similar policy. While current policy in Anchorage bans all harassment, board President Peggy Robinson's analysis was dead right:"By not listing sexual orientation," she said, "it gives the message to some people that it's OK."

It's not OK to harass someone who is, or appears to be, gay. Some day, that message will be so self-evident that it hardly bears mention in an anti-harassment policy. Society has come a long way in recent decades, but there is still some distance to travel.

As long as discrimination against gays is legally sanctioned in many places, as long as condemnation of homosexuals is socially acceptable, as long as elected officials censor messages advocating tolerance toward gays, Anchorage schools are right to add sexual orientation to their anti-harassment policy.

And it's both useful and gratifying to note the leadership, tolerance and respect for human diversity demonstrated by Mr. Bernard -- who is apparently a rather successful product of Anchorage schools.
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"The Real or Perceived Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgendered Student Protection Project"
("Being safe at school should not be a radical concept".. Jamie Nabozny)

A project of:
Coalition for Safer Schools of New York State

John Myers
Director of Operations and Programs
PO Box 2345
Malta, NY 12020
(518) 587-0176
Email:saratogany@aol.com

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