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
SUPPORT.......NYS Legislation..The Dignity for All Students Act of 2001
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San Diego Union-Tribune, June 3, 2001
P. O. Box 191, San Diego, CA, 92112-4106
(Fax: 619-293-1440 ) (E-Mail: letters@uniontrib.com )
( http://www.uniontrib.com )
San Diego Union-Tribune
June 3, 2001
Editorial: Gays harassed
School bullying, for any reason, is wrong
Kids can be extremely cruel to each other, especially to those who are perceived to be different. Combine this behavior with a cultural bias against gays and one begins to appreciate the difficulties confronted by students who are stigmatized and, in far too many cases, taunted brutally by their classmates.
That is the conclusion of a 203-page report by Human Rights Watch. The New York-based organization conducted intensive interviews with students, teachers, counselors, administrators and parents from seven states, including California. "Hatred in the Hallways" documents what many have already suspected -- that school officials frequently ignore bullying and violence against kids who are gay or perceived to be gay. What's more, officials often refuse to accept reports of harassment, let alone discipline the bullies. Some school officials have even gone so far as to promote the bullying or, worse, to join in the abuse.
This is sickening. It's also illegal in California.
Two years ago, Gov. Gray Davis signed a law that bans the harassment of gays on school campuses. This eminently humane measure by Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, does not affect a school's curriculum. It simply mandates that all students, regardless of their sexual orientation, are to be accorded the respect due everyone else.
Several months prior to Davis' signing of Kuehl's bill, the Grossmont Union High School District found itself embroiled in a bitter controversy concerning a simple policy change that protects gay students. The change was recommended by the district's Race-Human Relations Task Force, composed of a cross-section of students, teachers, administrators, parents and community members. The panel was responding to students who had witnessed verbal and physical attacks on classmates who were gay or perceived to be gay.
To their credit, three Grossmont Union High School trustees and Superintendent Granger Ward supported the change, amid angry protests from opponents, some of whom mounted a recall movement against then-board president Ted Crooks. Fortunately, the recall fizzled for lack of signatures.
Discrimination based on race, religion, gender or sexual orientation
is just plain wrong. School officials should be protecting students against
being harassed, bullied or brutalized. If the school shootings at Santana
High School and elsewhere have taught us anything, it is that ignoring
brutish behavior against kids can have lethal consequences.
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This message has been distributed as a free informational service for the
expressed interest of non-profit research and educational purposes only.
PRIMER WEBSITES
GLSEN --- Gay, Lesbian, and Straight
Education Network
www.glsen.org
Lambda Legal Defense and Education
Fund
www.lambdalegal.org
Safe Schools Coalition of
Washington
www.safeschools-wa.org
The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project
Home Page
www.youth.org/loco/PERSONProject/
Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians
and Gays
www.pflag.org
Empire State (NY) Pride Agenda
www.prideagenda.org
GLAAD
Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
www.glaad.org
LIGALY Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth
http://www.ligaly.com/
Unity Through
Diversity
http://www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/Castro/3212/
"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
(To subscribe or unsubscribe (CSS-NYS Email List) send request to saratogany@aol.com)
From: SARATOGANY@aol.com
Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 06:16:33 EDT
Subject: CA: Gay students demand schools recognize law
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
Human Rights Watch Report
"Hatred in the Hallways"
HRW: Hatred in the
Hallways
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/uslgbt/toc.htm
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San Francisco Chronicle, June 3, 2001
901 Mission St., San Francisco, CA, 94103
(Fax: 415-896-1107 ) (E-Mail: chronletters@sfgate.com )
( http://www.sfgate.com )
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/06/03/MN98984.DTL
Harassment
Gay students demand schools recognize law
State's districts slow to end harassment
Christopher Heredia, Chronicle Staff Writer
Since a state law took effect last year prohibiting harassment against gays in the schools, few districts in California have taken major steps to implement the law.
But that has not stopped some students from taking matters into their own hands.
Jared, who didn't want his last name used, is trying to get a gay-straight club started at his new school, after endless taunting left him suicidal and prompted him to leave his old school in rural Fresno County.
"I don't think teachers are really educated about the new law," he said. "That's why I want to start a gay-straight alliance. Basically, I don't want to see what happened to me happen to anyone else."
A spokeswoman for Clovis Unified School District, in Fresno County, said school bulletin boards are posted with policies prohibiting harassment, including anti-gay taunting, and that teachers have gone through training to be aware in the event problems crop up.
But in many instances, students away from urban centers like San Francisco and Los Angeles still don't realize they have any recourse -- that they can file grievances with their school administrator.
The negative experiences of gay students in California were included in a recent study of attitudes toward gays in schools done by Human Rights Watch, located in New York. The report found that out of 140 youths interviewed, nearly every one described incidents of verbal or other nonphysical harassment in school because of their own or other students' perceived sexual orientation.
Studies like the one by Human Rights Watch underscore the need for more teacher and student awareness around AB537, said the bill's author, Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica.
But there is no mechanism for the state to assess how districts are doing.
So, Kuehl noted, many students are taking their own initiative. A group at Los Angeles Unified plans to set up a Web site explaining a student's recourse under the law in September. The Gay-Straight Alliance Network, located in San Francisco, already has information online.
"The moment I exhaled was when (the bill) was signed," Kuehl said. "It's pretty inexorable. Even if districts are slow to respond, it's the law. It's going to involve students, teachers and administrators participating in training and awareness campaigns."
Part of the delay at the district level is the lack of direction from the state. The reason: the typical bureaucratic slowness in executing a new law.
In April, a task force assembled by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin made 12 recommendations for implementing the law. A representative of the state Safe Schools and Violence Prevention Office said Eastin is still considering which of the recommendations she will forward on to the districts.
In some cases, local governments have taken the lead. The Santa Clara County supervisors approved hiring a full-time coordinator to help train teachers and staff about the law in all 53 of the county's high schools.
With urging from students, the East Bay district of West Contra Costa is in the process of implementing an anti-harassment policy and sensitivity training in response to the law.
"AB537 did a tremendous amount to clarify the point that anti-gay harassment can't be tolerated in schools," said Robert Kim, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, which is suing two school districts on behalf of two California students who claim they were habitually targeted by anti-gay epithets.
Bailey Nichols, 16, an El Cerrito High sophomore, said even with the new law she frequently hears comments like "that's so gay," "queer" and "lesbo" at school.
"I don't think AB537 has made a difference yet, but it's a step in a positive direction," said Nichols, who is president of her school's Gay-Straight Alliance. "At least now we have a legal basis for our arguments (against harassment)."
In San Ramon, parents and other residents have expressed outrage that the school would consider teaching gay tolerance in response to a gay teacher being targeted by a hateful, student-made off-campus Web site.
Terry Koehne, spokesman for San Ramon Valley Unified School District, said the district has taken steps to educate students and teachers to ensure that every student and staff member feels comfortable at school.
"We're about safe schools," Koehne said. "Under AB537 we have not only an ethical obligation to prohibit harassment, but a legal obligation."
But parent Jim Jelincic, who has three teenage students in Contra Costa County schools, said he doesn't see the need for new laws protecting gay students.
"Harassment is harassment," said Jelincic, a Danville resident. "The area that needs to be addressed is the bullying, not people's sexual orientation."
· E-mail Christopher Heredia at cheredia@sfchronicle.com.
====================================================================
This message has been distributed as a free informational service for the
expressed interest of non-profit research and educational purposes only.
"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
(To subscribe or unsubscribe (CSS-NYS Email List) send request to saratogany@aol.com)
Return to P.E.R.S.O.N. Project Home Page
Last updated 6/4/2001 by Jean Richter, richter@eecs.Berkeley.EDU