From:SARATOGANY@aol.com
Date:Wed, 20 Mar 2002 14:28:28 EST
Subject:WA:Teen victim's mother speaks...RE school board censors tolerence film

Message from:
The Coalition for Safer Schools of NYS, PO Box 2345, Malta, NY 12020
John Myers, Director of Operations and Programs
Email to:SARATOGANY@aol.com
The Real or Perceived Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Student Protection Project
===================================================================
Censorship of part of the film "Teen files:The Truth About Hate" ...
press release from Gabi Clayton
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 18, 2002

CONTACT:
Gabi Clayton, Olympia, WA, member of PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) and a co-founder of Families United Against Hate (FUAH), gclayton@earthlink.net
Carolyn Wagner, Vice-President of PFLAG and co-founder of FUAH, cwagner29@juno.com
Janine Iamunno, Director of Communications & Special Projects - Arnold Shapiro Productions, mailto:Aspproductions@aol.com

Gabi Clayton's response to article "Pickets protest board's editing of tolerance film - Gay segment deleted by Grossmont Union" San Diego (CA) Union-Tribune, March 14, 2002.

I felt like I had been kicked in the stomach when I read the article about the Grossmont Union School district insisting that a film be edited to take out a segment on discrimination based on sexual orientation. I am the mother who was interviewed in this film, "Teen Files:The Truth About Hate" by Arnold Shapiro Productions. My son Bill Clayton was the bisexual student who committed suicide when he was seventeen years old, a month after he was assaulted in a hate crime based on his sexual orientation.

There was a statement in the article from Brad Dacus of the Pacific Justice Institute, "that the district's decision to have the film altered was a responsible way to teach about tolerance while respecting the beliefs of parents concerned about the controversial issue." The Pacific Justice Institute claims that it specializes in the defense of religious freedom and the family. My family is apparently not included, and I believe that there is nothing responsible about respecting the kind of ignorance that leads to harassment and hate crimes.

School trustee Priscilla Schreiber "said the portrayal of a gay authority figure," (a police officer Chuck Limbert of the San Francisco Police Department, whom I have met) "sends a message that homosexuality is normal and acceptable, which she said does not belong in the classroom." It is normal and acceptable. Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youths, teachers, staff and parents are in those classrooms, as are their siblings, children, other family members and friends. What should not be normal and acceptable in our schools and in our communities is promoting this kind of intolerance.

I believe that the decision to edit the film was a bad decision. What kind of lesson does this teach about tolerance? It should have been shown in its entirety. The film does not promote one sexual orientation over another any more than it promotes one religion, race or ethnicity over another. The segments that dealt with those biases were permitted.

Arnold Shapiro Productions responded when they were told about this:
Arnold Shapiro and Allison Grodner, producers of THE TEEN FILES:THE TRUTH ABOUT HATE, commented, "We are deeply disturbed by this turn of events and by the message it sends to the students at Granite Hills High School. As long as this kind of censorship continues, so will the bigotry, intolerance, and violence that are a part of daily life for gay and bisexual teens across the country. The school board's decision is offensive, dangerous, and completely incongruous with the entire point of tolerance programs in schools."
The way this was handled last week sends a message that my son Bill's life was less precious than others, and I take that very personally. Hate based on ignorance killed my son. He is dead now and my real concern is for those who are alive and live with this bigotry every day. What this cut says to me is that our gay, lesbian, bisexual children and adults are not welcome, not worthy, and have no right to expect to be safe in their schools.

What has been done in the Grossmont Union School district sends a message to all of our children who are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender that they are not worth fighting for, and that is not true.

Gabi Clayton, Olympia, WA
http://www.youth-guard.org/gabi/

PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays)
http://www.pflag.org/
Families United Against Hate http://www.youth-guard.org/gabi/fuah.htm
"The Teen Files" - show on hate and prejudice - 1999 article written by Gabi Clayton for PFLAG-Olympia newsletter just before the show aired.
http://www.youth-guard.org/gabi/gc_teenfiles.html

Teen Files:The Truth About Hate, Arnold Shapiro Productions.
http://www.arnoldshapiroprods.com/hate.htm

###

===============================================================
This message has been distributed as a free informational service for the expressed interest of non-profit research and educational purposes only.

Subscribe at saratogany@aol.com

John Myers
Director of Operations and Programs
(518) 587-0176

FYI
GRANITE HILLS HIGH SCHOOL
1719 E Madison Ave
El Cajon, California 92019
Office:(619) 593-5500
Fax:(619) 588-9389

GROSSMONT UNION HIGH NCES ID:0616230
P.O. BOX 1043
LA MESA, CA 91944-1043
Phone:(619)644-8000

San Diego Union-Tribune, March 14, 2002
P. O. Box 191, San Diego, CA, 92112-4106
(Fax:619-293-1440 ) (E-Mail:letters@uniontrib.com )
( http://www.uniontrib.com )
http://www.uniontrib.com/news/education/20020314-9999_1m14protest.html

Pickets protest board's editing of tolerance film
Gay segment deleted by Grossmont Union

By Jill Spielvogel, Union-Tribune Staff Writer

EL CAJON - Students last night protested a Grossmont Union district move to have a film promoting tolerance edited to exclude a segment on discrimination against homosexuals.

About 35 people, including activists from the gay community, carried signs outside the district's board meeting last night, criticizing the deletion. The signs included ones that read "Silence Kills" and "Our Voices Will Not Be Silenced."

The edited film was shown as part of an assembly at Granite Hills High School on Tuesday. The movie is part of an Anti-Defamation League program presented at schools.

"People need to be educated on it if we want the hate to stop," said sophomore Nickelle Ismert. She and other students said there is anti-gay name calling and harassment on campus.

"The school board has been getting in the way of our trying to stop that," said senior Merritt Linden.

Members of the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network and the Lesbian and Gay Men's Community Center in Hillcrest participated in the demonstration.

Three trustees, who felt the film cuts were appropriate, said yesterday they would not have supported the program without the changes. The topic was not on last night's agenda, but protesters told trustees their decision furthered intolerance of homosexuals at their school. A few parents, however, praised the trustees.

Some students said they will protest at the board's meeting tonight as well.

The district requested that the league cut the film after trustees Dan McGeorge, Priscilla Schreiber and Gary Cass expressed concerns last month, when the board voted on a contract for the organization to work with Valhalla High School in El Cajon.

"We were told that changes would have to be made if the program was going to go on," said Denise Frey, an associate director of the San Diego County Anti-Defamation League.

She and director Morris Casuto characterized the editing decision as difficult, but said they believe the program is needed in the Grossmont district and should continue. The group has received several angry messages condemning the decision.

The league presents the "Names Can Really Hurt Us" program at other districts in the county, but none requested film changes, Frey said.

The portion of the film that was removed dealt with a gay police officer talking with youths, an interview with the mother of a bisexual student who committed suicide and a mention of Matthew Shepherd, a gay college student beaten to death in Wyoming.

In addition to the film, the assembly features student panelists who discuss types of discrimination. One of the panelists at the Granite Hills assembly was a lesbian who discussed harassment and intolerance.

Cass and Schreiber complained about the film after it was shown last year at Steele Canyon High School in Spring Valley. Schreiber said the portrayal of a gay authority figure sends a message that homosexuality is normal and acceptable, which she said does not belong in the classroom.

She and the other trustees supporting the cuts said students should learn harassment is unacceptable, but they say there's no need to single out sexual orientation.

"We want to make sure everyone is respected, and not promote a sexual lifestyle," she said.

Trustee Ted Crooks said cutting the film was a missed opportunity to prevent discrimination based on someone's perceived sexual orientation. But he ultimately agreed the district should show the altered film when it was clear the majority of the board would not support the program otherwise.

"We were in a circumstance where three-quarters of a loaf is better than none," he said.

Excluding one type of discrimination from the film tells students that a type of harassment is OK and increases isolation and the possibility of violence said Sherry Wright, director of public policy at the Hillcrest center. Wright helped students organize the protest.

But Brad Dacus, president of the nonprofit Pacific Justice Institute in Sacramento, said in a telephone interview the district's decision to have the film altered was a responsible way to teach about tolerance while respecting the beliefs of parents concerned about the controversial issue.

· Jill Spielvogel:(619) 593-4963; jill.spielvogel@uniontrib.com

Return to P.E.R.S.O.N. Project Home Page