In this issue of GSA Network News, you'll find:
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1. GSA Network Year End Evaluation
Please take a few minutes to fill out GSA Network's Year End Evaluation. Your comments are VERY important to us!
Access the evaluation online:http://www.gsanetwork.org/yearendeval/
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2. Diversity 2002 Conference (Oakland)
Diversity 2002 Conference
Agust 22-25, 2002
Oakland Marriott Convention Center,
1001 Broadway Oakland, CA 94607
Conference planners are still accepting workshop proposals - the deadline for presenters to submit abstracts is July 10th.
Registration forms and information about submitting abstracts for the Diversity 2002 Youth Conference are available at http://www.smaac.org.
Conference Registration is $150.00.
The Diversity 2002 Conference is sponsored by SMAAC (Sexual Minority Alliance of Alameda County), an organization providing an array of services targeting Lesbian, Transgender, Bi-sexual, Gay and Questioning Youth. Call (510) 834-9578 or e-mail SMAAC_Hogan@yahoo.com for more conference information.
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3. Help Support the Outlet Program (Palo Alto)
Please join us in supporting Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer & Questioning Youth
OUT TO EAT
Thursday, July 18, 2002
6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Hyatt Rickeys Hotel, Stanford Room
4219 El Camino Real - Palo Alto, CA
Out To Eat is a dinner, auction, and raffle raising money for the Outlet Program at the YWCA of the Mid-Peninsula. Outlet is the only program supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning youth in the area. Outlet support has reached more than 1,000 young people since its inception in 1997.
There are many reasons to attend:
Please call (650) 494-0972 ext. 301 or email Juan at juan@ywcamid.org to purchase tickets!
http://www.ywcamid.org/rcc/Outlet
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4. Trikone Outreach to South Asian Queer Youth
Hello,
My name is Udyogi (Jody) Hangawatte and I am serving as a summer intern for Trikone. Trikone is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people of South Asian descent. Founded in 1986 in the San Francisco Bay Area, Trikone is the oldest group of its kind in the world. Through social and political activities, Trikone offers a supportive, empowering, and non-judgmental environment, where queer South Asians can meet, make connections, and proudly promote awareness and acceptance of their sexuality in society.
I am currently working on improving Trikone's resources for youth outreach and activism. By youth, I mean those who are 25 years of age and under. The three projects I am working on this summer are first, identifying the needs of local South Asian queer youth, second, writing up a resource and training packet for South Asian queer youth, and lastly, developing a youth issue of Trikone's monthly magazine.
If you are a South Asian queer youth who's interested in talking to me, please get in touch! Also, if you have any questions/comments, please don't hesitate to contact me at rayeflower@hotmail.com or my other email address, udyogi.hangawatte@yale.edu.
I hope to hear from you!
Udyogi
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5. Peninsula Anti-Racist Action (San Mateo)
Calling all activists on the peninsula!
Anti-Racist Action is a non-profit grassroots organization that is dedicated to fighting oppression and injustice in all forms. We are a group of regular people who are coming together to solve the problems of racism, homophobia, sexism, ageism, ableism, fatphobia, classism, transphobia, and xenophobia.
A peninsula/san mateo county chapter of ARA has formed, and we really need your support! It's really needed around here. There are racist skinheads that are active in our towns, synagogues and mosques have been vandalized, and we need to do something about it! NO ONE came to our first meeting. Our next meeting is on July 20th, and it would be great to have a few people come:
Saturday, July 20th
Central Park, San Mateo
(the grass area @ 5th and Laurel)
We'll begin at 12 noon.
If you are interested in joining ARA, contact us at:ara_pen@hotmail.com, or go to http://www.aranet.org. No leaders. No dues. Just a chance to change the world.
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6. NEWS:Discriminatory Policy Excludes Senior From Yearbook
DISCRIMINATORY POLICY EXCLUDES SENIOR FROM YEARBOOK
NCLR Files Suit to Protect Student's Right to Be Free from Gender Stereotypes
TAMPA, Fla., June 19, 2002 - The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) filed suit today on behalf of Robinson High School Senior Nikki Youngblood against the Hillsborough County School District, Florida for creating and enforcing the illegal senior portrait policy that prevented Youngblood's senior portrait from appearing in the High School yearbook alongside those of her classmates. The suit alleges violations of both state and federal sex discrimination laws, as well as federal and state constitutional violations of Youngblood's right to free expression and equal protection.
Robinson High School, with the full support of the school district, still clings to a decades-old policy requiring all female students to wear an ultra-feminine scoop neck drape for their senior portraits, while allowing male students to wear a white shirt and tie of their choosing. The school refused to create an exception for a female student who voiced her objection to being forced to wear frilly, stereotypically "feminine" attire.
"I don't understand why this is such a big deal to them," said Youngblood. "This is how I dressed in school every day. I even wore a tuxedo to a school dance. This is 2002, not 1802. No female student should be deprived of the right to be in the yearbook because she does not want to wear a frilly drape."
Youngblood hasn't worn a skirt or dress since elementary school and wears what would typically be considered unisex or male clothing. When Youngblood and her mother showed up at the photography studio for Youngblood's senior portrait, they requested that Youngblood be permitted to wear the shirt and tie instead. The photography studio refused, claiming they needed a letter from the school before they could permit her to forego wearing the drape in favor of a shirt and tie.
Robinson Vice Principal David Fyfe informed Youngblood's mom that he and Principal Kevin McCarthy decided that if she wanted to appear alongside her classmates in the yearbook, she must wear the drape. Mr. Fyfe informed them that if Youngblood refused to wear the drape, the only other option was to buy an advertisement in the yearbook, pay for her own photography sitting and photos in the clothing she wanted to wear, and then her picture could appear in the yearbook - not with the other graduating seniors - but in the back of the book alongside all of the other ads.
As a result of the school's discriminatory policy, the yearbook space that Youngblood's portrait would have occupied was blank. To add insult to injury, Youngblood's name was not even listed in the index among the graduating seniors.
"We're very disappointed that school officials forced this to litigation," said Youngblood's lawyer, Karen Doering, a staff attorney for NCLR and consultant to Equality Florida. "Nikki is not a rebellious kid trying to destroy the sanctity of the school yearbook. She simply wanted to appear in her yearbook as herself - not a fluffed up stereotype of what school administrators thought she should look like."
Lesbian Rights is a national, lesbian-feminist, non-profit law firm dedicated to achieving full human rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and their families. NCLR litigates impact cases, conducts public policy, sponsors free legal clinics,
provides technical assistance to attorneys litigating LGBT cases nationwide,
and provides free legal information and advice to thousands of individuals annually. NCLR is also dedicated to increasing public and community awareness of LGBT issues by sponsoring public workshops and events. NCLR is based in San Francisco, California. For more information, visit
http://www.nclrights.org.
Contact:
Tampa:Karen Doering (813)873-2357
San Francisco:Shannon Minter (415)392-6257 x310
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empowering youth activists to fight homophobia in schools
Carolyn Laub
Executive Director
Gay-Straight Alliance Network
160 14th Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
ph:415.552.4229
fax:415.552.4729
carolyn@gsanetwork.org
http://www.gsanetwork.org/
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Last updated 6/26/2002 by Jean Richter, richter@eecs.Berkeley.EDU