*** We apologize for the lapse in GSA Network News over the last couple of weeks. We moved April 1st and our email has been down! We also greatly apologize to all of you who have sent us time-sensitive items to be included in our posting which were never posted as a result. - GSA Network staff
In this issue of GSA Network you will find:
An AB 537 Advisory Task Force, appointed by State Superintendent Delaine Eastin, has been working over the last year to develop recommendations on implementing AB 537. The report of the Task Force has been released and includes 12 recommendations, ranging from training to curriculum inclusion to student notification.
To view the full set of recommendations, go to: http://www.cde.ca.gov/spbranch/safety/
To contact the State Superintendent's office and urge her to fully implement the 12 recommendations of the AB 537 Advisory Task Force, call her at 916-657-4766 or email at deastin@cde.ca.gov
AB 537 is the California Student Safety and Violence Prevention Act which prohibits discrimination in schools based on actual or perceived sexual orientation and actual or perceived gender identity. The law went into effect on January 1, 2000. To learn more, go to: http://www.gsanetwork.org/ab537
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2. San Jose Mercury News Editorial in support of AB 537 Recommendations
Published Thursday, May 3, 2001, in the San Jose Mercury News
EDITORIAL
The opinion of the Mercury News
No place for harassment
Sexual taunts in schools are common, but approval of Violence Prevention Act is a good first step
WITH the passage of the California Student Safety and Violence Prevention Act of 2000, Gov. Gray Davis and legislators agreed that homophobia and harassment have no place in our schools.
Now we must translate that message into deed.
An advisory task force has come up with a dozen recommendations to ensure gay and lesbian students and staff the right to a safe, supportive, quality education. The recommendations -- which range from promoting awareness about the law to hiring a statewide compliance and training officer -- are an important first step toward that end.
Commendably, many school districts across the state are already working to make their campuses harassment-free. It's not uncommon for the San Mateo County superintendent of schools, for example, to convene meetings about anti-gay violence, or debate the role teachers and administrators play in issues surrounding gay adolescents.
``Anything that heightens attention to the problems on campus, especially the kinds of things against gay, straight, or lesbian students, is important,'' says Superintendent Floyd Gonella. ``We must be very aggressive and out in front of violence on this issue.''
The law added the categories of ``actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity'' to protected groups under the educational code.
Anti-gay harassment, while not rampant, is very much a part of daily life at middle and high schools across the state. Reports of physical abuse, anti-gay slurs, vicious taunts or other offenses aren't unusual.
In a 1999 national survey of 496 gay students from 32 states, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network found that 69 percent of gay, bisexual and transgender students said they were harassed, and 14 percent said the harassment was violent. Forty-two percent felt unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation.
The state task force -- which included students, educators, faculty, clergy and community organizers -- focused on five chief areas to help implement the law. They include helping students learn about gender/sexual orientation issues, enforcing the law, and monitoring compliance.
Predictably, some parents are vehemently against accommodating a sexual identity that they abhor or are uncomfortable with. Others would prefer to simply ignore the subject. The task force's recommendation to address sexual orientation and gender identity in the curriculum, for example, will likely prove controversial.
Some schools, anticipating parental anxiety, are treading lightly, sponsoring town-hall meetings or smaller, informal sessions to discuss the law and a school's responsibility. Others are openly soliciting parents to get ideas for programs and activities, giving them some say in how their districts deal with the issue.
Those are smart approaches to the potentially volatile issue. But, in the end, students, parents, educators and the community must understand that attacks and insults directed at gay students will no longer be tolerated.
Such biases must never trump a student's right to participate fully in school life.
Besides, it's the law.
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3. Chromosomes group at Youth Gender Project
CHROMOSOMES is Youth Gender Project's NEW support/social/discussion group for trans, genderqueer, intersex & gender-questioning youth and young adults ages 12-25! CHROMOSOMES meets from 7:00 - 9:00 MONDAY EVENINGS at the YGP office.
The YGP office is in Berkeley in the Wells Fargo Building at 2140 Shattuck Avenue at Center Street, Suite #208, RIGHT next to the Downtown Berkeley BART station. Call the office at 510-665-9234 after 7:15 so we can come let you in!
If you or someone you know is a TGIQ youth under the age of 12, or a younger youth who would feel more comfortable in a group with a younger focus, please call Jaron at YGP at 510-665-9234.
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4. Queer Youth Theatre Group Forming
QUEER YOUTH THEATRE GROUP FORMING
The San Francisco (not very silent) Mime Troupe, a local, political
comedy troupe are recruiting Queer Youth to join our Youth Theatre
Project next fall. Every year we work in four different neighborhoods
of the city on a seven week play creation workshop. At the end of the
workshop we mount a huge Youth Theatre Festival of all four groups'
original plays. Last year we formed our first Queer Youth group who
created their own play on issues of importance to them This year we
are doing it again and want to get the word out early so you can plan
to join us next fall.
Please call Nicola Harwood @ 415-550-1507 or email: snakewiz@earthlink.net
to present our program at a GSA meeting or event or get your name on
a list for the fall!
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5. WILD's Summer Leadership Institute for Young Women
Please distribute and forward to all young women in the Bay Area who you think would be interested in applying. Application is attached.
Announcing WILD's Third Annual
Summer Leadership Institute
June 26 - July 1, 2001
Calling all young women from the San Francisco Bay Area ages 15-20 years old
"I met amazing, intelligent, young women that truly inspired, motivated and validated my struggles and beliefs." --2000 Institute Participant
At WILD's FREE five-day, overnight Summer Leadership Institute, up to 15 young women from throughout the San Francisco Bay Area will learn revolutionary ideas about social change, human rights and women's rights, and will gain the leadership and advocacy skills needed to positively change their communities and schools.
Learn what they don't teach you in school!
| Find your voice.... | Earn a $100 stipend |
Kick it in a challenging and supportive atmosphere
For an application and to learn more about the Leadership Institute, please
call Khadine @ 415 359-2403
(No prior experience or training necessary to apply)
"The Institute teaches us to love ourselves and respect ourselves as well as other people and their differences. We are all leaders in our own way and WILD just brings that out." --1999 Institute Participant
Young women of color, immigrants, queer and low-income youth strongly urged to apply!
The Women's Institute for Leadership Development for Human Rights (WILD) promotes human rights in the United States through the leadership and action of women and girls. The vision of WILD's Young Women's Leadership Program is for young women to know and exercise their choices, rights and power in decision-making and leadership positions in order to protect the dignity and quality of life of women of all ages.
Kate Washburn
Youth Program Director
WILD for Human Rights
1375 Sutter Street, Suite 307
San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 345-1195 ext. 401
http://www.wildforhumanrights.org
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empowering youth activists to fight homophobia in schools
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 5/4/2001 by Jean Richter, richter@eecs.Berkeley.EDU