Date: Sat, 4 May 1996 12:58:14 -0600 (MDT)
From: LTSisneros ltsisner@ouray.cudenver.edu
To: Jessea NR Greenman jessea@uclink4.berkeley.edu
Subject: Re: LG awareness program cancellation at CO high school

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Gay Assembly Blocked at Skyview High School

(April 24, 1996)

copyright 1996 by Out Front Colorado

by John Mandes, News Editor

Thornton--Openly Gay Skyview High School freshman John Griffin never wanted to make trouble, just increase awareness about gay and lesbian issues.

Griffin, 15, said he originally obtained permission to present a panel of gay and lesbian speakers April 23, 24 and 25 as part of a gay awareness program at Skyview. However, after a change in the high school's administration, he was told by school officials that the event would have to be canceled.

"I was told by our principal Dr. Gaye Leo that we could have tha assembly as long as students attended voluntarily," Griffin said. "Then Dr. Leo retired and Mr. Middleton replaced her. Last week he told me I'd have to cancel the program."

Acting Principal Don Middleton denied canceling the event and said permission for the event was never granted. Leo did not immediately return phone calls for comment.

"There was never any permission given for an assembly," Middleton said. "It is a teacher decision to support an in-school or in-class activity and I have not received any such request. When I do, I'll act on it."

However, Griffin said that he and Middleton had several conversations about the gay and lesbian awareness program which was to showcase a diverse group of speakers.

Griffin said that he was told by Middleton that the program couldn't be held because Adams County District No. 1 officials, including Superintendent Sandra Husk, thought that the program was inappropriate. Husk could not be reached for comment.

"I'm not permiting any assemblies right now," Middleton said. "Students need to focus on finishing the school year and graduating.

"This has nothing to do with my opinion or the content [of the program]," Middleton said.

Griffin's mother, Dora Griffin-Quist, said she had also had conversations with Middleton and Skyview guidance counselor Loorie Eggbert about the program and her son's involvement in it.

"I was told that the program was inappropriate for the students because it has nothing to do with the school's goals," Griffin-Quist said.

When Griffin and another student who was working on the program realized it was not going to happen, he was unwilling to let it die.

"I thought it was ridiculous, I thought other students should know what happened to us," Griffin said. "If our ideas can be trampled then anyone's ideas could also be trampled."

So Griffin organized a silent protest. He and another student made more than 800 pink triangle patches and started handing them out to students, asking that the patches be worn to protest the administration's decision.

"I know we've given out more that 500 of the patches and lots of students are wearing them," he said. "It's really great."

But what Griffin saw as great, Skyview officials saw as a threat.

Griffin's mother said she received a phone call on the morning of April 19 requesting she come to the school to discuss her son's involvement in a planned student walkout.

"We never planned a walkout," Griffin said. "I never suggested that anybody walk out of classes to protest. I only asked that students wear our pink triangles."

During the meeting, Griffin-Quist said that school officials including Middleton threatened her son with suspension if students walked out in protest of the program's cancellation.

"I said I didn't think it was fair to punish my son for the actions of others," Griffin-Quist said. "They wanted me to tell john to tell students not to walk out of classes. At no time did John or any other student working on the program ever suggest students walk out in protest."

Middleton denied ever threatening Griffin with suspension.

"There was never any suggestion of a suspension," Middleton said. "I didn't think that having a walkout was in anyone's best interest. I would do everything possible to discourage a walkout. We have standards of student behavior and that determines [how students are disciplined]."

Griffin said he'll continue to work for awareness of gay and lesbian isues at Skyview High School.

"I haven't given up," Griffin said. "There are many ways to attack prejudice and the idea for the gay awareness prgram is one that I'll keep working on."

[The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project adds: You may wish to write to the following officials, asking them to investigate the incident and protect civil liberties in Colorado's schools....]
State Department of Education

William T. Randall, Commissioner of Education
Richard A. Laughlin, Deputy Commissioner
Dept. of Ed., State Office Bldg.
201 E. Colfax Ave.
Denver CO 80203- 1799
phone= 303-866-6600
Citizen Complaint Line= (303) 886-7687

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[sidebar]

It Hasn't Been Easy

Thornton--You don't need a sign to tell that John Griffin is gay. His favorite purple trenchcoat probably gives him away.

"Actually it's my mom's," Griffin said. "It's this long, trashy, purple trenchcoat. She doesn't wear it very often, but I love it."

Griffin, 15, is a freshman at Skyview High School and the center of attention since his brainchild--a planned gay and lesbian awareness program--was canceled by school officials.

Griffin, an honor roll student with a GPA of 3.4, said that school officials first approved then canceled the program. School officials deny permission was ever granted.

"It hasn't been easy being openly gay in a high school," Griffin said. The difficulties have included being called a "faggot" in front of other students and having "faggot" written on his locker. The alternative, however, is even worse, he said.

"I have had to hold it [being gay] in and hide it for most of my life and I'm sick and tired of hiding," Griffin said.

I'm happy being gay and I don't care who knows it," he said. "If being openly gay at school can help other students understand, especially other gay students trying to come out, then it is worth whatever I have to go through." --John Mandes