Dear Safe Schools Coalition members and friends,
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New training video shows teachers how to deal with gay bashing
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Steve Rothaus, srothaus@herald.com
Miami Herald, November 22, 2001
1 Herald Plaza, Miami, FL, 33132
(Fax:305-527-8955 or 305-376-8950 ) (E-Mail:HeraldEd@herald.com )
( http://www.herald.com )
http://www.miami.com/herald/content/features/digdocs/083985.htm
Tanya stands before her high-school class to give a presentation. But before she can say anything, a classmate shouts from the front row, "Dyke! Lesbo!''
Startled, Tanya turns to her teacher for help. He shrugs and motions for her to begin the presentation.
The skit about Tanya, from a new training video for all Broward public school employees,
mirrors the real-life experience of Richard Cortez, a gay Pembroke Pines student who appears in the video.
"There were instances when they called me faggot in front of the teacher,'' said Richard, 16, who once walked out of class when his teacher did nothing to stop the verbal assault.
"I was demeaned as a person,'' said Richard, who eventually dropped out of the magnet program at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale. "I lost all rights as a human being. To the students, I wasn't human. I was something else. I was gay.
"In the end it damaged me a lot. My self confidence was completely destroyed,'' Richard said. "I felt I couldn't relate to anyone. I threw myself into a lot of meaningless sexual experiences. I started drinking. I threw myself into the Fort Lauderdale gay scene, but it's not a very wholesome experience when you are 16.''
At one point, Richard contemplated suicide, something not uncommon for gay teens. In fact, gays account for 30 percent of all teen suicides, 28 percent of all dropouts and 40 percent of homeless teens, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Gay students are at such risk that two weeks ago the Florida PTA passed at its state convention a legislative platform calling for school "harassment free zones'' for all children, including gay and lesbian youth, said platform chairman David Cullen of Sarasota.
The resolution, first proposed by Project YES of Miami and the Dade County Council of PTA/PTSA, failed in 2000. This year, the proposal was revived by the Dade and Duval PTA councils, according to Martha Fugate, executive director of Project YES.
Passage two weeks ago came after the state PTA received "loads and loads'' of documentation from such groups as GLSEN, Human Rights Watch and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, Cullen said.
"The CDC figures were pretty surprising, the number of kids who do not go to school because they are afraid. Some are threatened with weapons,'' Cullen said. "No child should be subjected to that.''
Richard Cortez, who now attends Flanagan High in Pembroke Pines, is one of the lucky kids. He has a supportive mother, Iona, who is helping him move on with his life.
"He came out in middle school,'' Iona Cortez said. "He was about 13 1/2, 14. I knew all along. I knew when he was little. I'm the mother.''
Cortez joined PFLAG, Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, seeking "support, which I got.''
"They're very caring,'' said Cortez, who is divorced and is also raising a 12-year-old son who is not gay.
These days, Cortez draws on her own experience to help other parents at PFLAG Fort Lauderdale.
"I tell them the worst thing they can do is throw their child out. They need to be loved and accepted,'' she said. "To turn on them, it's the most cruel thing.''
PFLAG co-produced the training video, along with Broward Schools' office of diversity and cultural outreach and the Fort Lauderdale chapter of GLSEN, the national Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.
"This is a landmark in Florida,'' said Steve Krantz, president of PFLAG in Fort Lauderdale. "This was funded and produced and mandated by Broward County Schools. This is a major accomplishment.''
A similar training video produced several years ago by GLSEN's Miami chapter is shown to middle- and high-school guidance counselors at Miami-Dade public schools. That video is not mandatory viewing, according to Robert Loupo, co-chairman of GLSEN Miami.
When they learned the Broward video would be made earlier this year, Richard and Iona Cortez offered to appear as themselves.
"We were all for it immediately. Richard looked at me, and I looked at him, and we said we're doing it,'' Iona Cortez said.
The 20-minute video also features several teachers and other students, both gay and straight. Also in the program are state Rep. Ken Gottlieb, D-Miramar, Broward Schools Superintendent Frank Till and James Stork, a gay man who owns a coffee shop and bakery in Wilton Manors.
At the end of the video, the actors repeat the original scenario in which Tanya is verbally harassed in class. This time, though, the teacher tells the students that gay-bashing will not be tolerated in school.
"It's wonderful. It's done with dignity and taste,'' said Broward School Board member Lois Wexler, who last week received an award from GLSEN and PFLAG for her longtime support of gay-youth issues. "It's a real snapshot of what our kids are going through in the way of harassment, bullying and abuse.''
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