[dear readers, please support BOTH the Des Moines Register for this courageous editorial -- contact info for the paper appears below-- AND also write the School Board itself urging it to retain the existing inclusive policy. Des Moines was the site of intensive anti-LGBT organizing efforts last summer during the Republican caucuses. This organizing resulted in the defeat of a gay school board incumbent during the September election. The political religious extremists are well-organized in Des Moines and try to foist their views on the majority through strategic lobbying. The Des Moines School Board can be reached at 1800 Grand Ave, Des Moines IA 50309. You might also send a copy of your letter to the Iowa High School Press Association, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 52240.]

THE DES MOINES REGISTER
Box 957,Des Moines,Ia.,50304
FAX 515-286-2511, E-MAIL: letters@desmoine.gannett.com

Thursday, April 4, 1996

EDITORIAL

"The School board should stand firm for nondiscrimination in hiring

Some 1,000 people have signed a petition asking the Des Moines School Board to strike "sexual orientation" from anti-discrimination language in hiring policies. Will petitions from people who don't like blacks or Jews or evangelical Christians be next? The board should express it's strong commitment to equal treatment, and move on.

Blacks, Jews and evangelical Christians, though, really don't have to worry about legalized exclusion anymore. It has come to be widely accepted, thankfully, that certain defining characteristics - race, religion, gender - should not be cause for discrimination. Laws and policies have been crucial in bringing that about.

Sexual orientation is usually left out of such laws and policies. So the School Board was courageous in 1990 when it passed its policies, sending the message that, despite divisions in society over whether to fully include gays and lesbians, intolerance has no place where good citizenship is taught.

Bruce Tillotson, leader of the group that presented the petition on Tuesday, was quoted in a storyon Wednesday as saying "Once we allow some group with an agenda to be recognized like that, it could be expanded." That's off-target. Nondiscrimination in hiring is about nothing more than not discriminating; it is not about promoting a point of view.

The School Board also passed a policy saying it would not discriminate against students on the basis of sexual orientation. The board making it clear that school should be a safe place, for all children and adults, was crucial. It still is."