Message forward by: The Coalition for Safer Schools of NYS
Email to: SARATOGANY@aol.com
=====================================================================
From: torourke@glsen.org (Tony O'Rourke)

State education board rules out anti-gay bias over complaints
By Jeff Donn, Associated Press, 4/26/2000 00:01
PITTSFIELD, Mass. (AP) Massachusetts school policy makers say they are protecting gays, but some Christian activists say they are promoting homosexuality.

The state Board of Education unanimously adopted rules Tuesday to promote equal rights for pupils regardless of sexual orientation.

''To your discredit and shame, you're institutionalizing degeneracy,'' yelled out Timothy A. Chichester, who came to the Pittsfield meeting from nearby Canaan, N.Y.

''These regulations are about protections,'' Education Commissioner David Driscoll said later. ''People should read them not read into them.''

During the on-the-road session at Crosby Elementary School, the board voted 7-0 to make the changes to its equal opportunity regulations for public schools. The original rules date back to 1975.

The new sections are meant to carry out the spirit of a 1993 state law barring discrimination at school against gays or lesbians.

The new rules declare that gays and lesbians hold equal rights to take advantage of all academic and extracurricular programs. Curricula must ''encourage respect for the human and civil rights of all individuals regardless of race, color, sex, religion, national origin or sexual orientation.''

Teachers must review learning materials for any ''simplistic and demeaning generalizations'' about sexual orientation and respond with ''balance and context.'' They should take annual in-service training in dealing with anti-gay bias or harassment in a school setting.

Several activists, portraying themselves as parents and Christians, told board members the rules will push more schools to form Gay-Straight Alliances, which are student clubs that advocate equal rights. The activists said more teachers will, in effect, endorse homosexuality and even discuss specific acts in an effort to define what is acceptable. Many of the activists said they view homosexuality as sinful in a biblical context.

''We're going to take a 7-, 8- or 9-year-old and say, `This is a homosexual act. These acts are to be tolerated,''' said William J. Gillmeister, the father of two children in Brookfield public schools.

''I do not want my child taught any kind of sexual issue in school. That is my God-given right as a parent,'' said Denise Brozonos, of Lynn.

However, Wallace Bachman, a spokesman for the Boston-based Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, said the new regulations will simply help gay pupils ''feel safer at schools and be more likely to complete their education.''

Judith Nardacci, a member of the Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth, told the education board, ''My daughter, who was a lesbian, spent her entire school life in hiding.''

A few changes were made in a late compromise worked out before the meeting to ensure unanimous support. Board member Roberta Schaefer, who proposed the changes, said they better balance the rights of gays with those of other students. ''We're walking a very fine line,'' she said. ''It's really very hard.''

The new rules take effect on May 25.
=====================================================================
This message has been distributed as a free informational service for the expressed interest of non-profit research and educational purposes only.

"The Actual or Perceived GLBT Student Protection Project"

A project of:
Coalition for Safer Schools of NYS

John Myers
Director of Operations and Programs
PO Box 2345

Malta, NY 12020
(518) 587-0176
Email: saratogany@aol.com

(To join or unsubscribe the CSS-NYS e-mail list, send request to address above.)

Boston Globe, April 26, 2000

State approves rules targeting hostile atmosphere for gays

By David Able, Sandy Coleman, Doreen Iudica Vigue, Anand Vaishnav, and Laura Gaccione

PITTSFIELD ­ After several emotional comments from religious conservatives and gay rights supporters, the state Board of Education voted unanimously yesterday to require school districts to investigate incidents of discrimination and harassment against gay students.

''This is about protection,'' said Commissioner of Education David P. Driscoll. ''There is discrimination in various forms and harassment in various forms, and I frankly don't see any lessening of this. That's what these regulations are all about.

The Access to Equal Educational Opportunity Regulations now mandate tolerance of students of every race, color, sex, religion, national origin, and sexual orientation. They require yearly training to help school personnel create a climate free from bigotry. They also require teachers to respond to derogatory stereotypes that could be encountered in teaching materials.

Those who spoke against the rules said they were concerned about school-funded support groups for gays and lesbians. They also said they sought to protect parental rights regarding exposure to sexual information that children might receive in the course of making homosexuality an acceptable aspect of student life.

''To your discredit and shame, you have institutionalized degeneracy in Massachusetts,'' said Timothy A. Chinchester of nearby Canaan, N.Y., after the vote. . . . [continues with other topics]

Associated Press, April 26, 2000

Gay and lesbian advocates upset by anti-discrimination policy

By Heidi B. Perlman

BOSTON (AP) ­ A state anti-discrimination policy passed to protect gays in schools is being criticized by the group it initially set out to help.

Some gay and lesbian advocates fear last-minute changes to the regulation made by the state Board of Education on Tuesday could spark an increase of anti-gay sentiment in the classroom.

The rewrite waters down language in the anti-discrimination policy from a rule that educators ''counteract'' stereotypes in materials to one that requires them to ''provide balance and context.''

''This allows for people who hate gays to express their views in the classroom,'' said David LaFontaine, head of the Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth. ''This law is to prohibit bigoted behavior, not open a public forum for debate of these issues.''

State education officials insist the revisions were made to prevent harassment by protecting the rights of everyone.

''We cannot arbitrarily favor one group at the expense of others,'' Roberta Schaefer, the vice chairwoman of the board, said Wednesday. ''I think the way we have this worded protects everybody.''

Board members heard emotional testimony from parents and advocates on both sides of the issue at their monthly meeting Tuesday, and voted unanimously to alter the language of the rules.

Under the new regulations, schools will set up annual training programs for all personnel, and school committees will be required to establish policies to ensure equal access to school programs for all students.

New employees also will be required to sign a statement pledging to conform to state and federal anti-discrimination laws.

These subtle changes to the state law, which has been in place since 1993, were made to emphasize the state board's support of all students, Schaefer said.

''It's not our job to promote anybody's views,'' she said. ''This is a law about preventing harassment, for everyone.''

Gay rights advocates, though they do not favor the change in the wording, say the board's willingness to discuss the topic is a positive step.

Ricara Moore, a 17-year-old senior at Boston High School, is an active member of her schools Gay Straight Alliance. She says she's been openly lesbian since June.

''Now we finally have someone on our side to say, ''No, that's not how it's going to go,''' she said. ''We needed that.''

According to a Massachusetts Youth Risk Behavior Survey, just 2 percent of all students and 4 percent of the state's high schoolers describe themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual.

There are more than 200 Gay Straight Alliances at high schools across the state, with about 150 based at public schools.

Wallace Bachman, head of the Boston-area Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, said he is hopeful the board's adoption of the state law will make homosexual students realize they have support.

Openly gay students are harassed and discriminated against every day in the public and private schools, both by their peers and their teachers, he said.

Gay teens are four times as likely to consider or attempt suicide as their heterosexual peers, he said.

''This revision raises the awareness that this kind of harassment is not harmless,'' he said. ''This gives students some recourse they may not have known they had.''

Return to P.E.R.S.O.N. Project Home Page