Msg fwd by:
The Coalition for Safer Schools of NYS, PO Box 2345, Malta, NY 12020
Email to: saratogany@aol.com

"The Actual or Perceived GLBT Student Protection Project"

CSS-NYS Note: October is Gay History Month, first proclaimed by the National Education Association a few years back.

Support the NY "Dignity for All Students Act", S5775
(call/write your legislators) Text at:
New York State Senate Home Page
or http://www.senate.state.ny.us/
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Boston Globe, October 13, 1999
Box 2378, Boston, MA, 02107
(Fax 617-929-2098 ) (E-MAIL: letter@globe.com )
( http://www.boston.com/globe )

LESSON PLAN: Promoting tolerance
[edited portion from one of three or four topics included in story called Lesson Plan]

By Beth Daley, Doreen Iudica Vigue, and Kate Zernike, Globe Staff

The Shared Heart Initiatives, a Boston-based nonprofit organization, yesterday introduced a curriculum for high school students aimed at fostering awareness and understanding between gay, lesbian, bisexual and straight students.

Adam Mastoon, founder of the organization, introduced the new curriculum at the University of Wyoming, as part of a weeklong series of events to remember Matthew Shepard, the gay college student brutally murdered in Wyoming one year ago.

The curriculum builds on Mastoon's touring photo exhibition called, ''The Shared Heart,'' a collection of portraits and quotes from young gays, lesbians and bisexuals.

The curriculum offers lesson plans, activities and discussion questions as a tool to introduce a unit on sexual orientation, Mastoon said.

It also explores issues such as human, civil, women's and gay rights; stereotypical images in American culture; lesbian, gay and bisexual people in American history; the origins of sexual orientation; religious perspectives; and bullying, harassing and hate crimes.

''The number of tragedies associated with hate crimes in schools across the nation demands that educators do more to keep our students safe from bullying, harassment and other acts of ignorance or intolerance,'' said Boston Schools Superintendent Thomas Payzant, who hailed the curriculum. ''Our kids deserve a school environment where they can focus on productive learning, free of fear.''

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