Contact information:
Susan E. Davis, President
Plymouth-Canton Board of Education
E. J. McClendon Educational Center
454 South Harvey Street
Plymouth MI 48170
Plymouth Canton High School
Patricia Patton, Principal
Gerald Ostoin, Principal
Raymond Fougnier, Principal
Detroit Free Press, December 28, 1999
321 W. Lafayette Blvd., Detroit, MI, 48231
(Fax 313-222-6774 ) (E-MAIL: editpg@freepress.com )
( http://www.freep.com/ )
By Amber Arellano, Free Press Staff Writer
Gay issues an emotional district topic
Harassment, even support, fuel debate in Canton schools
Sometime between the 9th and 10th grades, Julie knew she was a lesbian. She liked girls instead of boys - but she also knew enough not to tell her classmates.
Now an 11th-grader at Canton High School, she says she hears her classmates make fun of gays almost daily. Several of her gay friends are routinely harassed, tripped and punched by straight students, she says.
"Boys get it worse than girls," says Julie, 16, of Canton, who didn't want her name used, for fear she would be picked on. "They're roughed up, called fag, queer, fairy, sissy. It happens almost every day."
With hate crimes up nationwide, schools are debating how to stop the harassment of students like Julie without offending people who don't believe gay issues should be addressed in school.
The debate has become emotional in the Plymouth-Canton Community Schools. In October, marked by gays as national gay history month, two gay teachers were ordered by interim superintendent Ken Walcott to take down their gay pride bulletin boards after parents complained. Some believe the displays could influence their children to try homosexual acts.
Their concern is the heart of a nationwide debate over what makes people gay. Last year, several conservative religious groups that disapprove of homosexuality began promoting therapy and transformational ministries to transform gays into heterosexuals. Their supporters believe that people choose to be homosexual.
"I'm worried about kids who haven't had gay feelings, are introduced to the idea, then try it on for size," says Elaine Jeris, a Canton mother who supports the superintendent's decision. "I think homosexuality is all the rage with kids now. There are gay sitcoms all over the television. It's in vogue to be gay."
Others disagree. In November, several national health and educators groups published what they called "Just the Facts About Sexual Orientation and Youth."
In it, they argued against the theory that young people choose to become gay or straight based on outside influences.
The report, mailed to 15,000 school district superintendents, was supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Association of School Administrators, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Association of School Psychologists, among others.
"Do people really think one single showcase can turn people gay?" said Tom Page of Seattle, a Plymouth native who advises schools on how to make their environment friendlier to gay students. "It's not an overnight phenomenon. No one is rushing to sign up."
In the Plymouth-Canton school district, the teachers union is fighting the superintendent's decision to remove the gay displays through a grievance; a district mediator is expected to rule in January. If the union doesn't win, American Civil Liberties Union officials have promised to sue the district.
Support breeds controversy
The incident also has spurred a local debate over how to prevent the harassment of gay students. Parents have flooded the community's papers. Opinions have been split, but at Parent Council meetings, supporters of the gay teachers tend to outweigh their detractors.
And for the first time in the district's history, students have voted to establish a chapter of the Gay-Straight Alliance, a national social and educational group for gay students and straight students who support them. The chapter serves Salem High and Canton High.
"There's a club for everything in our school, but there wasn't one for gay kids," said Kristen Brown, 17, a Salem High School senior and the GSA's new president. "I think starting a club is a step toward letting everybody know that there's a place for them here, too."
Like most school districts, Plymouth-Canton schools don't have a policy that specifically addresses how teachers should discuss gay issues or create a welcoming atmosphere for gay students. Indeed, talk about such topics was unheard of until just a few years ago, some students and teachers say.
At West Middle School, veteran librarian Judy Pavitt hadn't thought much about the issue before a former student came to visit her in the mid-1990s. That student was Page, a 1983 Salem High graduate who says he was beaten and harassed at school for being gay.
Pavitt, a disciplinarian who demanded students treat each other with respect, didn't allow racial or gay epithets to be spoken in her library, recalls Page.
"She ruled the library. I felt safe there. She wouldn't let anybody be harassed."
A few years ago, during a visit home, Page visited Pavitt at school and told her that he was gay. He also told her the library had been a haven for him, and asked her to do more for gay students.
Pavitt began offering library materials, such as a video called "Shadow of Hate," about hate crimes against minorities and gay people.
She also started putting gay-oriented information in her hallway showcases, outside the library. Every October, for gay history month, and sometimes in June for gay pride month, she displayed items such as a rainbow flag - a gay symbol - and books dealing with homosexuality.
"Parents saw them, principals saw them," Pavitt said. "No one ever complained."
In June, Pavitt retired and asked a coworker to continue her displays. Mike Chiumento, an openly gay, 23-year band teacher, agreed.
On Oct. 1, Chiumento put up Pavitt's materials in a showcase in the school's front hallway. He also added a newspaper story about a gay athlete, and a banner with the school's motto: "Speak with respect, act with dignity."
A few days later at Salem High School, gay math teacher Tom Salbenblatt put up a similar bulletin board in his classroom. The board included profiles of prominent gay people in history such as composer Aaron Copeland and Alexander the Great and statistics on gay harassment in schools.
On Oct. 7, interim superintendent Walcott ordered the teachers to take down the displays.
Walcott wasn't available for comment during the district's holiday break, but district spokeswoman Judy Evola said the boards were pulled because sexual orientation issues "are not part of our curriculum."
Too much information, some say
Jeris, the mother from Canton, worries that information about gays may influence her daughters, 13 and 15, to become attracted to other girls.
"Tolerance is one thing. I can tolerate a gay lifestyle. But ...they don't have to discuss it," said Jeris, who has two daughters, one at West, and one at Salem High.
Parent Lauren Falcusan says the district supports all kinds of informational bulletin boards on subjects such as teen pregnancy prevention, drunken driving and African-American history.
"Are these core curriculum issues? No," says Falcus an of Plymouth Township, whose daughter, Jordan, is an 8th-grader in Chiumento's class. "But they're good to have; they're good to highlight."
Chiumento and some gay students say the district's reaction was typical. Many were angry that their sexuality and identity were summed as a lifestyle, rather than how they were born. Chiumento said: "Some administrators can't even say the word gay or lesbian" because they're so uncomfortable with the topic.
Julie said that creates an atmosphere where students are afraid to report harassment.
"As a whole, the gay students I know go to their friends for help," she said, "not the adults at school."
Julie and other students met on Dec. 13 at Salem High for their first Gay-Straight Alliance meeting. About 25 students met after school; the group is open to Salem and Canton High students.
Activists say formation of an alliance chapter is a sign that a school is becoming more open to gay students. In Michigan, high schools in Ann Arbor and Troy have chapters, among others.
"I don't think it's because more kids are gay," Page said. "It's that gay kids see people they can identity with, and they see it's OK to be who they are."
[Tom Page is online at tompage@aa.net, and Judy Pavitt is online at cya16@gateway.net ]
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Last updated 1/6/2000 by Jean Richter, richter@eecs.Berkeley.EDU