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THE DETROIT FREE PRESS
321 W. Lafayette Blvd.,Detroit,MI,48231
FAX: 313-222-6774, E-MAIL: Editpg@det-freepress.com

Tuesday, July 30, 1996

* Instructor was community target

MELANIE EVERSLEY Free Press Staff Writer

The harassment, the hate mail, the constant complaints from parents and school administrators, the homophobic attitudes by some in this religiously conservative town near Grand Rapids finally got to Gerry Crane, associates said Monday.

The embattled Byron Center High School music teacher whose gay marriage rocked a small town resigned from his job, Superintendent Philip Swainston said Monday.

Said friend Jeffery Swanson, "They did a good job of wearing the guy down. It was like a concentration camp."

Crane's marriage to partner Randy Block became public last year, spurring a tumultuous December meeting during which the school board almost fired Crane.

Afterward, Crane was subjected to constant scrutiny, friends said. He received letters claiming the Bible ordered Christians to kill gays and someone anonymously sent videotapes disparaging gays to the families of Crane's students, said Swanson, who owns Sons and Daughters, a gay and lesbian bookstore in Grand Rapids.

"I think Gerry just had a life from hell" over the last few months, Swanson said. "Gerry was not enjoying life."

Swainston said Crane's resignation was effective immediately and that he didn't know what his plans would be. Crane could not be reached.

Crane "wants to lay low" and avoid comment, but has agreed to a severance package with the district, said Phil Duran, secretary of the Lesbian and Gay Network of Western Michigan.

Crane was scorned by many parents despite a reputation for reviving a withering music program at 540-student Byron Center High School.

"I guess I'm surprised. I thought he'd fight to the end," said Nancy Hickey, who wanted Crane removed over the pleas of students who praised his teaching. "People weren't out to get him. They just wanted him to realize that his lifestyle wasn't a normal lifestyle and they didn't want their kids exposed to it."

In December, after weeks of controversy, the school board declined to fire Crane, as many had wished, but issued an extraordinary statement.

"Individuals who espouse homosexuality do not constitute proper role models as teachers for students in this district," the board said.

Stung by the criticism, Crane nonetheless pledged to persevere. But friends and a lawyer who knows Crane said the school board and some administrators, parents and townspeople went out of their way to monitor Crane's movements and harass him.

''Even after classes ended for the year, Byron Center school administrators were putting reprimands in his file," Duran said. "It was very evident they were going to play hardball and make conditions miserable."

A lawyer with a national gay and lesbian advocacy organization said the school board allowed the harassment to continue.

Crane had talked about resigning over the last few days, said Patricia Logue, managing attorney for the Chicago office of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund.

"It is clear that there has been a consistent level of scrutiny of him over this year, which no teacher should have to go through," Logue said. "There's been one baseless complaint after another."

The resignation would be a loss for the district, she said.

School board members could not be reached immediately Monday.

Jeffrey Montgomery, president of the Triangle Foundation, a Detroit-based gay and lesbian advocacy organization that was monitoring Crane's situation, said, "I think it's a testimony to Gerry Crane's integrity that he stayed there as long as he did in the face of that sort of attitude being promulgated by the school board."

Montgomery said the Byron Center school board was irresponsible to press its views of homosexuality.

Byron Center is 15 miles south of Grand Rapids. As is the case in many west Michigan communities, conservative Christians who believe homosexuality is a sin have significant influence over local culture.

The controversy gained steam last fall when it was learned that Crane "married" his male companion.

When asked by students, he replied: "Should it matter? If not, then I have a job to do and you have a job to do. Let's get to it."

[The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project notes:
The phone number for the Byron Center Public Schools (where you can reach the Superintendent of Schools, who is Philip Swainston, and the Board of Education,
whose President is Robert Kaiser) is (616) 878-1541; the fax there is (616) 878-0233,
and the mailing address is 2475 84th St., Byron Center MI 49315.]