Message from:
Coalition for Safer Schools of NYS, PO Box 2345, Malta, NY 12020
John Myers, Director of Operations and Programs
Email to:SARATOGANY@aol.com
The Real or Perceived Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Student Protection Project

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Lansing State Journal, January 26, 2003
120 E. Lenawee St., Lansing, MI, 48919
(Fax:517-377-1284 ) (E-Mail:opinions@lansing.gannett.com )
(http://www.lansingstatejournal.com )
http://www.lsj.com/news/local/030126_education_1b-2b.html

Gay students seek acceptance
Second summit at Eastern High offers support

By Hugh Leach, Lansing State Journal

For lesbian and gay students, high school can be a scary place.

"I've had people follow me to my car, yelling at me," said Mason High School student Jason Bryans.

"I've had a couple of physical threats and I hear comments ... when I walk down the halls."

Bryans gathered with more than 50 other gay, lesbian and straight students and supportive adults Saturday at Eastern High School to discuss ways to cope.

Several schools have formed Gay-Straight Alliances to address the issue.

"I'm hoping to help form a GSA in Mason to raise student awareness," Bryans said.

"There are other students in the same situation as me who have not come out yet and are afraid to be themselves. I hope to help change that."

Interaction with students such as Heather Findley and Sara Holy of East Lansing High School and Diane Dennerll of Jackson High School could give Bryans just the type of information he needs.

"East Lansing was the first area school to form a GSA in 1999 and others followed suit," Findley said. "It was relatively easy for us, but it is important for us to help other schools where they may have a rough time."

In Jackson, Dennerll said, the opposition wasn't as much from students, as from parents and religious leaders who thought a GSA was an inappropriate extra-curricular activity.

"We had a rally of 50 or 60 people who supported us," she said. "They went to the school board and told them they couldn't deny us the right to form a GSA."

All schools have different ways of doing things, Dennerll said, and a session such as the summit at Eastern - organized by the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network of Mid-Michigan - gives the students a chance to share ideas and experiences.

"There's a social aspect to it as well," said Holy. "It's nice to spend a few hours with kids your own age who accept you and allow you to feel free."

Harvey Brenneise of East Lansing, co-chairman of the second annual summit, said the event was really about safe schools.

"We want to make schools safe for all students, but especially gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students," said Brenneise, who said his son encountered problems while at Okemos High School.

"School boards tend to be in denial," he said. "They make a big issue of school safety, but this is an issue they often ignore."

In some ways, he said, schools are less safe than workplaces.

"A student who makes an inappropriate remark about a minority student will probably be disciplined," Brenneise said.

"But a similar remark about a gay or lesbian student may be ignored. In the workplace you could be fired for that kind of behavior.

"Kids today are much more open to alternative viewpoints than they were 10, 20 or 30 years ago, but we've still got a long ways to go."

· Contact Hugh Leach at 377-1119 or hleach@lsj.com.
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John Myers
Director of Operations and Programs
(518) 587-0176

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