Date: Mon, 4 Mar 1996 06:40:58 -0800 From: jessea@uclink4.berkeley.edu (Jessea NR Greenman) Subject: NEA Resolution B-9 Proposed for Change/Elimination [incredible as its content is, the below comes from reliable sources. PLEASE PLEASE write to Geiger as shown below AND to your state education association (call the NEA office as shown below to get the contact info for your state's chapter).] Jessea, I have just run across some discussion on America Online's section for National Education Association members regarding some proposed changes and/or elimination of Resolution B-9 and other resolutions relating to educational equity. A copy of the message follow. Perhaps it's time to fire up the letters/faxes to Keith Geiger, President, National Education Association 1201 16th St. NW Washington, DC, 20036, Voice: 202-833-4000, Fax: 202-822-7974 John Burns (jwburns@aol.com), the poster of the message, is a director of the California Teachers Association and is a strong supporter of lgbt equality. Take care, John Lindner ====================================== Subj: Re:B-9 Date: 96-03-03 19:02:04 EST From: JWBURNS Foreword to the Resolutions (All resolutions are adopted annually at the Representative Assembly) Resolutions are formal expressions of opinions, intent, belief, or position of the Association. They shall set forth general concepts in clear, concise language, shall be broad in nature, shall state the positions of the Association positively and with out ambiguity, and shall be consistent with the goals of the Association as stated in the Preamble to the Constitution. Resolution B-9 Sexual Orientation Education The National Education Association recognizes the importance of raising the awareness and increasing the sensitivity of staff, students, parents, and the community to sexual orientation in our society. The Association therefore supports the development of positive plans that lead to effective ongoing training programs for education employees for the purpose of identifying and elimination sexual orientation stereotyping in the educational setting. Such programs should attend to but not be limited to- a. Accurate portrayal of the roles and contributions of gay, lesbian and bisexual people throughout history, with acknowledgment of their sexual orientation b. The acceptance of diverse sexual orientation and the awareness of sexual stereotyping whenever sexuality and/or tolerance of diversity is taught c. Elimination of sexual orientation name-calling and jokes in the classroom d. Support for the celebration of a Lesbian and Gay history Month as a means of acknowledging the contributions of lesbians, gays and bisexuals throughout history Not only did the resolutions Committee vote to do away with B-9 as you see it here, but it also decided to eliminate the other resolutions that made specific reference to other "special" interest groups, such as the Women, American Indian/Alaskan Natives, Asian-Pacific Islanders, Hispanics and African-Americans. These are Resolutions B-7 through B-13. All the chairs of these caucuses were supposedly involved in coming up with the new language that virtually does away with these groups from the point of view of the organization, telescoping the content of those resolutions into one "safe", innocuous statement that will not attract the attention of anyone. That is the ultimate purpose of all this maneuvering, since Geiger wants to get rid if anything that might attract the attention of the media or the Christian Right. My initial reaction is that such a move could never happen since the chairs involved would never agree to it. but from what I heard from Wilma Whitman, chair of the California resolutions delegation, that is where we stand at this time. There is an open hearing on resolutions prior to the NEA RA. I would think that there might be a few folks there who might wish to express themselves there. I know for a fact that I will be there to protest strongly against deleting these important details from our resolutions simply because Geiger lacks the guts necessary to stand up for what is right. I would also hope that this will be an issue on the agenda for the RA delegates orientation meetings that will be held all across the country this Spring. John Burns ************************************************************************* John Lindner johng@garlic.com http://www.garlic.com/~johng/gateway.html DeFrank Center News: http://www.garlic.com/~johng/bdfc/news.html |Never be bullied into silence. Never allow | |yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's |____ |definition of your life, but define yourself. |\ / | HARVEY FIERSTEIN - Bennington 1992 Commencement| \/ ************************************************************************* *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ YOU MAY RE-POST. Jessea Greenman The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project* Oakland, CA CHECK THIS OUT FOR LOADS OF INFO: http://www.youth.org/loco/PERSONProject/ Please cc us (for our files) on correspondence you send or receive re our action alerts. *Public Education Regarding Sexual Orientation Nationally.