Date: Thu, 15 May 1997 16:53:29 -0700 From: richter@eecs.berkeley.edu (Jean Richter) Subject: 5/15/97 P.E.R.S.O.N. Project news 1. KS: Conference at Kansas State University 2. CT: Brookfield school board votes down GLBT safe zones =================================================================== Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 01:45:16 -0500 (CDT) From: Chris Hurd To: undisclosed-recipients:; Subject: Matter of Justice & Compassion Youth Conference Message-ID: ***************************************************************************** Kansas State University's Bisexual, Gay, and Lesbian Society and the Wichita Chapter of Parents and Friends of Lesbian and Gays presents: On May 31, 1997 in the K-State Student Union A Matter of Justice & Compassion Third Diversity Conference Building a Stronger GLBT Community Through ******Communication, Education, and Liberation****** http://www.ksu.edu/bgls/conf.html ****************************************************************************** Purpose of the conference? To enable us to communicate about issues that are important to us in a safe environment among friends and professionals. To educate ourselves and others in order to liberate ourselves as a cohesive GLBT community. Who should come? High school and college students, faculty, members of the GLBT community, and our supporters are welcome to exchange ideas and issues. About BGLS KSU's BGLS is a peer support system for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered Kansas State University students, faculty, and staff members, Manhattan area residents, and supporters. BGLS provides informational and educational resources, a network of communication, and support to its members and friends. Please feels free to talk to a BGLS member during the conference or e-mail BGLS at: bgls@ksu.edu or visit our website at http://www.ksu.edu/bgls About P-FLAG P-FLAG promotes the health and well-being of gay, lesbian, and bisexual persons, their families, and friends through support, education and advocacy to end discrimination and to secure equal civil rights. P-FLAG provides opportunity for dialogue about sexual orientation and acts to create a society that is healthy and respectful of human diversity. To find an active P-FLAG group near you, call or visit the P-FLAG web site at http://www.pflag.org. This conference is funded by the Kansas Health Foundation. ****************************************************************************** AGENDA 8:00-8:45 Check-In 8:45-9:00 Introduction and Welcome! 9:00-10:00 A Matter of Justice and Compassion True Family Values: Affirming Our Gay and Lesbian Children ---------------Bob Bernstein 10:15-11:30 Morning Session I. Strengths and Challenges: Bringing All of You Who Are On The Journey ---------------Patricia O'Brien II. Beyond Coming Out: Exploring Gender, Religious, and Social Issues ---------------Robert Minor 11:30-1:00 Lunch You are invited to explore the city of Manhattan and historic Aggieville. Expect to pay between $3.50 and $6.50 for lunch in Aggieville which is two blocks from the K-state Union. 1:00-2:00 Relations: The Continuum of Friendship to Partnership ---------------Brenda Hanger 2:15-3:30 Afternoon Session I. Update on AIDS ---------------Topeka AIDS Project, Regional AIDS Project II. Building a Stronger GLBT Community Through Education and Activism ---------------Scott Curry 3:45-5:00 Liberation, Connection, Closure Celebrating our "Uncommon Heroes" ---------------Phillip Sherman *************************************************************************** Morning Sessions Coming Out, Staying Out Attend the session that interests you most. Strengths and Challenges: Bringing All Of You Who Are On The Journey - The stages of Coming Out Definitely for those who have not come out to friends and family, or who have only come out to a few people. Have fun with the friends you'll meet during this discussion. We'll share ideas and experiences about the joys, fears, success and traumas of one of the most important processes that occurs in a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered person's life. Beyond Coming Out: Exploring Gender, Religious, and Social Issues You're comfortable with your sexuality, but why is it such a big deal to everyone else? How do we as nonheterosexuals conflict with traditional gender roles? How do we reconcile ourselves with society's definition of the religious and social norm? Come to the session to be enlightened! AFTERNOON SESSIONS Communicate, Educate, Liberate Update on AIDS Here's your chance to find out anything you've always wanted to know about HIV and AIDS but were afraid to ask!! Feel free to take brochures and handouts, and find out how you can be an AIDS advocate or volunteer in your community. Building a Stronger GLBT Community Through Education and Activism Part of individual and community cohesion and growth comes from educating each other and sharing our stories. Learn about what's happening with other GLBT's around the U.S. and Kansas, and find out how you can keep yourself and your community educated and liberated. ***************************************************************************** OUR SPEAKERS Robert Bernstein, our keynote Speakers, authored Straight Parents/Gay Children: Keeping Families Together (with an Introduction by Robert MacNeil of the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour). Mr. Bernstein's column on gay issues, disability rights and aging have appeared in more than fifty major metropolitan dailies, such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and the Chicago Tribune. He served for nineteen years with the U.S. Department of Justice. He also appeared as "Parent of the Week" on the Oprah Winfrey Show, in January of 1996. Patricia O'Brien, LMSW, Ph.D, describes herself as a social worker, educator, and agent of change. She currently teaches in the Social Work Department at KSU. Robert Minor, Ph.D, is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Kansas where he has taught for nineteen years and was Department Chair for six. His first four books were on his specialty, religious thought and practice in South Asia, but his current research is on gender studies and the relationships of religion and law. At KU one of his popular courses is entitles, Religious Perspectives on Selfhood and Sexuality. Bob has led workshops on homophobia for churches and other religious groups throughout the Midwest. Brenda Hanger, LSCSW, is a clinical social worker in private practice in Manhattan. She is a past Chair of the Committee on Gay and Lesbian Issues for the Kansas-National Association of Social Workers. Brenda has worked with gay and lesbian families, couples, and individuals in Manhattan and Junction City since 1989. Scott Curry, tired of watching friends die and angry at a government that failed to respond to the AIDS crisis, became an activist in the early 80s. In 1992, Scott was the first openly gay man to speak to the Kansas Legislature. He has continues to lobby and educate on behalf od Queer Kansas. He went to Washburn School of Law in order to add law as a tool he could use in the struggle for social change. He plans to open a practice in Wichita. His main focus will be Queer Law. Phillip Sherman is the executive director of the book, Uncommon Heroes, which profiles 131 prominent American gays and lesbians. This book received the American Library Association's 1995 Non-Fiction Award as well as being the official book of Stonewall 25. Copies of this book have been given to each member of the United States Supreme Court. ***************************************************************************** RESERVATIONS Registration will begin promptly at 8:00 a.m. Each $5 registration donation will provide a participant with a packet of materials and a T-Shirt. The Books Uncommon Heroes and Straight Parents/Gay Children: Keeping Families Together will be available for sale at the conference. To make reservations please send name, address, e-mail, etc. to bgls@ksu.edu Pre-payment is preferred. Please make check or money order payable to: BGLS - Conference c/o FHO P.O. Box 2018 Manhattan, KS 66505-2018 Payment and/or registration will be accepted that day. However, please submit this preregistration form today to guarantee reservation for May 31st. *****Reservation Deadline is May 24th***** Chris Hurd BGLS Treasurer ntropy@ksu.ksu.edu ______________________________________________________________________________ I am chaos. I am the substance from which your artists and scientists build rhythms. I am the spirit with which your children and clowns laugh in happy anarchy. I am chaos. I am alive, and I tell you that you are free. -----Unknown ============================================================================== THE NEWS-TIMES, April 30, 1997 Board to vote on safe zones, condoms By Joseph Spector BROOKFIELD _ The Board of Education will vote tonight on whether to keep condom demonstrations and safe zones for gay students, and even on if it should keep its chairman. The board meeting, scheduled for 7:30 at the Brookfield High School library, follows nearly a year of debate over two sexuality issues that have split the community and the Board of Education. The Health Education Advisory Committee recommended last Wednesday that demonstrations of condom use be reinstated in ninth- and 10-grade health classes. After concern from board members and the public, Superintendent David Bristol placed a moratorium on the demonstrations in September. Bristol has made his own recommendations, based on the committee's findings. But the board was divided in its support of the committee's report and didn't vote last week. Instead, board members agreed to continue the discussion tonight. Last week's meeting became more than just a discussion, though, as some board and health committee members dueled over the report. After board Chairman Art Kerley said late in the meeting that the committee was ``a setup,'' the roughly dozen committee members on hand stormed out of the meeting. Some committee members yelled for Kerley's resignation on the way out. Now the school board may act on the committee's outcry, with a section of the meeting designated to discuss not whether Kerley should be on the board, but whether he should remain as chairman. The school board is also scheduled to vote on whether the high school should continue with its safe-zones policy. Safe zones designate about four ``safe'' classrooms, marked with pink triangles, where students can talk about their sexuality with understanding teachers. Some board members have questioned why the safe-zones policy, which the board voted 5-2 to keep last March, is on tonight's agenda. ``Nowhere did we agree to have safe zones on the agenda,'' said board member Barbara Wolff. ``I see no reason to review it and vote again.'' Bristol said yesterday that Kerley, the chairman, has the final say on what appears on the agenda. Kerley said he wanted the board to address all these issues in one forum. ``I think we've got to come to some resolution on this,'' said Kerley, who was elected board chairman in December 1995. The safe-zones issue and the condom demonstrations spawned two petition drives over the last few months. Both petitions, one in favor and one against, will be presented tomorrow night, petition organizers said. Kerley's remarks at Wednesday's meeting prompted three board members, Wolff, Steve Devaux and Catherine Lasser, to request an executive session _ a meeting out of public view _ to review his actions. ``I thought it would be better that way for Art,'' Lasser said. Instead, Kerley decided to hold the discussion in public, saying yesterday that ``Art Kerley is not for hiding.'' He apologized for letting the meeting get out of hand, and added that he respects the work of the committee, but thinks the administration used the committee as a setup to supersede the discretion of the board to rule on the health curriculum. ``I meant it was a setup to pre-empt, if not preclude, the Board of Education's due diligence and deliberate on the matter,'' he said. ``At the end of the day, it's still a Board of Education decision.'' But members of both the health committee and the school board still view Kerley's actions as out landish. ``His conduct throughout the meet ing was deplorable,'' said health committee member Maria Ortner. Bristol agreed last Wednesday to reinstate the condom demonstra tions unless the board tells him oth erwise. The 25-member committee, formed by Bristol in November, spent six months reviewing the district's health curriculum, in particular the sections on human growth and development, and disease prevention. The committee's report makes sug gestions on eight health curriculum issues, including the condom demonstrations. (FEEDBACK on the Brookfield meeting in the article above From: GLA of CT@aol.com The meeting lasted from 7:30 until about midnight. Public comment, in 3 minute slots lasted until after 10:00. The Board voted on 2 issues of importance to our community: 1) Regarding the health education curriculum the Board ordered an end to all condom demonstrations in the schools. It also ordered that parents must sign permission slips allowing students to attend certain portions of the program as opposed to the current requirement that they must specifically request that a student be excluded. 2) The Board directed the Superintendent of Schools to develop some form of "all inclusive" Safe Zones as opposed to the current ones aimed at GLB students that are designated by pink triangles. This is widely seen as an effort to kill the current Safe Zones. The Board voted 4 to 3 on these issues, reversing a previous 5 to 2 vote in our favor on the Safe Zones last fall. The change is the result of 2 members leaving the Board and having replacements appointed by the remaining members. Interestingly, one of our new opponents is a Democrat who was opposed by the 2 remaining Democratic members. Previously, the Democrats abstained to allow the Republicans to choose their replacement. A great example of democracy at work. ========================================================================= Jean Richter -- richter@eecs.berkeley.edu The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project (Public Education Regarding Sexual Orientation Nationally) CHECK OUT OUR INFO-LOADED WEB PAGE AT: http://www.youth.org/loco/PERSONProject/