Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1998 15:47:23 -0700 From: Jean Richter Subject: 6/23/98 P.E.R.S.O.N. Project news 1. CA: More concerns about history/social science curriculum standards; news article on gay youth photo exhibit 2. AR: Title IX victory for gay student ======================================================================= From: PROJTOCSIN@aol.com Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1998 02:44:07 EDT We need to also look at the fact that as of the last meeting of the CA Academic Standards Commission History Social Science Committee the committee was going to recommend in its final draft that the phrase separation of church and state be enclosed in quote marks! One of the members of the History/Social Science committee is a woman from Rocklin, LaToyna Wright who home schools her children and so as far I as know has no children in a public school. Mrs. Wright was a leader in the sex education fight that occurred in Rocklin in a few years ago. She has been closely associated with the Capital Resource Institute, the Focus on the Family political front in CA and has was invited to attend private meetings of RRR organizations hosted by Assembly Member Steve Baldwin when he was chair of the Assembly Education Committee. Mrs. Wright was instrumental in getting the committee to ask David Barton, a religious right revisionist of American history to offer his opinions of the history standard draft. It is interesting to note Barton felt it was important for students to know who Baron Von Stuben was but I did not see where he thought it was important for them to know the Count was a homosexual. (5.5:2). This is for the fifth grade, when do we start telling kids about historic gay figures? If the RRR is successful in its attack on the 1st Amendment and casts doubt on the wall of separation of church and state as we have come to know it then the children of California will not have the proper respect for that Great Wall and it will be the beginning of a Great Crack in it. Jerry Sloan Project Tocsin Sacramento =============================================================================== CONTRA COSTA TIMES, June 21, 1998 Box 5088,Walnut Creek,CA,94596 (Fax 510-933-0239)(E-MAIL: cctletrs@netcom.com)(http://www.hotcoco.com) BENOIT DENIZET-LEWIS Moral policing is alive and well EXHIBIT WHAT: "I Got All My Friends With Me: A Look at Gay and Lesbian Youth in Contra Costa County," an exhibit of photography by and about gay and lesbian youth. WHERE: Dragon's Lair Stained Glass Studio, 510 W. 2nd St., Antioch WHEN: Tuesday through July 11. Open 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday How much: Free CALL: 925-756-2670 IT'S OFTEN UNCLEAR where the fear lies, or from where it came, or for how long it's been brewing there, thoroughly unchallenged. It's a classic question of the chicken-and-the-egg variety, and in the case of Antioch City Councilman Allen Payton, it leaves you with an unsettling question: What came first -- Payton's fear of art or of the unfettered dissemination of the "homosexual lifestyle"? Recently, when organizers of an exhibit by and about gay youth approached Antioch's Civic Arts Commission about displaying 11 photographs in the City Council chambers, Payton took it upon himself to serve as Antioch's moral police, proclaiming, with all the tact of Jesse Helms at a gay pride march, that something like this is "not going to happen in this town." [Deleted part. filemanager@qrd.org] "I believe that homosexuality is a choice, and the last thing that the City Council needs to be doing is promoting this as a healthy choice," Payton says. "I've known several men who used to live a gay life (in San Francisco), and once they moved away from that influence and back to Concord, you could see them changing. Suddenly, their handshake was firmer, and that was the beginning of change." Concord, the city of the firm handshake? Anyway, I digress. Payton's argument that gay youth should not be included as a "minority," and should therefore not be displayed in the City Hall, is based on his ardent belief that homosexuality is entirely a choice. This belief never ceases to astonish me in its monumental stupidity, and it brings to mind the following question: What person, in his or her right mind, would choose to be gay in a world where an exhibit of gay youth strikes such fear in some of our hearts? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Benoit Denizet-Lewis covers arts and entertainment for the Times. He can be reached at 925-945-4796, or by e-mail at benoitnu@aol.com. =============================================================================== From: DBLLDEF@aol.com Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1998 15:29:38 EDT Subject: Title IX victory for gay students Complaint by Gay Student Triggers Historic Civil Rights Agreement; Fayetteville, Arkansas schools must comply with Title IX NEW YORK, June 23, 1998 - In an important step in combating harassment of lesbian and gay students nationwide, the federal government reached agreement with the Fayetteville Public Schools in Arkansas on broad civil rights protections in the schools, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said Tuesday. The "Commitment to Resolve," entered into by the federal government and the school system, remedies an administrative complaint brought by a Fayetteville student, William Wagner. Lambda represented Wagner, now 17, and his parents, in a sex discrimination complaint to the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) of the United States Department of Education. The complaint is the first filed under Title IX on behalf of a harassed gay student. In a letter dated June 17, 1998, Lambda learned that OCR had reached agreement with the Fayetteville Public Schools, calling for the district to "recognize the various forms of sexual harassment," including "sexual harassment directed at gay or lesbian students..." Under the agreement, the school district must overhaul its policies and procedures and train faculty, staff, and students with written reports of progress to the OCR until June 1999. Throughout 1995 and 1996, several students harassed Wagner in grades eight to 10 at his Fayetteville, Arkansas, school; the harassment escalated to a gay bashing by a gang that broke Wagner's nose and bruised a kidney. Criminal charges resulted in probation for those students, but others at the school continued to sexually harass Wagner. After the school failed to address the on-going harassment, Wagner and his parents filed their OCR complaint in January 1997. The Wagners subsequently pulled William out of school in fear for his life. Wagner's mother Carolyn welcomed the agreement. "My heart broke when my son was so terribly abused, just for being himself. A mother's dream for her children is that they be happy and healthy, and this includes being safe at school," she said, adding, "This agreement with Fayetteville Schools, hopefully, will safeguard many parents' dreams and protect their kids." OCR enforces compliance with Title IX, a federal statute that prohibits sex discrimination, including sexual harassment. In March of 1997, OCR released new Title IX guidelines for schools which, for the first time, made explicit reference to "gay or lesbian students" as also being covered by federal prohibitions against sexual harassment. "This is the first case in the nation under the new Title IX guidelines' explicit coverage of sexual harassment directed at gay students," said Lambda Staff Attorney David S. Buckel. "School principals who question whether sexual harassment of gay students is illegal will learn a big lesson from this breakthrough. And now, more lesbian and gay students may be able to finish high school," he said. ================================================================================ 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/