Date: Thu, 08 Apr 1999 17:22:01 -0700 From: Jean Richter Subject: 4/8/99 P.E.R.S.O.N. Project news 1. TX: Help wanted with schools issues in South Texas 2. Submissions sought for coming out stories from faith perspective 3. Call your local PBS station to support showing "It's Elementary" 4. NC: School bans ad for support group in student newspaper =========================================================================== Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1999 09:05:00 -0600 From: JLSE To: GLESENTALK Subject: Concerned in South Texas - Help Spread the Word Laredo, Texas, has no queer (gaylesbianmachobisexualsadomachistictransgenderetc.) community infrastructure. NONE. A few of us are trying to build it, including a chapter of GLSEN. So far, "GLSENLaredo" "has" one dues paying volunteer board member, a middle school teacher. Other potential volunteers include a retired teacher/ counselor; a Ph.D. working mostly in California but with ties to Laredo; and a K-12 person who mostly does not talk to us. There are about 15 queer Laredoans losely in touch with me on queer issues, including GLSEN. I am attempting to increase the number of members committed to safe schools. I am also joining the Webb Democratic Party at the precinct level - as an OUT gay person - and will use that as a forum to reach straight members, and potential board members - also to test the waters about coming out as a gay male and certified teacher. Will GLSEN leaders please publish our e-mail list address , and my address and our web page URL http://www.netscorp.net/~jaimel so teachers, students, parents, both queer and straight, can CONTACT US. ANYWHERE in south Texas will help us out, a lot. Thanks Jaime Lopez (nom de guerra) ________________________________________________________________________________ SIGNATURE: SUPPORT THE QUEER CYBER-COMMUNITY OF LAREDO: http://www.netscorp.net/~jaimel 1.) Join LAREDO QUEER SPACE E-MAIL FORUM, "LISTEROS:" http://www.netscorp.com/~jaimel/page13.html 2.) Communicate with Laredo Queer Space Web Site jaimel@netscorp.net http://www.netscorp.net/~jaimel (956)791-1869 5-10 PM - ONLY! 3.) Enjoy local Gay Culture - Hadrian House, Publishers ANTINOUS E-PRESS "Th Ganymede Equation: A Retrospective, 1971-98" http://www.netscorp.net/~hadrian 4.) USE AN ANONYMOUS HANDLE / GET ACTIVE ONLINE!!! COME TO OUR MEETINGS & PARTIES! (rev.) 11:41 AM 2/19/99 ========================================================================== Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1999 10:11:38 -0600 From: Timothy Brown Subject: Coming Out Young and Faithful Seeking submissions of coming out stories from a faith perspective written by youth to age 21 for a collection to be published by United Church Press. Stories may be from any faith tradition, and should reflect on the relationship of one s faith community, tradition, and experiences, and the coming out process. Questions writers may wish to address include: Tell us your coming out story, particularly as it relates to your faith journey. Is religion and/or church or synagogue involvement important to you? to your family? Are you or have you been a part of a denomination? Which one? Is your faith community a "Welcoming Congregation?" Has your faith experience helped you or harmed you in your coming out process? How? Has involvement in your faith community become greater or less since coming out? What was your image of God before coming out? Has it changed since coming out? How? How has your faith/spirituality been affected by your coming out process? Do you believe that you can be a person of faith and be a self-affirming g/l/b/t person? If so, from whom/where did you get that message? If not, from whom/where did you get that message? What do you want people to know about l/g/b/t /q youth? How can faith communities be most helpful to l/g/b/t and questioning youth? Do you have any specific ideas? Submissions should not exceed [1500] words. Intent to submit must be received by May 1, 1999, with final submissions due June 1, 1999. Earlier submissions are encouraged. Final selection for inclusion rests with Rev. Leanne McCall Tigert and Timothy Brown, Commissioned Minister. Submissions may be edited. Writers must be 21 or under at the time of writing. Writers under 18 must have a parental consent form signed. Writers may use a pseudonym. Submissions will not be returned and become the property of the Rev. Leanne McCall Tigert and United Church Press. Those whose submissions are selected will be notified ahead of time, and will receive a complimentary copy of the book. Direct all questions, correspondence, and submissions to: Timothy Brown, Commissioned Minister Youth & Young Adult Program Coordinator United Church of Christ Coalition for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Concerns P.O. Box 428 Greeley, Colorado 80631 electronic submissions or inquiries may be submitted to: gayyouth@ecunet.org ============================================================================= Regarding yesterday's item on the RRR opposition to airing "It's Elementary" on PBS: Readers are urged to call their local PBS station to urge that station to show this important documentary. ============================================================================= Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1999 14:53:01 -0700 From: Jessea NR Greenman Concerned readers may wish to contact the principal and the superintendent. Contact info for them follows: W G Enloe GT Magnet High School 128 Clarendon Crescent Raleigh, North Carolina 27610 Principal: Mr. Lloyd Gardner E-Mail: lgardner@wcpss.net Office: 919.856.7860 ---- Jim Surratt, Superintendent 3600 Wake Forest Road P.O. Box 28041 Raleigh, NC 27611 (919) 850-1600 >Raleigh News & Observer, March 12, 1999 >Box 191,Raleigh,NC,27602 >(Fax 919-829-8924)(E-MAIL: forum@rnope.nando.com ) >( http://www.newsandobserver.com/) >Student presses for freedom >The editor of the Enloe High paper asks the school board to allow an ad by a >gay and lesbian support group. >By TODD SILBERMAN, Staff Writer > RALEIGH -- As a student journalist, Matt Williams has spent the past three >years learning to report, w rite and edit for the Eagle's Eye, the student >paper at Enloe High School. > Now, the 17-year-old senior is learning how to take on the powers that be. >The lanky honor-roll student, who is so careful about following the rules that >he wears a school-issued ID badge that other students ignore, is challenging >the school principal on what he believes comes down to a matter of free >speech. > Williams, editor of the Eagle's Eye, wants to run an advertisement from a >Durham-based support group for gay and lesbian students that offers itself as >a resource for information and education on issues of tolerance and equal >rights. The group -- the North Carolina Lambda Youth Network -- ran a similar >advertisement in the papers at three Durham high schools and at Chapel Hill >High School. > But Enloe Principal Lloyd Gardner has refused to allow the Eagle's Eye to >run the ad, contending that it could be disruptive to the school and might >also be perceived as an endorsement of the organization by the school. > Seeking to reverse Gardner's decision, Williams this week filed a formal >appeal -- complete with case-law citations -- with Wake schools Superintendent >Jim Surratt and the Board of Education. > "It's a matter of only a couple of dollars to the paper," Williams said. >"But it was more than that. It didn't seem right that the administration could >block this kind of free expression from being in the student newspaper." > Williams' appeal is the second time in the past five years that Enloe >students have challenged their school's control over student publications. In >1994, a group of students forced the school board to drop a policy that >allowed principals advance review of "underground" publications -- those not >sponsored by the school. > Gardner said a distinction should be made between what students themselves >write and the content of an advertisement. > "Enloe High School and the administration has had a long history of >encouraging students to write about sensitive issues," Gardner said in an >interview Thursday. "But this was not student writing. This was an ad." > Last year, Gardner pulled an advertising insert for beepers that the paper >planned to run, saying that the devices were banned at Enloe and other Wake >schools. > Gardner said his refusal to allow the Lambda ad to run was based on the >school board's policy governing student publications. > "The policy says that school-sponsored publications should not take a >position other than neutrality on issues of political controversy," he said. >"The reader could question whether or not the school or school system supports >this organization. Given where our country is on this topic alone, one could >see the controversy inherent in the ad." > Williams said he was told also that the ad might be a source of disruption >within the school, another reason board policy allows principals to use in >deciding whether to bar students from publishing questionable material. > He contends that neither political endorsement nor potential disruption >applies to the Lambda ad. > Another controversy came over an advertisement from a local church for a >weekly youth fellowship with live music. The church ad, which ran in October, >was later questioned by Gardner, Williams said, on the grounds that it was >from a religious organization. > "First, these organizations are not radical," Williams said. "They're not >trying to encourage breaking the law. As far as disrupting the school day [is >concerned], neither of the ads or the organizations encourage disruption in >the school. > "Second, just because the paper is running these ads doesn't mean the >school is endorsing their views. It doesn't associate the school with anything >other than neutrality." > Ultimately, Williams' appeal may have less to do with the law than the >practice of a school system that gives students little more press freedom than >is spelled out in a 1988 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Hazelwood School >District vs. Kuhlmeier. > The Wake board's policy is consistent with that decision, which grants >principals broad authority in determining the content of student newspapers >and other school-sponsored publications. > "Wake County policy allows [students] to exercise full extent of their >First Amendment rights as interpreted under Hazelwood," said Ann Majestic, >attorney for the Wake school board. But that also means that principals become >the quasi-publishers of their school papers and have final authority over what >is published. > Still, other school systems, including Durham's, allow students more >freedom and permit principals to take a largely hands-off role. > "We're very supportive of that and proud of that," said Kathryn Meyers, >chairwoman of the Durham school board. "The policy does not give the principal >that broad an authority. He has to have very good reason to intervene." > Durham changed its policy several years ago after students from several >high schools organized to push for more control over what their papers could >publish. > "Responsibility was moved from the principal," said Steve Unruhe, newspaper >advisor at Riverside High School. "Durham's policy states directly now that >students and advisers are responsible for content." > Unruhe said there was initial resistance a few years ago from >administrators to running an advertisement from a group with a mission similar >to that of the Lambda organization, but the Lambda ad now runs without >controversy. > "As far as I know, it's not an issue," he said. > Meyers said concerns about the advertisements did reach the Durham board a >few years ago and that the board came down on the side of publishing them. > "We did decide that this is an issue in the lives of some of our students," >Meyers said. "As long as the ads aren't distasteful, this is something that is >important. > "The students felt it was important," she said. "It's the students' >newspaper." > Matt Williams said he just wants his school to give Enloe's paper the press >freedom allowed by the law. > "I'm not looking for some kind of sweeping change," he said. "If the school >board is determined to exercise control, I'd like it to be reasonable, or it's >just a blank check for censorship." >( Todd Silberman can be reached at 829-4531 or todds@nando.com ) O+O+ O+O+ O+O+ O+O+ O+O+ O+O+ Jessea NR Greenman, "I can only hope that...the Court soon will reconsider its analysis and conclude that depriving individuals of the right to choose for themselves how to conduct their intimate relationships poses a far greater threat to the values most deeply rooted in our Nation's history than tolerance of nonconformity could ever do." Former Supreme Court Justice Blackmun ================================================================================= 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/