Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 11:33:58 -0700 From: Jean Richter Subject: 4/23/99 P.E.R.S.O.N. Project news 1. CO: More commentary on the Littleton school massacre 2. CA: AB 222 passes assembly education committee ============================================================== X-Sender: rcarey%nyacyouth.org@mail.webdudes.com Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 09:12:21 -0400 From: Rea Carey Subject: NYAC Letter regarding CO shootings Dear NYAC Members, youth, and GLBT youth allies: We are emailing you a letter that will be published in our April/May membership newsletter. Given the calls we have received from youth and adults in the last day, we felt it was important to send this out to you early. Please know that our thoughts are with each of you, as youth and adults from across the country struggle to understand the recent shootings in Littleton, Colorado. Please contact us if we can be of support to you. -The Staff of the National Youth Advocacy Coalition (Washington, DC) Improving the lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth. * * * * Letter from the Executive Director: I had planned to write this letter about a youth organizer who has started an international movement of youth against child labor practices of multi-national companies. I had planned to write this letter about a straight youth who is fighting the Boy Scouts' anti-gay practices. But my heart is heavy this morning and those inspirational stories will have to wait for another letter. I write to you on the morning after the school shooting in Littleton, Colorado -- a suburb of my hometown of Denver. As I'm sure many of you have heard, two white male students entered their school with guns and bombs, sought out "jocks" and began murdering at least 16 of their school mates and injuring a few dozen others. Many of the students who survived the attack reported that the two students were part of the "trenchcoat mafia" which at their school seems to be made up of youth who ascribe to "Gothic" fashion of black clothes, make up, and have apocalyptic beliefs. Students interviewed after the attack consistently reported that the two students were taunted and harassed for being "freaks." Because of the reality we live in at NYAC, I immediately wondered if the "freaks" were queer. Who knows if they were or not. There will probably be a number of ways in which the media -- and we -- try to pathologize these two young men, or try to search for answers in thier identities. But the scene reminded me so much of the Paduca, Kentucky school shootings from which we've learned that anti-gay harassment may have played a factor. And in Northampton, MA, we know that Matthew Santoni had been enduring months of sexual and homophobic harassment in school before he stabbed to death one of his taunters in May of 1998. Certainly, I am not defending any of the violent actions of these, or the Littleton, students. I am concerned that schools and communities are not doing their job in supporting students to learn conflict resolution skills and teaching students to respect those who are different from them. The often-used response on the part of school administrators of "boys will be boys" or "that's just how kids are" when asked about verbal harassment is not going to cut it anymore. Not with the easy availability of guns in our society and the media images of violence as a resolution to conflict. Verbal taunting leads to physical harassment and sometimes murder. It was reported that in the midst of their rampage, the two students also took the opportunity to express their racism by locating an African American student, saying something like "there's that nigger," and shooting him dead. To me, this hate crime reveals how oftentimes those who feel oppressed, harassed or under attack actually turn their pain on others who they perceive to be lower on the U.S. social ladder than themselves. The targets of harassment have to make themselves feel more powerful by injuring someone else. By the time you read this letter, we may know whether or not the fact that it was Hitler's birthday was a factor. By the time you read this letter, more information about the two students may have been revealed, the school community will have started its healing, many prayers will have been said, and we will continue to ask "Why". Some of us will continue to say, "that could never happen at my school or in my community." Well, it does and it will unless we, as a nation, make some decisions about how we will support youth in learning to treat each other with respect and to resolve conflict with words, not guns. Be fierce, be fabulous, and be well. Rea Carey Executive Director National Youth Advocacy Coalition 1711 Connecticut Avenue, NW Suite 206 Washington, DC 20009 202-319-7596 202-319-7365 fax nyac@nyacyouth.org www.nyacyouth.org The National Youth Advocacy Coalition (NYAC) is the only national organization focused solely on improving the lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) youth through advocacy, education, and information. NYAC advocates with and for GLBT youth through the collaboration of a broad spectrum of community-based and national organizations. Through this partnership, NYAC seeks to end discrimination against GLBT youth and to ensure their physical and emotional well-being. From: KathyWUT@aol.com Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 13:09:17 EDT Subject: school shootings SCHOOL SHOOTINGS AND VIOLENCE First, a quote from a story about the shooting in Littleton Colorado, from the April 22 Salt Lake Tribune: "Mike Smith, 18, a senior, was the point guard of the school's state championship basketball team, and is on the track team. He also is one of about a half-dozen black students among Columbine's 1,800 students. "They were ones you'd make fun of," he said of the Trench Coat Mafia. "Sometimes it'd be me calling them names. It was like fun and games," said Smith. He said that he and the other jocks would pick on the mafia members, egging them on with gibes of "gay," or "inbreed." Harris and Klebold would respond in German, he said. "They'd talk back to us in another language and we'd just laugh," he said. The tensions between the two groups came to a head at the end of the past school year. For several weeks, Smith said, the two groups fought almost daily after school. "It was like, `OK, we'll meet you here and we'll meet you there and get it all over with,' " he said. He said school officials knew about the fights but did little to stop them. "Boys will be boys, just cut it out, that's what we heard," he said. "Here, the teams are so good that if you're an athlete, you're not going to get suspended unless you do something really bad." In the past, he had shrugged off the disputes. But Wednesday, he felt guilty. "Sometimes," he added, gesturing at the school over his shoulder, "I think it's because of me." (end of quote) So the large, popular jocks would not only tease and torment these guys, they actually sought them out and fought them. Who do you think won those fights? What was school like day-after-day for these kids? Had it been like that all their lives? Probably. News coverage about shootings like the one in Littleton, Colorado, seems to focus on how we help the survivors and friends and families of the victims and on how we can watch for signs that a student or students might be planning a violent act. Stories also talk about how we can try to prevent student from resorting to violence or how we can keep them from having access to guns. In almost all of these cases fellow students have mentioned how the young men who took the guns to school had been "geeks", "weird", "outcasts". Other students hadn't liked them and had made fun of them and taunted them. I can almost guarantee you that these kids had encountered taunting, teasing, rejection and harassment from the time they were small and that they had come to hate and dread school (but they were forced by law to continue to attend school anyway) long BEFORE they were old enough to get guns or make bombs and go to the school to hurt other kids. Chances are good that they encountered the same treatment after school, at church and at home. Isn't it high time that we institute efforts to make our schools less hostile and hateful? Isn't it time we made it unacceptable for kids in our schools to torment and harass other students, no matter how "different" or "odd" other students are? Isn't it time we made it plain to students who are harassed, taunted, teased, assaulted that they have a recourse and that if they go to teachers or to school administrators about the hostility, that the situation will be taken care of and that hostile students will be disciplined? Pretty, good-looking, 'popular' students like jocks, cheerleaders, and members of "in" groups are allowed to ostracize and be hostile, even physically abusive, to kids who are unathletic, 'geeks' or who don't have nice haircuts, clothes or cars. For some students this goes day after day, week after week, year after year after year. They are forced, by law to keep going back to that environment. Then we say we don't understand why someone would take a gun to school and start shooting. It used to be these "weird" kids just dropped out and ran away, abused drugs or alcohol, or they killed themselves. Now they're realizing that they can get some "payback" before they kill themselves or ruin their own lives. It never got much attention when it was just "those geeks or weirdos" killing themselves or ruining their own lives. Maybe the killings will finally convince America that it's HIGH TIME we did something to prevent the hostile environment that makes these kids feel that they have nothing to lose, that continuing to go to school with "cool" kids who torment them is no longer tolerable or an option. News casts and stories need to address this issue and ask questions about what the schools and authorities are going to do about the hostile environment that makes school an intolerable place to be for the kids that don't quite fit in because they are "different". (overweight, skinny, gay, clutsy and unathletic, too short, too tall, wear thick glasses or whatever.) I doubt Americans are going to stand for a total ban on guns. It's time we made school an accepting place where hostile acts and words are not tolerated. Education should include lessons and discussions about sensitivity about other people's feelings and about treating people who are different with acceptance and tolerance, allowing them dignity and a safe place to go to school. EVERY year of their lives students should be told that taunting, abusive behavior is unacceptable and will NOT be tolerated. It should be one of the first things students hear each year. News stories keep saying that now kids won't feel safe in school. What about the kids who have NEVER in their lives felt safe in school? What are we doing to protect THEM? No wonder some of them get so angry. Can we really blame them? >From Kathy Worthington Taylorsville Utah KathyWUT@aol.com ================================================================================ Date: Thu, 22 Apr 1999 21:50:46 -0800 Subject: Great News from California From: "Channel Q News" To: (LGBT Political Activists), queerpolitics@abacus.oxy.edu CALIFORNIA ALLIANCE FOR PRIDE AND EQUALITY CAPE: Crusaders for Equality and Justice FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Eric Astacaan, 916-455-1049, EQUAL RIGHTS MEASURES FOR LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER CALIFORNIANS PASSED LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEES Sacramento, CA (April 22, 1999) - Various policy committees in the California State Legislature passed several measures dealing with equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Californians. These measures include bills related to domestic partnerships, anti-discrimination legislation in employment, housing and public education, and a measure providing a penalty of life imprisonment for murder motivated by a victim's disability, gender or sexual orientation. The various bills are listed below. Anti-Discrimination in Employment, Housing and Public Education AB 222, by Assemblymember Sheila Kuehl (D - Encino), would add "sexual orientation" to the existing non-discrimination language of the California Education Code. The prohibition against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation would apply to all public school and community college districts including student programs and activities, athletics, curricula, employment and state financial aid. The bill was passed by the Assembly Education Committee on Wednesday, April 7, 1999 with a vote of 10 - 7. Committee members who voted for the bill include the following Democratic Assemblymembers: Kerry Mazzoni (Novato), committee chair, Elaine Alquist (Santa Clara), Thomas Calderon (Montebello), Dion Aroner (Berkeley), Susan Davis (San Diego), Mike Honda (San Jose), George Nakano (Torrance), Jack Scott (Pasadena), Virginia Strom-Martin (Eureka), Scott Wildman (Glendale). All Republican committee members opposed the bill. They are Assemblymembers Bill Campbell (Mission Viejo), committee vice-chair, Roy Ashburn (Bakersfield), Steve Baldwin (El Cajon), Jim Cunneen (Cupertino), Lynne Leach (Walnut Creek), Robert Pacheco (Walnut) and Charlene Zettel (Poway). Assemblymembers Carl Washington (D - Compton) and Nell Soto (D - Pomona) did not vote during the hearing. [info on other bills omitted] All of these bills will be heard in the respective Appropriations Committee in the State Assembly and Senate no later than May 28, 1999. The State Assembly and Senate have until June 4, 1999 to pass bills that originated from their respective chambers. If and when the bills passed their house of origin, they will then go to the other house for consideration. The California Alliance for Pride and Equality is proudly sponsoring four of the above bills: AB 26, AB 222, AB 1001, and SB 75. The California Alliance for Pride and Equality is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, grassroots-based, statewide advocacy organization representing the interests of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. Its mission is to ensure the dignity, safety, equality and civil rights of all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and queer Californians by: directly lobbying the state government for appropriate legislation and public policies; educating the public about the communities' issues and concerns; and, working with other communities to promote equality and understanding. To become a member or for further info, please contact: CA Alliance for Pride and Equality (CAPE) P. O. Box 1172, Sacramento, CA 95812-1172 P: 916.492.6160; F: 916.564.2717; E-Mail: CAPEdesk@aol.com Web: http://www.calcape.org 30- -- ************************************************* Eric J.C. Astacaan Legislative Advocate/Public Policy Consultant P.O. Box 2464, Sacramento, CA 95812-2464 Phone: 916-455-1049; Fax: 916-454-5662; E-Mail: Client: CA Alliance for Pride & Equality (CAPE) ************************************************ ************************************************************************ This message has been distributed as a free, nonprofit informational service, to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. Please do not publish, or post in a public place on the Internet, copyrighted material without permission and attribution. (Note: Press releases are fine to reprint. Don't reprint wire stories, such as Associated Press stories, in their entirety unless you subscribe to that wire service.) Forwarding of this material should not necessarily be construed as an endorsement of the content. In fact, sometimes messages from anti-gay organizations are forwarded as "opposition research." =============================================================================== 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/