Date: Mon, 30 Aug 1999 16:21:51 -0700 From: Jean Richter Subject: 8/30/99 P.E.R.S.O.N. Project news 1. ID: Pressure growing to censor PBS showing of "It's Elementary" 2. NYAC to hold third annual national summit in October ======================================================================== From: Lb42bg@aol.com Date: Sun, 29 Aug 1999 22:54:31 EDT Subject: Idaho and "It's Elementary" Idaho Public Television is still facing terrible pressure to cancel the showing of "It's Elementary" Here are two articles from the Idaho Falls Post Register. We need more support for Idaho Public Television's decision to air this program. There is a g/l/b/t community in Idaho...it lives in fear and in the closet. We need all the support we can get from each other and our family and friends. Please continue to encourage people to write in support of this program. Thanks, Beverly IDAHO PROTESTS OVER AIRING OF 'IT'S ELEMENTARY' BILLBOARDS GO UP Protests continue over program - Billboards go up in response to gay Public Television documentary By Gene Fadness Pressure on Idaho Public Television to pull a gay-related documentary mounted Wednesday with an Idaho Falls businessman spearheading an effort to erect billboards statewide asking why Idaho tax dollars are being used to "promote the homosexual lifestyle." Frank VanderSloot, president of Melaleuca, Inc., confirmed he and his company as well as "others" are paying for the billboards, but didn't say who else was involved. VanderSloot is the latest to join a number of conservatives who are protesting Idaho Public Television's decision to telecast the documentary, "It's Elementary." It's one of three new campaigns against the documentary that have surfaced in the last week, all from Idaho Falls. "Idahoans for Responsible Public Television," headed up by Idaho Falls resident Newell Richardson, is asking that IPTV delay the telecast to allow more time for public input. Efforts to contact Richardson Wednesday were unsuccessful. Another Idaho Falls resident, Dani Hansen, said she is working with state Sen. Atwell Parry, R-Melba, and the Idaho Attorney General's office to get a legal opinion on whether airing the show could expose Idaho Public TV and the state to a lawsuit. The documentary, to show at 10 p.m. on Sept. 7, takes viewers into four classrooms of children in the second- through eighth-grades to show how teachers are dealing with gay and lesbian issues that may come up in class or on the playground. Proponents of the film hope more awareness of those issues will promote greater tolerance and decrease hostile incidents against homosexuals. Opponents say the documentary goes well beyond the protection of gays and promotes the homosexual lifestyle. Billboards are planned in 25 locations statewide, including at least one in Idaho Falls on Wednesday. "Why is public TV, paid for by our tax dollars, going to show this to our families, to our children?" VanderSloot said Wednesday. "I'm really concerned that if this isn't stopped, a lot of little kids will watch this program and create questions they've never had, raise curiosities that they shouldn't have at those ages," he said. "Little lives are going to be damaged permanently because of the recklessness of airing this program." Idaho Public TV's Peter Morrill said the show airs at 10 p.m. because it is not for youngsters. Morrill said the station won't back off its decision to air the hourlong program and it has offered opposing groups, including the Christian Coalition and the Idaho Family Forum, an equal amount of time to present their views. Nancy Bloomer of the Christian Coalition said Wednesday night that neither group will respond or appear on a "Dialogue" program that airs two nights later to discuss the documentary. "We're not going to appear because you can't achieve balance," Bloomer said. "How do you un-ring a bell?" she said, adding the damage will have been done when the documentary airs. The program has shown or is scheduled to air in Utah and several Western states, Morrill said. "We clearly don't want to be in the position of being censors when citizens in surrounding states have been given the opportunity to see it." R. Kay Snyder, a spokeswoman for the Idaho Falls chapter of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, said VanderSloot should be more sensitive to his gay employees. "We know that gay people and parents of gays work for Melaleuca. How are they going to feel?" Snyder said. Snyder objects to the use of phrases like "homosexual lifestyle." "It's not a lifestyle, it's a life," Snyder said. Snyder is looking at the bright side of the controversy the documentary has generated. "What's it's done is make a lot of people talk about the issue, so we choose to make lemonade of all this." Last week, representatives of conservative groups in eastern Idaho including Linn Hawkins of Upper Valley Republican Women, Dani Hansen of Eagle Forum, Dane Watkins of the Idaho Business and Agricultural Committee PAC, and Chick Heileson of the John Birch Society, held a press conference protesting the video. They are circulating a petition to the state Board of Education and the Legislature's budget committee, which votes on funding for 25 percent of Idaho Public TV's budget. Many of the opponents say their objection is that the documentary is airing on public television, rather than a commercial station. "If someone wants to make this available for private viewing, I have no objection to that," VanderSloot said. "I think it would be foolish to show this to little children, but if parents want to do that in a private setting, that's their right." Hansen of Eagle Forum, the conservative organization founded by Phyllis Schlafly, said the state could be liable in a lawsuit for airing the program. "Sodomy is a felony," Hansen said. "When a child is trained in school to be tolerant of a felonious behavior, that is contrary to Idaho's education law that requires, constitutionally, that we teach responsible citizenship." VanderSloot is hoping increased citizen awareness will put pressure on public TV to pull the program. "If there's one little kid that could be watching that, we ought to stand up and not let it happen," VanderSloot said. "I hope that this form of child abuse will not be accepted in our community." Political and government reporter Gene Fadness can be reached at 542-6763, or via e-mail at gfadness@idahonews.com. Speak Your Mind. Those with an opinion on the showing of the documentary, "It's Elementary," can contact Idaho Public Television at (208) 373-7220. You can e-mail the programming director at Ron_Pisaneschi@idptv.pbs.org. The mailing address is Idaho Public Television, 1455 N. Orchard, Boise, ID 83706. 'It's Elementary' - Debate heating up over program By Gene Fadness ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Opponents of the video "It's Elementary," say there's not as much public support for the show as Idaho Public TV officials claim. Also, Idaho Falls businessman Frank VanderSloot and a group of legislators, who paid a visit to Idaho Public TV General Manager Peter Morrill on Aug. 20, are denying they threatened state funding for public television during that meeting. Those developments add to an already heated debate over the Sept. 7 airing of the video, which shows how teachers and students in four schools deal with the subject of homosexuality. The publicity agent for the producers of "It's Elementary," say the public reaction in Idaho is stronger than in any of the 100 public TV markets in which the video has shown. "We haven't seen the type of controversy that is happening in Idaho," said Laura Saponara, publicist for the video. "There was a massive mail campaign by three large religious right groups that we've been aware of for months, but it hasn't taken hold anywhere else in the country like it has in Idaho," Saponara said. Proponents of the film say it helps teachers know how to deal with homosexuality when the subject is brought up in the classroom or on the playground. Opponents say it actively promotes homosexuality as an acceptable or normal lifestyle. The campaign against the video has moved from billboards to full-page newspaper ads like the one that appears in today's Post Register. Proponents of the film say they also plan on buying newspaper ads. Did legislators threaten public TV? According to a memo from Morrill to the State Board of Education, the three main points of a group of legislators and VanderSloot that met with him on Aug. 20 were: * Public TV's appropriation would suffer the consequences if the video were shown; * Public TV's request for funds for the federally mandated conversion to digital television would be in jeopardy; * This might be a good time to re-evaluate whether public television is needed in Idaho. State Sen. Evan Frasure, R-Pocatello, who set up the meeting, claims those threats weren't made. "That's a very poor representation of what took place in the meeting," Frasure said. "I'm disappointed in Peter Morrill's decision to put his own political spin on the meeting. That's pretty unfair to the six of us in the room." Also at the meeting were four other legislators, including the co-chairman and two vice chairmen of the legislative budget committee and VanderSloot, the Melaleuca executive who brought statewide attention to the video by buying 25 billboards indicating that public TV is promoting homosexuality to elementary school children. Frasure said Rep. Maxine Bell, R-Jerome, vice chairwoman of appropriations, and Rep. Robert Geddes, R-Preston, and co-chairman of the same committee, told Morrill there was no threat to him. "But they told him this issue is undermining his support," Frasure said. Frasure said showing the video will not affect his vote on appropriations for public television. "But I'm very disappointed in the poor judgement of Mr. Morrill." But Sen. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, who also attended the meeting, said showing the video will affect his votes. "My personal feeling is if this airs I will not vote for any funding for public television." But he said the purpose of the meeting was not to threaten Morrill. "We were there to convey the situation he was putting himself in and the position he was putting legislators in with their constituents," Cameron said. "We have people who are subscribers who were now saying they had sent their last check." Funding for conversion to digital was also mentioned, Cameron said. "We told him that you're wanting additional funds because the federal government wants to go digital. So it's very poor timing to be broadcasting this video at this time." "We believe the firestorm will be worse once it airs," Cameron said. Debate over counts Another purpose of the meeting, Cameron said, was to point out to Morrill that he had been duped by the American Civil Liberties Union, which, Cameron claims, got backers to make 278 requests to show the controversial video. Efforts to reach the Idaho ACLU were not successful. That campaign by the ACLU made it appear there was public support for the program, but since June, public opposition heavily outweighed the support, Cameron and VanderSloot claim. VanderSloot and others got Morrill to release counts for June that showed 107 in favor to 222 against; in July, 43 for and 155 against; and in August, 141 for and 404 against. Morrill said that by Aug. 17, the station had received 589 messages for the documentary to 841 opposed. VanderSloot accused Morrill of misrepresenting the level of public sentiment against the program. VanderSloot and another Idaho Falls resident, Newell Richardson, tried to put the best light possible on Kempthorne's request to Morrill to air the program one hour later, rather than to cancel it. Contrary to some opponents who said the video should not be aired at all, both VanderSloot and Richardson now say adults could benefit from seeing the video because they could then understand the gays' strategy for getting homosexuality taught in public schools. "I don't think Idaho Public TV should air it, but, if they do, we hope parents stay up and watch it," VanderSloot said. "I hope they play close attention to what the promoters say it is and see if these people have been telling us the truth about what the film is." Morrill said he will likely take the advice of Gov. Dirk Kempthorne and other legislators to move the air time from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Sept. 7. Richardson, whose Idahoans for Responsible Public Television raised $2,200 for a full-page newspaper advertisement, said his group opposed airing the video because showing it will make it easier "to transmit it into the public school system." "It's not so much a documentary as it is an advocacy film that seeks to establish homosexuality as an approved or normal variance," Richardson said. The Christian Coalition, however, still wants the video pulled. A news release from the coalition said it agrees with Kempthorne's view that the video promotes homosexuality. "We urge him to take the next step and call for the program not to be aired." Morrill won't do that. "Ultimately good policy will be had with the broadcast at a later hour at night. That's good public policy as opposed to censoring," Morrill said. Saponara, the San Francisco-based publicist, said she is saddened by the opposition in Idaho to the film, but said clergy in Boise will be announcing support for the video early this week. "There seems to be a lot of irrational fears about gay and lesbian people that are really at the root of this controversy," Saponara said. "I guess it's saddening for us that that kind of fear would be a barrier to talking about the way we might be different from our neighbors." Richardson said the dispute isn't personal, but views the video as an effort to introduce homosexuality to small children in schools. That may be confusing and inconsistent with the values taught by parents, he said. Political and government reporter Gene Fadness can be reached at 542-6763, or via e-mail at gfadness@idahonews.com. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ============================================================================== X-Sender: mbwende%nyacyouth.org@mail.webdudes.com Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 10:41:14 -0400 From: "M'Bwende Anderson" Subject: Posting for your list NYAC hosts it's Third National Annual Summit During the weekend of October 23-25, 1999, The National Youth Advocacy Coalition will sponsor it's third Annual National Summit. The conference, taking place at the Holiday Inn on the Hill in Washington DC, will bring together 450 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth, their adult allies and friends. The Summit provides a broad range of skills building and discussion sessions such as: mental health issues, sustaining a youth group, youth/adult partnerships, addressing racism, education issues and much more. Opening Pleanry for the 1999 Summit, "Making the Connections," will feature individuals working at the forefront of intersecting movements. Speakers include: Kim Ford, "Founder of African Ancestral Lesbians for Change; Joo-Hyun Kang, Executive Director of the Audre Lorde Project; Faisel Alam, Founder of the Al-Fatiha Foundation, Graciela I. Sanchez, Executive Director of the Esperanza Center and Raquel Simoes, Host Home Coordinator at Minneapolis Youth Diversion. Registration fees prior to 8/28 for NYAC members is $55.00 for youth/ $200 for adults and for non-members $80.00 for youth/ $300 for adults. After 8/28 registration for NYAC members is $65.00 for youth/ $250 for adults and for non-members $100 for youth/ $375.00 for adults. For additional information, registration materials, youth travel scholarships or information regarding advertising in the Summit's program, please contact: M'Bwende Anderson Conference & Field Organizer National Youth Advocacy Coalition 202/319-7596 ext.16 or e-mail her at www.nyacyouth.org PS. Mark your calendars now for NYAC's Fourth Annual Summit October 21st through October 23rd, 2000 at the Washington DC Marriot Metro Center. ________________________________________________________ M'Bwende N Anderson (mbwende@nyacyouth.org) Field and Conference Organizer National Youth Advocacy Coalition 1638 R Street, NW Suite 300 Washington, DC 20009 202-319-7596 phone 202-319-7365 fax nyac@nyacyouth.org http://www.nyacyouth.org The National Youth Advocacy Coalition (NYAC) is the only national organization focused solely on improving the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) youth through advocacy, education, and information. ============================================================================== Jean Richter -- richter@eecs.berkeley.edu The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project (Public Education Regarding Sexual Orientation Nationally) These messages are archived by state on our information-loaded free web site: http://www.youth.org/loco/PERSONProject/