Date: Mon, 04 Oct 1999 17:42:08 -0700 From: Jean Richter Subject: 10/4/99 P.E.R.S.O.N. Project news 1. NY: Vigil against hate (and a bit of CA news) 2. Unity Through Diversity web site 3. ND: Letter supporting broadcast of "It's Elementary" 4. England: News items from Schools' Out! ============================================================= From: SARATOGANY@aol.com Date: Sun, 3 Oct 1999 02:31:04 EDT Subject: CA: Davis signs legislation to prohibit harassment of gay students, teachers Msg fwd by: The Coalition for Safer Schools of NYS, PO Box 2345, Malta, NY 12020 Email to: saratogany@aol.com "The Actual or Perceived GLBT Student Protection Project" CSS-NYS Note: Now, if we could get our own NYS "Dignity for All Students Act" (S5775 Duane and others) passed and signed into law........ The Governor's Task Force on School Violence has finalized it's report and should be released in about a week, per Albany Mayor Jennings, a Task Force Member, Hope those of you nearby can attend the "Stop the Hate" vigil 10/7/99 8pm in Albany near the Capitol (State Street side, LOB). Rev. John Kettlewell, CSS-NYS Education/Religion Consultant, will be one of the speakers. Rev. Kettlewell will speak about the anti-gay climate in our schools. John Myers Director of Operations and Programs ========================================================= This message has been distributed as a free informational service for the expressed interest of non-profit research and educational purposes only. Sacramento Bee Sacramento, CA http://www.sacbee.com/ October 2, 1999 Davis signs legislation to prohibit harassment of gay students, teachers By JOHN HOWARD Associated Press Writer SACRAMENTO (AP) -- Gov. Gray Davis on Saturday signed landmark legislation to outlaw the harassment of gay students and teachers in public schools and colleges, calling the action an attempt to "beat back the forces of hatred." [Deleted article. filemanager@qrd.org] Problems? Suggestions? Let us hear from you. / Copyright (c) The Sacramento Bee ================================================================================= From: "Unity Through Diversity" Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 00:38:14 -0400 http://www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/Castro/3212/ Unity Through Diversity This website will focus on Gay Youth and School issues along with BLGT (Bi, Lesbian, Gay & Transgender) issues. We have been activists for some time now. We have always felt that we wanted to do more, but because of our busy lifestyle, it was nearly impossible. We see that the Internet is reaching far out into our community and we know that our efforts will be best put to use here. We believe it is imperative to teach our questioning youth to be accepting of who they are, with that in mind we will be focus our efforts in that direction. We intend to be of help to the rest of the community but in a different capacity. Please help us help others by spreading the word about our site and by exchanging links with us. Please feel free to send your comments to us at: Unity_Through_Diversity_1999@yahoo.com PS. If you know of others who may be interested or run a list, please forward this to them. Also if you run a list, please ADD our site to it so that we may make your information available to other. _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ================================================================================= Fargo Forum, September 12, 1999 Box 2020,Fargo,ND,58107 (Fax 701-241-5487 ) (E-MAIL: letters@forumcomm.com ) ( http://www.in-forum.com ) Letter: We are writing to support Prairie Public Television in its decision to show "It's Elementary," a program for helping teachers address teaching about gays and lesbians in our society today. We watched the program and have joined PPTV as members because of their decision to show this in spite of some in our community who wished to censor the program. The information was appropriately presented and could be very helpful to teachers in addressing the questions that arise because of the lack of civil rights for gay and lesbian members of our society, as well as addressing the need for informing our children about gay and lesbian people. We thank PPTV for their interest and fortitude in showing this program, in spite of the desire of some to censor it based on its supposed content. - Cheryl Bergian and Mark Morrison, Fargo ================================================================================= SCHOOLS' OUT! NEWS 12.09.99 1 NEWS AND WEBSITE 2 STATUTORY DUTY TO PREVENT HOMOPHOBIC BULLYING 3 IT'S PREJUDICE THAT'S QUEER: THT CAMPAIGN 4 LEICESTERSHIRE RESOURCE FOR SCHOOLS 5 CAMPAIGN FOR THE REPEAL OF SECTION 28 NEWS AND WEBSITE This is the first web news bulletin from School's Out! National (UK) An organisation working for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transperson equality in education. We have just established a website at http://www.schools-out.org.uk/ Some of the news in this first issue will be dated for readers of the LGTB press in the UK. STATUTORY DUTY TO PREVENT HOMOPHOBIC BULLYING Department for Education and Employment Circular 10/99 "Social Inclusion: Pupil Support" States "The Emotional and mental distress caused by bullying... related to sexual orientation... can prejudice school achievement, lead to lateness or truancy, and in extreme cases end in suicide." and "Head teachers have a legal duty to take measures to prevent all forms of bullying among pupils." The full text of the guidance can be found at: http://www.dfee.gov.uk/circulars/10-99/10-99.htm Every school now needs to take measures to prevent homophobic bullying. To be effective they need to not only deal with incidents of bullying, but also the prejudices that lie behind this form of bullying. IT'S PREJUDICE THAT'S QUEER: THT CAMPAIGN The Terrence Higgins Trust are running an advertisement campaign. One advertisement, that appeared in The Times and The Guardian's Educational Supplements Reads as follows "HOMOPHOBES SHOULDN'T BE LEFT ALONE WITH KIDS. "Some think gay people are a bad influence on children. Others believe it's those with homophobic prejudices who provide the harmful example. "Homophobia is prejudice or discrimination against lesbians or gay men. "Many Children, gay and straight, suffer homophobic abuse at school. It's wrong to say it's 'just a harmless and inevitable part of school life'. "This kind of bullying leads to truancy, under achievement, depression and, in extreme cases, suicide. Good teachers always challenge the homophobes. "Homophobia, like other forms of prejudice, has no place in our schools today. As a teacher, you're in an excellent position to challenge day to day name-calling and bullying. "You could also provide support to children experiencing homophobia. And many schools are addressing homophobia within their anti-bullying policies, how about yours? "Government Guidance clearly state: 'Section 28 does not affect the activities of school governors, nor of teachers. It will not prevent the objective discussion of homosexuality in the classroom, nor the counselling of pupils concerned about their sexuality.' "For ideas on tackling homophobia in schools, and how you might work with parents and governors, take a look at http://www.tht.org.uk/ "IT'S PREJUDICE THAT'S QUEER." LEICESTERSHIRE RESOURCE FOR SCHOOLS Leicester lesbian and gay action have produced a resource for schools "Could this happen to your pupils" It aims to raise awareness of the existence and experiences of lesbian and gay pupils, quotes the experiences and views of school pupils, and provides ideas for teachers and governors on what could be done to tackle homophobia and support gay and lesbian pupils. The text on their website at: http://freespace.virgin.net/lesgay.action/could.htm CAMPAIGN FOR THE REPEAL OF SECTION 28 Section 28 of the 1988 Local Government Act has created fear among teachers that raising lesbian and gay issues in schools might contravene the law, despite Government Guidance to the contrary. The lesbian and gay lobby group STONEWALL are campaigning for the repeal of section 28 as part of the new Local Government (Organisation and standards) Bill. Details of the campaign are on their website http://www.stonewall.org.uk/ ================================================================================= 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/