Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 17:24:16 -0800 From: Jean Richter Subject: 11/15/99 P.E.R.S.O.N. Project news 1. Book: "Understanding Homosexuality, Changing Schools" 2. MI: More on controversy over banned history month displays 3. Article on the religious right's anti-gay agenda posted to web site ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 16 Oct 1999 20:56:26 -0400 From: arthur lipkin Subject: Book Announcement Reply-to: Arthur_Lipkin@harvard.edu As the letter states, publication of a paperback priced for teachers' and social workers' wallets depends on hardcover sales. I am grateful for any help in getting the word out. Thanks, Arthur From: Arthur Lipkin Harvard Graduate School of Education 600 Larsen Hall Cambridge, MA 02138 Tel: 617-491-5301 Email: arthur_lipkin@harvard.edu To: Colleagues in Education, Social Services, and Gay Activism I am happy to send you this announcement of my book, Understanding Homosexuality, Changing Schools published this summer by Westview Press. I trust it will be a helpful tool in teacher, counselor, and administrator education and in-service training. Of course, I hope school board members and their constituents read it as well. There is a circular irony in the title of my book: when educators, students, and parents develop a deeper understanding of homosexuality, schools become more humane and more effective; conversely, most schools must change for that understanding to be fostered. It is a radical synergy in which many of you are passionately involved. Although the 500-page hardcover is a bit expensive, I am counting on good sales to justify the timely publication of a lower-cost paperback. (Affordability will be a factor in course adoption and professional development use.) Therefore I would be very grateful if you would ask your local libraries, school/college libraries, resource centers, and community-based organizations to order copies of this hardcover printing. If you can order one for yourself, that would also be wonderful! There is a 20% discount on direct orders from Westview. I look forward to hearing your responses to the book and meeting you in person if that is possible. WESTVIEW PRESS - AUGUST 1999 The first comprehensive text on gay, lesbian, and bisexual issues in education! UNDERSTANDING HOMOSEXUALITY, CHANGING SCHOOLS: A Text for Teachers, Counselors, and Administrators By Arthur Lipkin "Arthur Lipkin has written an important book. He has given teachers, parents, administrators, and anyone who cares about education a comprehensive handbook on homosexuality. It is a tremendous resource." - Arthur E. Levine, President, Columbia Teachers College "`Understanding Homosexuality' makes a necessary new contribution to the study of sexuality and gender in education. Both scholarly and polemical, it demands that the voices of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people be heard and heeded in our schools. The text is comprehensive, thoroughly documented, accessible, and humane. It will prove a valuable asset in teacher training and school reform." -Carol Gilligan, Harvard University Graduate School of Education "Dr. Arthur Lipkin's book is unique, because it links a deeper understanding of homosexuality with encouraging and concrete suggestions for changes in our schools that will make them better places for all students." - Dr. Lutz van Dijk, Anne Frank House, Amsterdam "Those who are interested in changing our schools into a safe and inclusive environment for all children must have this text. Not to have this text will keep them on a journey without a road map. - Rev. Irene Monroe, author of "Louis Farrakhan's Ministry of Misogyny and Homophobia" "This excellent, scholarly and practical book tackles one of the most contested contexts in which debates about sexual orientation are taking place. Lipkin's compassionate and intelligent arguments should enlighten all professionals engaged in teaching and school administration. With lucid writing and a deep understanding of the intersections of race, gender, sexuality and economics, Lipkin makes a brilliant contribution to the movement to make America's schools smarter and stronger." - Urvashi Vaid, Director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute "Arthur Lipkin has written an invaluable text . . . Any school serious about affording equal opportunity to all of its students needs to own a copy . . . It's the book people have been waiting for." - Kevin Jennings, Executive Director, Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) Understanding Homosexuality is intended to help teachers, administrators, counselors, and policy-makers understand the significance of gay and lesbian issues in education; to aid communication between gay/lesbian students and their families and schools; to facilitate the integration of gay and lesbian families into the school community; and to promote the inclusion of gay and lesbian curricula in a range of disciplines. It provides a foundation in gay/lesbian studies and offers models for equity, inclusion, and school reform. This book is also designed to promote the healthy development of all students through reducing bigotry, self-hatred, and violence. Some teacher education faculty still neglect these topics out of moral scruple, fear, or inattention to new research and practice. Yet teacher education and training must incorporate these issues, if only because the plight of homosexual adolescents has become apparent. Bringing together 13 topics related to homosexuality and education, Understanding Homosexuality makes the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender experience part of a democratic multicultural vision. CONTENTS: Overview of the Problem - The Theories of Homosexuality - Etiology - Homophobia and Heterosexism - American History - Identity Formation - Multiple Identities - Counseling Issues - Gay and Lesbian Teachers - Gay and Lesbian Families - School Change - The Massachusetts Model - Reform and Opposition - Curriculum $69. Hardcover (528pp.) ISBN: 081332534X Orders: 1-800-386-5656 (20% discount) ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Arthur Lipkin, Ed.D., is an instructor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and founder of the Gay and Lesbian School Issues Project. He is currently directing the Safe Colleges Program of the Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth and previously headed the Massachusetts Department of Education's Project for the Integration of Gay & Lesbian Youth Issues in School Personnel Certification Programs. He taught in the public high school in Cambridge, MA from 1968 to 1988. ---------------------- arthur lipkin @gse.harvard.edu =================================================================================== From: SidBru@aol.com Date: Sun, 17 Oct 1999 13:10:23 EDT Subject: Plymouth (MI) Observer 10-17-99 Observer-Eccentric.Com http://observer-eccentric.com/local/Plymouth/index.html Gay issue creates "firestorm" send copy to Tedd By Tony Bruscato Staff Writer tbruscato@oe.homecomm.net "They've created a firestorm." That's the reaction of West Middle School music teacher Mike Chiumento, one of two gay teachers forced by Plymouth-Canton Superintendent Ken Walcott to take down displays depicting Gay and Lesbian History Month. And it may just be the beginning as groups, pro and con, line up to do battle on the issue. The Plymouth-Canton Education Association's grievance committee decided Wednesday to take up the cause of Chiumento and Salem High School teacher Tom Salbenblatt, who also was forced to take down a bulletin board display in his room depicting gay and lesbian history. A grievance is expected to be filed with the district's administration early this week. "We're looking for a cessation to censorship and the reinstatement of the displays for gay awareness month ... not only for this year but coming years," said Joann Gustafson, co-chairman of the teacher's union grievance committee. "The district is in violation of academic freedom." Gustafson cites the union contract, which states "teachers are free to teach broad areas of knowledge, including those areas considered controversial." "One is a math teacher, the other is a music teacher, and that's what they should be teaching," said Walcott. "I don't think this is about free speech." Walcott said the district has received several hundred telephone calls concerning his edict to take down the displays, which he says "are running 8-1 in support of the district's stand." Chiumento has contacted the American Civil Liberties Union, whose lawyers will discuss the issue later this month to decide whether it will get involved. "It's amazing to me that in the wake of a number of hate crimes occurring on a monthly basis that an effort to teach tolerance is met with government censorship," said Michael Steinberg, legal director of the ACLU Michigan from his Detroit office. The ACLU office in New York, which successfully defended a lesbian teacher in Utah who was forced to resign as girls volleyball coach and ordered not to discuss her case, has also contact local union officials. [Deleted article. filemanager@qrd.org] Copyright 1998 Hometown Communications Network ================================================================================= I've posted an article on the anti-gay agenda of the religious right (including their use of schools issues as a touchstone) on our web site at URL: http://www.youth.org/loco/PERSONProject/Alerts/Current/agenda.html At almost 30K it's too long to post here, but if you can't access the web and would like a copy, please email me. ================================================================================= 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/