Date: Fri, 04 Feb 2000 16:40:47 -0800 From: Jean Richter Subject: 2/4/2000 P.E.R.S.O.N. Project news 1. CA: Temporary victory in El Modena GSA case 2. CT: Comments on gay man's visit to eighth-grade class ================================================================================= From: dreznik@lambdalegal.org Reply-To: lambdalegal@lambdalegal.org Subject: Judge Rules El Modena High Gay-Straight Alliance Must Be Allowed to Meet To: lambdalegal@lambdalegal.org Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2000 14:48:42 -0500 =========================================== LAMBDA LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATION FUND www.lambdalegal.org PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY FOUNDATION www.pfaw.org News Release ============================================ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, February 4, 2000 Contact: Lambda: T.J. Tu 212-809-8585, 888-987-1971 (pager) or Jon Davidson at 323-937-2728, ext. 228 PFAWF - Margot Friedman at 202-467-4999, or Kendra Huard at 310-478-6657 or 310-617-6718 (cell) ============================================ Judge Rules El Modena High Gay-Straight Alliance Must Be Allowed to Meet "Breathtaking" order paves way for equal access while case proceeds (SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA, Friday, February 4, 2000) -- U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter issued a preliminary injunction today, ordering the Orange Unified School District to allow the Gay-Straight Alliance Club at El Modena High School to meet on school grounds while their case proceeds. "We are delighted," said Lambda Supervising Attorney Jon W. Davidson. "Not only did Judge Carter rule that the students must be allowed to meet under the federal Equal Access Act, he also emphasized that El Modena High's Gay-Straight Alliance club is in the public interest." Ralph G. Neas, president of People For the American Way Foundation, said, "These students have been courageous in their fight for simple justice. Today's decision will help them grow up believing in America's promise -- that everyone is equal in the eyes of the law." People For the American Way Foundation, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, and Irell & Manella, LLP, represent students and the club, who challenged school officials' refusal to let them use school facilities like the other 38 clubs that currently meet on campus. The judge's ruling cited the high incidence of anti-gay hate crimes and the disproportionate rate of suicide among lesbian and gay teenagers, saying in his order, "This injunction therefore is not just about the student pursuit of ideas and tolerance for diverse viewpoints. As any concerned parent would understand, this case may involve the protection of life itself." Today's ruling lets the club -- which more than 50 students have expressed interest in joining -- meet freely while the lawsuit continues. Significantly, the judge rejected the school board's argument that the club was initiated by outside adults. Judge Carter heard argument last month at a hearing in which the club's founders, 15-year-old Anthony Colin and 16-year-old Heather Zetin, testified that they wanted a safe place to talk about what it was like to be a gay teenager and how to deal with harassment in school, and emphasized that adults had not influenced or controlled their efforts. "These brave students are trying to build support and respect among their classmates," Jon Davidson said as the students' mothers left the courthouse with police protection standing by. The Orange Unified School Board applied for a stay of the ruling pending their appeal, which the judge promised to consider by the end of the day. The school board plans to hold a closed-door emergency meeting at 4:30 p.m. today; the board is likely to consider banning all non-curricular clubs in order to prevent the Gay-Straight Alliance club from meeting. "With this case, the students have been forced to teach a big lesson to the very school officials who should be helping them protect their learning environment. Thanks to Judge Carter's breathtaking ruling, that environment will be safer and fairer soon," said Kendra Huard, acting director of People For the American Way Foundation's California office. Judge Carter set a status conference in the case for March 27, and said the trial will commence during summer vacation. (Anthony Colin, et al. v. Orange Unified School District, No. SA CV 99-1461) --30-- Click here to view Lambda's news release online. http://www.lambdalegal.org/cgi-bin/pages/documents/record?record=566 =================================== Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund www.lambdalegal.org Western Regional Office 6030 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 200 Los Angeles, CA 90036-3617 323-937-2728 phone 323-937-0601 fax lambdalegal@lambdalegal.org From: webmaster@pfaw.org Subject: URGENT ALERT: Show Support for El Modena Gay-Straight Alliance Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2000 16:30:41 -0500 (EST) ====================================================================== ACTIVIST NETWORK -- People For the American Way Foundation Alert Date: February 4, 2000 -- Circulate Until: February 4, 2000 Support El Modena Gay-Straight Alliance: Join People For the American Way Foundation at the Orange Unified School District Offices TODAY! ______________________________________________________________________ IN THIS ALERT (1) Judge Rules El Modena Gay-Straight Alliance Allowed to Meet (2) What You Can Do -- Act Today! (3) About PFAW Foundation / Subscription Information ______________________________________________________________________ (1) JUDGE RULES EL MODENA GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANCE ALLOWED TO MEET U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter issued a preliminary injunction today, ordering the Orange Unified School District to allow the Gay-Straight Alliance Club at El Modena High School to meet on school grounds while their case proceeds. The judge's ruling cited the high incidence of anti-gay hate crimes and the disproportionate rate of suicide among lesbian and gay teenagers, saying in his order that "[t]his injunction is not just about student pursuit of ideas and tolerance for diverse viewpoints. As any concerned parent would understand, this case may involve the protection of life itself." Today's ruling lets the club - which more than 50 students have expressed interest in joining - meet freely while the lawsuit continues. Significantly, the judge rejected the school board's argument that the club was initiated by outside adults. The Orange Unified School Board applied for a stay of the ruling pending their appeal, which the judge promised to consider by the end of the day. The school board plans to hold a closed-door emergency meeting at 4:30 p.m. today; the board may consider banning all non-curricular clubs in order to prevent the Gay-Straight Alliance Club from meeting. ______________________________________________________________________ (2) WHAT YOU CAN DO -- ACT TODAY! You can show your support for the El-Modena Gay-Straight Alliance by joining Kendra Huard and other members of People For the American Way Foundation outside the Orange Unified School District Offices at 4:30 p.m. TODAY! Orange Unified School District Offices Board Room 1401 North Handy (corner of Handy and Katella) Orange, CA Please help us support Equal Rights and Free Speech! THANK YOU FOR TAKING ACTION! ______________________________________________________________________ (3) ABOUT PFAW FOUNDATION / SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION People For the American Way Foundation promotes and strengthens the civil liberties guaranteed in the Constitution through both educational and legal programs. PFAWF monitors the Religious Right at the local, state and national levels, and uses that knowledge to build communities of alert and informed activists. To join our email Activist Network, please go to: http://www.pfaw.org/activist/ To remove yourself from the Activist Network, please go to: http://www.pfaw.org/activist/unsubscribe.shtml ** Please type in your address as it appears in the 'TO' field ** You can also reply to this message, INCLUDING THE FULL TEXT OF THIS MESSAGE, to webmaster@pfaw.org with the subject "unadopt" ====================================================================== People For the American Way Foundation 2000 M Street, NW | Suite 400 | Washington, DC 20036 http://www.pfaw.org | pfaw@pfaw.org 1-800-326-PFAW | 202/467-4999 ______________________________________________________________________ endalert CA-orange.000204.ca09 ========================================================================== [I hope it wasn't an English class :-) ] Harpers, February, 2000 666 Broadway, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10012 (E-Mail: letters@harpers.org ) ( http://www.harpers.org ) A CLASS OUTING From thirty notes sent to writer Dan Woog by eighth-graders in Connecticut after Woog visited their class to talk about growing up gay. The notes appeared last fall on Inside Out, an online magazine. Woog's book "Friends and Family: True Stories of Gay America's Straight Allies" was published in September. [Deleted article. filemanager@qrd.org] [Articles reader Dan Woog is online at dwoog@optonline.net. His website is www.danwoog.com] =============================================================================== 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/