Date: Wed, 09 Feb 2000 16:01:52 -0800 From: Jean Richter Subject: 2/9/2000 P.E.R.S.O.N. Project news 1. CA: Action alert - El Modena school board to meet February 10 2. UK: Conservatives use scare tactics to oppose repeal of Clause 28 3. MA: Third suspect arraigned in anti-gay hate crime case ========================================================================= From: webmaster@pfaw.org Subject: URGENT ALERT: Show Support for El Modena Gay-Straight Alliance Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2000 17:01:59 -0500 (EST) ACTIVIST NETWORK -- People For the American Way Foundation Alert Date: February 9, 2000 -- Circulate Until: February 10, 2000 Support El Modena Gay-Straight Alliance: Join People For the American Way Foundation at the Orange Unified School District Offices! ______________________________________________________________________ IN THIS ALERT (1) Orange Unified School Board to Meet (2) Judge Rules El Modena Gay-Straight Alliance Must Be Allowed to Meet (3) What You Can Do -- Act Today! (4) Background on the El Modena Gay-Straight Alliance (4) About PFAW Foundation / Subscription Information ______________________________________________________________________ (1) ORANGE UNIFIED SCHOOL BOARD TO DISCUSS FUTURE OF GAY-STRAIGHT CLUB The Orange Unified School Board will be meeting this Thursday, February 10, to consider proposed revisions to its policies governing student clubs. Unspecified proposed revisions to the school district's powers governing student organizations were added to the agenda after a federal court ruled on Friday that the school district must allow the Gay-Straight Alliance Club at El Modena High School to meet like all other student clubs. It is critical that you attend the pre-meeting comment period to voice your support for the Gay-Straight Alliance and for all student clubs. It is possible that the school board will decide to eliminate all student non-curricular clubs from its high schools in an effort to prevent the Gay-Straight Alliance from existing. A similar step was taken in Salt Lake City several years ago when the school board banned all non-curricular clubs, rather than allow a Gay-Straight Alliance Club to meet. Don't let the Orange Unified School Board punish any of its students in order to carry out its own agenda of discrimination and prejudice. ______________________________________________________________________ (2) JUDGE RULES EL MODENA GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANCE MUST BE ALLOWED TO MEET U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter issued a preliminary injunction Friday, February 4, ordering the Orange Unified School District to allow the student Gay-Straight Alliance Club at El Modena High School to meet on school premises while their case against the school district is pending. The Judge's ruling cited hate crimes and the disproportionate rate of suicide among lesbian and gay teenagers, saying in his order, "This 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." The ruling lets the club - which more than 50 students have expressed interest in joining - meet freely while the lawsuit continues. The Judge rejected the school board's argument that the club was initiated by outside adults. ______________________________________________________________________ (3) WHAT YOU CAN DO Show your support for the El Modena Gay-Straight Alliance by joining members of People For the American Way Foundation at the Orange Unified School District Offices on Thursday, February 10 at 5 p.m. Don't let the Orange Unified School Board strong-arm its way through the Judge's ruling. Bring signs reading "Keep the Clubs." Bring people. Tell the Board to keep the clubs, and to follow the court order that allows the Gay-Straight Alliance to meet. Help us support equal rights and free speech! Who: Supporters of Non-Curricular clubs at El Modena High School What: OUSD Board Meeting When: Thursday, February 10 Public comment period - 5:00 p.m. Regular session board meeting - 7:30 p.m. Where: Orange Unified School District Offices Board Room 1401 North Handy (corner of Handy and Katella) Orange, CA Call People For the American Way Foundation's California Office for more information: 310/478-6657 THANK YOU FOR TAKING ACTION! _____________________________________________________________________ (4) BACKGROUND ON THE EL MODENA GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANCE Visit our California State Page for more information on your state: http://www.pfaw.org/activist/west/#CA Visit these links to our website for more information on this case: Judge Rules High Gay-Straight Alliance Must Be Allowed to Meet - February 4, 2000 http://www.pfaw.org/news/press//show.cgi?article=949692530 Court Ruling Expected Friday on School Meetings for Gay-Straight Student Club - February 3, 2000 http://www.pfaw.org/news/press//show.cgi?article=949608302 Orange Co. Students Seek Injunction to Allow GSA Meetings - December 29, 1999 http://www.pfaw.org/news/press//show.cgi?article=946568528 School Board Votes Against Student Gay-Straight Club at El Modena High - December 8, 1999 http://www.pfaw.org/news/press//show.cgi?article=944680196 Read the legal complaint, in Adobe PDF - November 19, 1999 http://www.pfaw.org/courts/orangecountybrief-991124.pdf Gay-Straight Alliance Students Sue Orange County High School - November 24, 1999 http://www.pfaw.org/news/press//show.cgi?article=943483300 Students Set Deadline in Gay-Straight Alliance Dispute - November 19, 1999 http://www.pfaw.org/news/press//show.cgi?article=943053841 Statement in Support of Gay-Straight Alliance at El Modena High School - November 18, 1999 http://www.pfaw.org/news/press//show.cgi?article=942966577 El Modena Students Demand Recognition of Gay-Straight Alliance - November 16, 1999 http://www.pfaw.org/news/press//show.cgi?article=942790525 Hostile Climate 1999 Report Documents Rising Tide of Anti-Gay Bigotry - November 9, 1999 http://www.pfaw.org/news/press//show.cgi?article=942207217 PFAWF to Orange Unified School Board: Follow the Law! - November 4, 1999 http://www.pfaw.org/news/press//show.cgi?article=941762843 _____________________________________________________________________ (5) 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-orange4.2000-02-09.ca09 ============================================================================= Reuters, February 2, 2000 UK baroness says gay material could reach schools By Susan Cornwell LONDON (Reuters) ­ A British baroness displayed gay sex leaflets at a news conference on Wednesday, saying the material could be circulated in schools if government plans to scrap a law banning the promotion of homosexuality succeed. The gay rights group Stonewall hit back immediately, saying Baroness [Deleted article. filemanager@qrd.org] =============================================================================== Boston Herald, February 2, 2000 1 Herald Square, Boston, MA, 02106-2096 (Fax 617-542-1315 ) (E-MAIL: letterstoeditor@bostonherald.com ) ( http://www.bostonherald.com ) 3rd teen charged in alleged gay attack on peer by David Weber As more than 260 Boston High School students and faculty pledged to respect their peers' diversity, a 17-year-old girl yesterday became the third student arraigned for the beating last week of a classmate thought to be lesbian. [Deleted article. filemanager@qrd.org] ================================================================================= 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/