Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2000 16:28:25 -0800 From: Jean Richter Subject: 3/3/2000 P.E.R.S.O.N. Project news 1. LA: School board won't revisit club issue any time soon 2. IN: PBS stations refuses to air "It's Elementary" 3. CA: Playwright hopes to bring play on homophobia to schools ================================================================ Conatct info for McKinley High School 800 E McKinley St Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70802 Local Map East Baton Rouge Parish Administration Principal:Ms. Almenia Williams Contacts Office:504.344.7696 Fax:504.387.5435 Baton Rouge Advocate, February 25, 2000 525 Lafayette St., Baton Rouge, LA, 70821 (Fax 504-388-0371 ) (E-MAIL: bbankston@theadvocate.com ) ( http://www.theadvocate.com ) Board won’t revisit gay club issue soon By KRISTEN KING, Advocate staff writer Several dozen people showed up at the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board’s regular meeting Thursday on both sides of a McKinley High School senior’s attempt to start a Gay Straight Alliance club on campus. But Board President Roger Moser and Vice President Jackie Mims said the board has no plans at the moment to reconsider the issue. The board came one vote shy of approving a policy two weeks ago that would have guaranteed all clubs equal access to school campuses. Their inaction left the decision up to individual principals, who were told to follow newly crafted school system rules and the federal Equal Access Act, which basically says all extracurricular clubs must be treated equally. Since then, McKinley Principal Almenia Freeman Warren has said the club can form if it follows the rules and the law. Also, students have protested at the school, and a group of local ministers have come out strongly against the club. Several of the ministers attended Thursday’s meeting and had hoped the board would vote to reconsider the item and at least require all extracurricular clubs to meet after school hours. That would have required eight of the 12 board members to vote to reconsider the item, and Mims and Moser said there weren’t enough votes on the board for that to happen. "At this point, there is no basis for the votes to make a change. It’s not the absence of thought. It’s just the opposite," Moser said. "Just as the public is all over the map on this issue, in a sense, so is the board." The ministers said they’re hoping they can get the issue on the agenda of one of the board’s meetings within the next week or so. Several students suspended for protesting the Gay Straight Alliance also showed up at Thursday’s meeting, as did Martin Pfeiffer, the senior who’s working to start the club, and several others who have supported the club. None of the audience members were given a chance to address the board during the meeting. All left the board room quietly, though most stayed in the lobby of the board office discussing the issue. The students who were suspended talked to the media after the board meeting about their desire to start an "Anti-Gay Club" at McKinley that would focus on issues like education and computers. Pfeiffer said after the meeting he was pleased the board didn’t revisit the issue Thursday. "I’m glad the board realized this is what it should be: a non-issue, that there is a law, it’s being followed, and we’ll wait to see what my principal says" about his application for the club, he said. "I’m sorry it’s taken some of the School Board members this long." Baton Rouge Advocate, February 26, 2000 525 Lafayette St., Baton Rouge, LA, 70821 (Fax 504-388-0371 ) (E-MAIL: bbankston@theadvocate.com ) ( http://www.theadvocate.com ) McKinley student punishments stand, school officials say By Advocate staff report Teachers and administrators at McKinley High School can identify all of the 36 students suspended after protesting the Gay Straight Alliance last week, and Superintendent Gary Mathews will let that punishment stand. Mathews said that if the suspensions are challenged, he will back McKinley High Principal Almenia Freeman Warren. "She must maintain order at the school, and I will support her in doing so," Mathews said. [Deleted article. filemanager@qrd.org] ================================================================================= FORT WAYNE NEWS-SENTINEL, February 23, 2000 600 West Main St., Fort Wayne, IN, 46802 (Fax 219-461-8649 ) (E-MAIL: LMorris@news-sentinel.com ) ( http://www.fortwayne.com/ns/ ) WFWA VIEWERS DEMAND ANSWERS CANCELLATION OF GAY PROGRAM CRITICIZED. SCOTT HICKEY, SHICKEY@NEWS-SENTINEL.COM A decision by the local PBS affiliate to air one but not a second documentary about the gay and lesbian community leaves some viewers disappointed. A recently formed program committee at WFWA, Channel 39, reviewed the two programs ­ "After Stonewall: From the Riots to the Millennium,'' and "It's Elementary'' - to determine if they were suitable for broadcast. [Deleted article. filemanager@qrd.org] ================================================================================ San Francisco Chronicle, February 27, 2000 Putting Tolerance to the Test Canadian playwright hopes to bring 'Other Side of the Closet' to Bay Area students Benoit Denizet-Lewis When the subject is homophobia, the setting is public schools and the intended audience is teenagers, the reception is rarely open-armed. Toronto playwright Edward Roy says he knew this before sitting down to write "The Other Side of the Closet,'' his 50-minute play about teenagers, homophobia and youth violence. Hoping to avoid opposition and charges of "agenda-pushing'' from parents and school administrators in Canada, Roy says he consciously avoided profanity or sexually explicit scenes. The self-editing wasn't enough, though, as administrators at several schools forbade students from attending a local youth theater production. [Deleted article. filemanager@qrd.org] * 'THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CLOSET': The play runs Thursday through March 12 at the New Conservatory Theatre, 25 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco. Free, but seating is limited. Call (415) 861-4914, Ext. 109. ================================================================================ 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/