Date: Mon, 06 Mar 2000 17:01:11 -0800 From: Jean Richter Subject: 3/6/2000 P.E.R.S.O.N. Project news If you reside in one of the many states holding primaries tomorrow, please remember to vote! And if you live in California, please vote no on proposition 22! 1. CA: Date correction to GLSEN conference article; List of schools-related legislation for 2000 2. UK: Dewar urges parents to put trust in teachers 3. FL: School officials remove history book because of gay references ======================================================================= [an important date correction on GLSEN's Pasadena conference:] From: Figel@aol.com Date: Sat, 4 Mar 2000 01:57:09 EST Subject: error in LA Times article Hi, can you please post that the conference is SATURDAY MARCH 25 http://www.glsenla.org/CNFRNCE/2000/2000.html Call 626/792-2147, x178 or email conf2000@glsenla.org thanks cf ================================================================================= From: "Eric-Joseph C. Astacaan" To: "Mitakuye Oyasin" Subject: CAPE Partial List of Bills Affecting LGBT Californians as of 2/26/00 Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2000 10:38:42 -0800 Organization: California Alliance for Pride & Equality Dear Friends and Colleagues: Below please find the partial list of bills that affect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Californians. The deadline to introduce legislation was this past Friday, Feb. 25th. Approximately 2,000 new bills were introduced as of the deadline date. It is expected that more bills will be introduced next week pending rule waiver. If you would like to see the full text of each bill, please visit the CAPE website at http://www.calcape.org. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or would like further information. Thank you. Sincerely yours, Eric Astacaan Legislative Advocate California Alliance for Pride and Equality (CAPE) 916-929-6331 *************************************************************** CALIFORNIA ALLIANCE FOR PRIDE & EQUALITY (CAPE) The Golden State's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Lobby California Legislature 1999-2000 Session Partial List of Bills That Affect Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) Californians (As of February 26, 2000) Compiled by: Eric Astacaan, (916) 929-6331, laxnsmfca@tomatoweb.com [non-schools-related bills omitted] ACTIVE BILLS AB 1785 (Villaraigosa) - require school districts and county offices of education to include specifically reporting of hate motivated incidents and hate crimes in the standard school crime reports. (CAPE's Position: SUPPORT) AB 1906 (Longville) - remove funding restriction in the Education Code's Hate Violence Prevention Act that would require the State Board of Education, at the request of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, to adopt policies and establish guidelines relating to preventing hate violence in public schools (K-12). (CAPE's Position: SPONSOR) AB 1931 (Scott) - require the State Department of Education to report by school district annually the number of suspensions and recommendations for expulsion for hate violence. Appropriate $150,000 to the Department of Education to provide regional training programs to assist school staff in the identification and determination of hate violence in school campuses. Appropriate $2,000,000 to the Department of Education to provide grants to school district to enable students and teachers to participate in educational programs focused on overcoming prejudice, countering hatred, and fostering ethnic sensitivity, including programs conducted by the Museum of Tolerance. (CAPE's Position: TBA) AB 2609 (Knox) - add social tolerance to the subjects that must be addressed in instruction in social sciences in grades 1 through 6. (CAPE's Position - TBA) ACA 21 (House) - provide that every parent has a fundamental right to control the care and custody of his or her minor children and would prohibit state action that may abridge or hinder this fundamental right absent a showing that the state's action is the least restrictive means of furthering a compelling state interest. (CAPE's Position: OPPOSE) SB 1326 (Hayden) - require the Department of Education to develop a human relations school curriculum addressing racism, sexism, homophobia, religious intolerance and other forms of bigotry that will be made available to school districts; mandate that school districts include curriculum in the required course of study. (CAPE's Position: SUPPORT) SB 1366 (Monteith and Mountjoy) - require the DMV to issue special license plates that depicts the official Boy Scouts logo and the words "Scouting Teaches Values." Proceeds will be allocated to the San Gabriel Valley Council of the Boy Scouts of America or its successor for distribution to the Boy Scouts Council in California for expenditure supporting ongoing and outreach programs for the Boy Scouts including programs for at-risk youth. (CAPE's Position: OPPOSE) SB 1734 (Murray) - declare legislative intent to enact laws to deter hate-motivated behavior, train teachers, school administrators, and law enforcement personnel regarding hate groups and hate-motivated behavior, improve tolerance and diversity curriculum for students in the lower elementary grades, and encourage community partnerships to minimize the influence of hate groups. (CAPE's Position - TBA) SB 1804 (Haynes) - exempt in the prohibition of unlawful employment practices, under the Fair Employment and Housing Act, the transfer of a student into or out of a classroom by a school district or a county office of education at the request of a student's parent or guardian. (CAPE's Position - TBA) INACTIVE/DEAD BILLS AB 222, by Assemblymember Sheila Kuehl, adds "sexual orientation" to the existing non-discrimination language of the California Education Code. The prohibition against discrimination and harassment on the basis of sexual orientation would apply to all public schools and community colleges. (CAPE 's Position - SPONSOR) Status: 06/04/99 - Failed passage in the State Assembly, 40-38. Because of AB 537's enactment, bill was dropped. CHAPTERED BILLS (Laws Took Effect on January 1, 2000) AB 537 (Chapter 598, Statutes of 1999), by Assemblymember Sheila Kuehl, amended the California Education Code's general anti-discrimination and harassment provisions (Sections 200, 220, 66251, and 66270) to prohibit discrimination and harassment in the public schools and community colleges' programs and activities "regardless of any basis that is contained in the prohibition of hate crimes set forth in Penal Code Section 422.6(a)." By referencing the current hate crimes statute, actual or perceived lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered students are now protected from discrimination and harassment in public schools and colleges. STATE BUDGET PROCESS Provide funding for: 1) Social services that target lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Californians 2) Implementation and enforcement of domestic partnership registry under AB 26, and the anti- discrimination and harassment provisions in public education, employment and housing per AB 537 and AB 1001 3) Prevention of hate crimes 4) Outreach and education to promote understanding of LGBT lives Legend: TBA - to be announced ************************************************************************* Eric-Joseph C. Astacaan CAPE Legislative Advocate P.O. Box 2464, Sacramento CA 95812-2464 Phone: 916-929-6331, Fax: 916-646-1569 The California Alliance for Pride & Equality (CAPE) is a nonprofit, statewide advocacy organization whose mission is to ensure the dignity, safety, equality and civil rights of all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Californians. Please support CAPE by becoming a member: California Alliance for Pride and Equality (CAPE) P.O. Box 1172, Sacramento, CA 95812-1172 Phone: 916-492-6160, Fax: 916-564-2717 E-Mail: Email@calcape.org, Web: www.calcape.org ************************************************************************* ================================================================================ Glasgow Daily Record & Sunday Mail, February 27, 2000 Anderston Quay, Glasgow, Scotland, G3 8DA (Daily Record: editors@dailyrecord.co.uk ) (Sunday Mail: editor@features.sundaymail.co.uk ) ( http://www.record-mail.co.uk/rm/ ) DEWAR CALLS FOR TRUST IN TEACHERS Donald Dewar last night urged Scots parents to "Trust our teachers" as he turned his fire on the Keep The Clause campaign. The First Minister said it was "shameful" to say teachers could not be trusted to act responsibly over sex education. He said: "In the sensitive area of sex education, the safeguards are there. Schools must consult parents about such matters. Guidelines are in place outlining best practice. "The real protection is not Section 28 but the duty on education authorities to protect our children, and the skills of our teachers. "We do not want a clause which demeans us and singles out some as targets of prejudice. In a new and tolerant Scotland, we do not need the prejudices of the past." The First Minister now has his Cabinet and MSPs behind him after a week of tense negotiations on a replacement for Section 28. He has turned up the heat on Stagecoach tycoon Brian Souter, who is funding Keep The Clause, warning him not to try to buy his way into politics. The replacement clause, although dismissed by opponents as weak and woolly, gives Labour MSPs a rallying point. They can now claim they have given extra reassurance to parents with the focus on "stable family relationships", while rejecting Section 28. Dewar is now determined to press ahead with repealing Section 28 and introducing the new clause and improved guidelines. ================================================================================ School Board of Collier County 3710 Estey Avenue Naples, Florida 34104 (941) 643-2700 Dr. Dan W. White, Superintendent SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS Barbara J. Church Pamela M. Cox Nelson A. Faerber, Jr. Anne Goodnight Clyde C. Quinby Barron Collier High School 5600 Cougar Dr., Naples 34109 Phone 941-597-8171 Mr. Ray Baker, Principal Associated Press, February 27, 2000 School officials remove book with gay references NAPLES ­ Collier County school officials yanked a European history textbook from a high school class after a teacher raised questions about its references to homosexuality. Barron Collier High School teacher Terry Walters objected to "graphic descriptions of alternative and aberrant sexual practices during the Renaissance" in Houghton Mifflin Co.'s A History of Western Society. Homosexuality is discussed in nine passages in the 1,063-page textbook, which is used in an advance placement class offering college credit for students who pass a national exam. "What really troubled me was the description of the 40-year-old guy with the 15-year-old boy," Walters said. "No one, including gay-rights advocates, want that idea promoted," Walters said. The decision to pull the book comes as the school district considers whether gays should be protected by an anti-harassment policy. Jack Bovee, social studies coordinator for Collier schools, said the class could have used two other district-approved textbooks for the course. Margaret Sherry, a spokeswoman for Boston-based Houghton Mifflin, said she was not aware of any other complaints about the book used in colleges and high school advance placement courses. Houghton Mifflin found some older editions of the textbook and delivered them to Barron Collier two weeks ago. ================================================================================ 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/