Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2000 16:48:52 -0700 From: Jean Richter Subject: 6/12/2000 P.E.R.S.O.N. Project news 1. UK: Private referendum on Clause 28 comes under fire 2. IL: Contact info for high school with assembly controversy 3. CT: Fallout from school's diversity day continues 4. OR: Call to action regarding cross-dressing teen's suspension 5. FL: LGBTQ youth organization gets Princess Diana Memorial Fund grant ============================================================================== 1. UK: Private referendum on Clause 28 comes under fire Glasgow Daily Record & Sunday Mail, May 14, 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/ ) GOALPOSTS MOVE TYCOON Brian Souter was last night accused of shifting the goalposts to save his flagging Section 28 referendum. [Deleted article. filemanager@qrd.org] Section 28, which bans discussion of homosexuality in classrooms, is set to be scrapped by MSPs next month. Mr Souter wants statutory guidelines to say heterosexual marriage is better than any other kind of stable relationship. [Deleted article. filemanager@qrd.org] ================================================================================== 2. IL: Contact info for high school with assembly controversy Regarding last week's story on Naperville High's diversity assembly controversy - Contact information for those wishing to have input: Naperville Central High School 440 W. Aurora Ave. Naperville, IL 60540 (630) 420-6420 www.ncusd203.org/central Principal Tom Paulsen Phone: 630) 420-6424 Voicemail (630) 420-6966 ext. 1000 ================================================================================== 3. CT: Fallout from school's diversity day continues New London Day, May 9, 2000 Box 1231, New London, CT, 06320 (Fax 202-442-0420 ) (E-Mail: editor@newlondonday.com ) Principal says no-shows indicate need for another Diversity Day By Katrina T. Gathers Ledyard - While some parents have criticized last month's Diversity Day at the high school, the program will be held again next year, the principal said Monday. [Deleted article. filemanager@qrd.org] ================================================================================ From: SARATOGANY@aol.com Date: Mon, 15 May 2000 08:29:35 EDT Subject: FWD Take Action: Transgender Youth Suspened from School Msg fwd by: The Coalition for Safer Schools of NYS, PO Box 2345, Malta, NY 12020 Email to: saratogany@aol.com "The Actual or Perceived GLBT Student Protection Project" =================================================================== Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 18:08:05 EDT From: owner-action@gpac.org To: action@gpac.org Subject: Take Action: Transgender Youth Suspened from School GenderPAC 332 Bleecker St., #K-86, NY, NY 10014-2980 212-645-2686 gpac@gpac.org -- http://www.gpac.org Action@GPAC Special Online Edition -- May 9, 2000 ====================================== TAKE ACTION! TAKE ACTION! TAKE ACTION! ====================================== Code of Discrimination A 17-year-old transgender youth in Gresham, Oregon was suspended from school after coming to class on April 21 dressed in a skirt and low-heeled pumps. Officials from Sam Barlow High School claim the suspension was warranted because Brian-Violet Peters (s/he has used both names) violated the school's dress code, which bans "disruptive" or "distracting" clothing. According to gender rights activists, however, discrimination is the real culprit. GenderPAC's executive director Riki Wilchins said, "How does a boy wearing a dress and suffering daily taunts and harassment differ from the first girl who wore pants to school suffering intense sexual harassment? This issue is not disruption¹ but genderphobic school officials." While school officials reprimanded some of Peters' classmates for their taunts and created a new "respect policy," which includes punishment for harassment of gay students, the school has closed the door on transgender students. Defending the school's decision to suspend Peters, Linda Jessell, director of secondary education for the Gresham-Barlow school district was quoted in the Portland Oregonian (May 3, 2000) as saying, "We can restrict student expression and dress when it disrupts the learning environment for other kids." Peters responded, "The message [school administrators] are sending to students is that I am not normal. That I am disruptive. That I am wrong." Peters has reportedly declined to return to Gresham High School because of the suspension and harassment, and the school is said to be making provisions for either at-home tutoring, Internet courses or after-school sessions. GenderPAC's Riki Wilchins concludes, "Segregating, stigmatizing and publicly punishing youth because they transcend narrow gender stereotypes is unacceptable. Every American should have the right to express their gender orientation free from stereotypes, discrimination and violence." Please email Linda Jessell to educate her and the Gresham-Barlow school district about gender. Linda Jessell, Director of Secondary Education Gresham-Barlow School District Email to: Linda_Jessell@gbsd.gresham.k12.or.us ------------------------------------------------------ Action@GPAC is GenderPAC's call to action. GenderPAC's action alerts are sent out to everyone on our e-mailing list on a monthly basis. Our action alerts will give brief summaries of gender news from around the country with an option to participate in a coordinated effort to take action. Gender Public Advocacy Coalition is the national organization working to guarantee every American's civil right to express their gender orientation free of stereotypes, discrimination and violence. ------- To be removed from this list, send an e-mail to majordomo@gpac.org with the following text in the message body (without the quotes or brackets): "unsubscribe action [your@email.here]" ==================================================================== "The Actual or Perceived GLBT Student Protection Project" A project of: Coalition for Safer Schools of New York State John Myers Director of Operations and Programs PO Box 2345 Malta, NY 12020 (518) 587-0176 Email: saratogany@aol.com (To subscribe or unsubscribe (CSS-NYS Email List) send request to saratogany@aol.com) ============================================================================= Jacksonville Times-Union, April 29, 2000 Youth project grant The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund (U.S.) awarded a grant of $25,000 Wednesday to the Jacksonville Area Sexual Minority Youth Network to support a youth leadership project in Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia. The grant was one of 22 made by the fund to help at-risk young people. [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/