Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 16:45:12 -0700 From: Jean Richter Subject: 6/20/2000 P.E.R.S.O.N. Project news 1. MI: American Family Association objects to school diversity presentation 2. CA: Modesto teacher files discrimination lawsuit against school; Hemet lesbian teacher vindicated by state board 3. OR: Anti-gay schools initiative may qualify for November ballot =============================================================================== 1. MI: American Family Association objects to school diversity presentation Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 10:32:09 -0700 From: Jessea Greenman Grand Haven High School 17001 Ferris Grand Haven, MI 49417 The State Department of Education’s Home Page is http://www.mde.state.mi.us/ Grand Haven Tribune, May 18, 2000 101 N. Third Street, Grand Haven, MI, 49417 (Fax 616-842-9584 ) (E-MAIL: ghtribune@novagate.com ) ( http://www.grandhavenlive.com ) AFA questions whether GHHS broke state law with speaker By Gena Olejarczyk, Tribune writer The American Family Association requested Tuesday that Michigan Attorney General Jennifer Granholm investigate whether Grand Haven High School violated a state law by including a speaker on homosexuality as part of their Diversity Day on May 1. [Deleted article. filemanager@qrd.org] * Writer Gena Olejarczyk can be reached by calling 842-8790 or via e-mail at golejarczyk@grandhaventribune.com. jessea NR greenman jessea@uclink4.berkeley.edu 0+ 0+0+ 0+0+0+ 0+ 0+0+ 0+0+0+ "Live well. Love much. Laugh often." Proverb ================================================================================= 2. CA: Modesto teacher files discrimination lawsuit against school SACRAMENTO BEE, June 19, 2000 P. O. Box 15779, Sacramento, CA, 95813 (Fax 916-321-1109 ) (E-MAIL: opinion@sacbee.com ) ( http://www.sacbee.com ) Lesbian teacher files discrimination lawsuit against Modesto schools MODESTO, Calif. (AP) -- A special education teacher filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against a Modesto school district Monday that claims she was harassed and drummed out of her job because she's gay. [Deleted article. filemanager@qrd.org] ================================================================================ CA: Hemet lesbian teacher vindicated by state board From: JGrissom@lambdalegal.org Reply-To: lambdalegal@lambdalegal.org Subject: California Department of Industrial Relations Vindicates Lesbian Teacher Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 17:59:29 -0400 =========================================== LAMBDA LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATION FUND www.lambdalegal.org News Release ============================================ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tueday, June 20, 2000 Contact: Myron Dean Quon 323-937-2728, ext. 229 Peg Byron 212-809-8585 x 230, 888-987-1984 (pager) ============================================ California Department of Industrial Relations Vindicates Lesbian Teacher School district cannot pull students from classroom because teacher is a lesbian (LOS ANGELES, June 20, 2000) - Another California school district has been ordered to stop transferring students from a gay teacher's classroom because such action is a form of employment discrimination, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said Tuesday. The California Department of Industrial Relations (CDIR) upheld an earlier administrative ruling against Hemet Unified School District for granting a parent's request to remove a high school student from a tenth grade English class because the teacher is a lesbian. The teacher, Alta Kavanaugh, is an award-winning instructor who has taught at the Hemet Unified School District for 18 years. Lambda Staff Attorney Myron Dean Quon of Lambda's Los Angeles-based Western Regional Office said, "This important victory for lesbian and gay teachers in the state of California is also a great relief for an exemplary teacher who now can focus on teaching instead of the cloud of discrimination over her classroom." This is Lambda's second successful case preventing school districts from removing students from classes because the teacher is lesbian or gay. Last year, another award-winning teacher, James Merrick, faced the same discrimination at his Bakersfield school; the state labor commissioner ruled in his favor as well. At West Valley High School, located 45 miles south of Palm Springs, trouble started in October 1998 when a parent demanded her child be removed from Kavanaugh's class, claiming that Kavanaugh's mentioning her lesbian partner in class had created a "hostile learning environment." The parent also said she did not want her daughter taught by "the lesbian teacher." The following January, the labor commissioner ordered officials not to remove students from Kavanaugh's classroom and to delete all adverse records from Kavanaugh's personnel file; the school district appealed to the CDIR, the state's highest level of administrative appeal. Lambda supported Kavanaugh before the Commissioner and the CDIR, explaining that the school's catering to anti-gay perspectives, completely unrelated to teaching performance, was discriminatory and a violation of state law. Both rulings cited the California Labor Code that prohibits employment discrimination based on actual or perceived sexual orientation. The Commissioner and the CDIR instructed the school district to conduct mandatory training with district administrators concerning the rights of lesbian and gay teachers, and to post a notice of the district's violation of the law throughout the school and district headquarters. Lambda is the nation's oldest and largest gay legal organization, headquartered in New York with regional offices in Los Angeles, Atlanta and Chicago. (Kavanaugh v. Hemet Unified School District, No. 99-04090) ? 30 ? Click here to view Lambda's news release online. http://www.lambdalegal.org/cgi-bin/pages/documents/record?record=647 =================================== 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 ============================================================================== 3. OR: Anti-gay schools initiative may qualify for November ballot ASSOCIATED PRESS, June 19, 2000 Anti-gay-rights measure may make Oregon ballot by Brad Cain, The Associated Press SALEM, Ore. - With three weeks to go before the filing deadline, Lon Mabon thinks the Oregon Citizens Alliance will collect enough signatures to qualify a ballot measure to prohibit schools from "encouraging, promoting or sanctioning" homosexuality. [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/