Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2000 17:38:37 -0700 From: Jean Richter Subject: 7/18/2000 P.E.R.S.O.N. Project news, pt. 2 1. ID: Education board poised to censor public television 2. OR: Students tell of anti-gay harassment at school 3. CA: Further credits on AB 537 implementation handbook =============================================================== 1. ID: Education board poised to censor public television From: SARATOGANY@aol.com Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2000 10:30:29 EDT Subject: Idaho's Bd of Education Puts Tight Clamp On Public TV Station (It's Elementary) 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" "It's Elementary: Talking about Gay Issues in School" and the NEW "That's a Family" videos/films can be found at: Women's Educational Media Address 2180 Bryant Street, Suite 203 San Francisco, CA 94110 Voice (415) 641-4616 Fax (415) 641-4632 Email wemfilms@womedia.org Web http://www.womedia.org WEM: Women's Educational Media =================================================================== Salt Lake Tribune, July 18, 2000 P. O. Box 867, Salt Lake City, UT, 84110 (Fax 801-257-8950) (E-MAIL: letters@sltrib.com ) ( http://www.sltrib.com ) Idaho's Religious Right Puts Tight Clamp On Public TV Station After Gay Show Airs By Steve Stuebner, Special to the Tribune BOISE -- The specter of censorship and a possible end to state funding hang over Idaho Public Television, which aired a controversial program about gays that riled the state's conservative Republicans and the Christian Right. The Idaho Christian Coalition and the Idaho Family Forum teamed up with state legislators to restrict programming after the station broadcast the national documentary, "It's Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School," last September. [Deleted article. filemanager@qrd.org] ==================================================================== This message has been distributed as a free informational service for the expressed interest of non-profit research and educational purposes only. PRIMER WEBSITES GLSEN --- Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network www.glsen.org Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund www.lambdalegal.org Safe Schools Coalition of Washington www.safeschools-wa.org The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project Home Page www.youth.org/loco/PERSONProject/ Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays www.pflag.org Empire State (NY) Pride Agenda www.prideagenda.org "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) ================================================================================ 2. OR: Students tell of anti-gay harassment at school From: SARATOGANY@aol.com Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2000 13:18:28 EDT Subject: OR: Gay students recount torment `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" =================================================================== Statesman Journal Full Column text with pictures at: http://news.statesmanjournal.com/single_article.cfm?i=10366 Today's News - StatesmanJournal.com JAY REITER / Statesman Journal Gay students recount torment Harassment can be a fact of life in a world that preaches diversity but may not always honor it. DANA HAYNES, Statesman Journal Excerpts: They hear it every day in the halls: Fag. Dyke. They look upon the taunts and the physical abuse and the slurs as a fact of life in public school, as innate as the books and the pencils. Homo. Queer. Being a teen-ager is, by definition, a tough job. But for a few students, the path gets a whole lot tougher. It's those students who are gay or lesbian, bisexual or transsexual, and who choose to be "out" at school. You're Josh Brown, a senior at the same school. You sit down in a classroom chair-and-table, only to realize you've been glued to the seat. Attached to the desk is a note that refers to the glue on your trousers and a vile, homophobic slur. You're humiliated, but those responsible never get caughtt. Nobody gets punished. Incidents like that are rare. Incidents like the slurs in the hall and thrown food, those are a day in the life. "Just because we don't cry at school doesn't mean we don't go home and cry," MacVicar said. Other gay and lesbian students at South High tell the same stories. They say vocal and physical abuse is a daily experience. And they say reporting the problems to teachers and administrators doesn't result in any changes. But his tales are just exactly like those of MacVicar. Fag, homo. Food and pencils thrown at him. The shoving. This year, while walking through the hall, a boy dropped his own trousers, his buddies laughing and pointing at Brown. "I get belittled and humiliated every day of my life. High school has been, by far, the worst. And I report the stuff that's physical. You have to pick your battles, and stuff happens every day," Brown said. "I report it," MacVicar said. "I report it all the time. Nothing happens." Finding a balance First, most bullies are smart enough not to act when authority figures are standing around. And second, the abusive taunts don't have to be aimed at gay and lesbian students. Anyone who's small or weak or just not popular enough can get the tag of "homo." As for the openly homosexual students, Olsen said they do draw abuse. They always will. And despite what the students report, Olsen said it's flat-out not tolerated. A kid caught insulting another student will get dressed down by a vice principal or by Olsen. On the other hand, Olsen couldn't come up with any examples of abusers being suspended or held in detention. Some gay students at South High scoff at the so-called zero tolerance for abusive behavior. They say it happens, sometimes within earshot of educators. They say nothing's ever done. "I acknowledge the tremendous risk that gay and lesbian students take when they openly acknowledge they're gay to their peers. It takes a tremendous amount of courage," he said. "They are our future activists, and I applaud them." ==================================================================== This message has been distributed as a free informational service for the expressed interest of non-profit research and educational purposes only. PRIMER WEBSITES GLSEN --- Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network www.glsen.org Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund www.lambdalegal.org Safe Schools Coalition of Washington www.safeschools-wa.org The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project Home Page www.youth.org/loco/PERSONProject/ Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays www.pflag.org Empire State (NY) Pride Agenda www.prideagenda.org "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) ==================================================================================== 3. CA: Further credits on AB 537 implementation handbook Regarding the AB 537 implementation handbook mentioned in Friday's and Monday's email: The handbook was also written by Carolyn Laub of the Bay Area GSA Network. Permission to reprint can also be requested by contacting carolyn@gsanetwork.org Other organizations should feel free to link their web sites to the online version of the handbook! http://www.gsanetwork.org/ab537 ==================================================================================== 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/