Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2000 16:46:34 -0700 From: Jean Richter Subject: 7/24/2000 P.E.R.S.O.N. Project news 1. UK: Prime Minister Blair prepared to abandon effort to repeal Clause 28 2. UT: Salt Lake City school board may reinstate non-curricular clubs 3. MO: Attorney General Reno to join student's harassment lawsuit 4. ID: Editorial on censorship of public television ============================================================================ 1. UK: Prime Minister Blair prepared to abandon effort to repeal Clause 28 ELECTRONIC TELEGRAPH, July 23, 2000 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=fqMwfYDs&atmo=fqMwfYDs&pg=/et/00/7/23/nsec23.html Blair set for Section 28 surrender By Joe Murphy Political Editor TONY BLAIR will tomorrow abandon his campaign to repeal the law forbidding local authorities from promoting homosexuality when, as ministers fear, it is once again defeated in the House of Lords. The retreat comes only days after a leaked memo showed that the Prime Minister believed that Labour support for gay issues made it look weak on the family. The disclosure that Mr Blair was already prepared to surrender over one of his most hard-fought pledges, the repeal of Section 28, bitterly dismayed campaigners for homosexual rights. [Deleted article. filemanager@qrd.org] ================================================================================= 2. UT: Salt Lake City school board may reinstate non-curricular clubs SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, July 24, 2000 P. O. Box 867, Salt Lake City, UT, 84110 (Fax 801-257-8950) (E-MAIL: letters@sltrib.com ) ( http://www.sltrib.com ) Board Will Consider Lifting Club Ban BY HEATHER MAY, THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Members of the Salt Lake City school board have gone to a lot of trouble just to end up where they started four years ago. In 1996, they angered students and parents by banning extracurricular clubs so they could block formation of a gay-straight alliance -- which met regularly on school grounds anyway. And the state has spent at least $180,000 defending the club policy in federal court. [Deleted article. filemanager@qrd.org] SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, July 24, 2000 Letter: Lawsuit Is Not Likely to Go Away Salt Lake City District School Board members thought they could get rid of a federal lawsuit by ending their ban on extracurricular clubs. Think again, says the Utah Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU is representing two East High School students who sued the district earlier this year when it barred them from forming an academic club called PRISM to discuss gay issues. [Deleted article. filemanager@qrd.org] -- Heather May ================================================================================= 3. MO: Attorney General Reno to join student's harassment lawsuit ST LOUIS POST DISPATCH, July 24, 2000 900 N. Tucker Blvd., St. Louis, MO, 63101 (Fax 314-340-3139 ) (E-MAIL: letters@postnet.com ) ( http://www.stlnet.com ) Attorney General wants to join teen's lawsuit against Pleasant Hill KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno has filed a motion seeking to join a sexual harassment lawsuit by a former Pleasant Hill High School student who alleges he was harassed because people thought he was gay. The lawsuit alleges that classmates taunted and beat the student because they believed he was gay, and that school officials did nothing to stop the harassment. Reno filed the motion late Thursday, asking to join the federal lawsuit in Kansas City. [Deleted article. filemanager@qrd.org] ================================================================================= 4. ID: Editorial on censorship of public television SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, July 22, 2000 P. O. Box 867, Salt Lake City, UT, 84110 (Fax 801-257-8950) (E-MAIL: letters@sltrib.com ) ( http://www.sltrib.com ) Bad P.R. in Idaho The Idaho Legislature this year appropriated $100,000 to battle the state's image as a refuge for bigots. Is it too late to stop the check? Whatever public relations repairs the state Department of Commerce can make with the money will certainly be undone by the uproar over the Legislature's scheme to censor Idaho Public Television. [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/