From: Egcm Dignity for All Students Passes 1st Committee in California Sacramento, CA (EGCM) Dignity for All Students, California bill AB 1001 by Assemblymember Sheila Kuehi (D- Los Angeles), passed Its first hearing (6-4) in Assembly Higher Education Committee. The bill is scheduled for another hearing in Assembly Education soon. AB 1001 Is cosponsored by the LIFE AIDS Lobby and the California Teachers Association. Advocates for the bill are gearing up for extensive testimony before the Assembly Education Committee. Money is being raised to cover the transportation costs of gay and lesbian teenagers from around the slate to get to Sacramento to testify. P-FLAG chapters north and south are conducting a letter writing campaign. "Based on the earlier hearing in Assembly Higher Education," commented Laurie McBride, LIFE's Executive Director, "getting AB 1001 out of Assembly Education will be difficult The tone of debate is extremely nasty this year. We have great champions like Sheila Kuehl, Wally Knox, Richard Katz, and Marguerite Archie-Hudson, to name just a few. But questioning by opposition is antagonistic and harsh. Their rhetoric creates a climate of fear that affects both conservative Democrats and moderate Republicans. Even though sympathetic, they're afraid to vote for our bills. It's not about public policy it's the politics of intimidation." AB 1001 would amend existing education codes to include covering sexual orientation from discrimination. Schools should be a safe and secure environment for all students. Taunts, harassments, physical and verbal abuse should not be tolerated. But too often school officials look the other way when students are being attacked as gay or lesbian. Existing education codes prohibit discrimination in access to programs and classes, instructional materials and activities, school sports, and the hiring, promotion and firing of school faculty and staff. Send your letters of support to: Assemblymember Sheila Kuehi, State Capitol, Room 4164, Sacramento. CA 95814. Her district telephone is 818-501-8991. Send letters of support to: Assemblymember Doris Allen, Orange County: 16057 Beach Blvd; Huntington Beach, CA 92647; phone her at 714-843-9855. Assemblymember Joe Saca, San Bernardino County: 201 North E St; San Bernardino, CA 92401; phone him at 909-885-2222. The entire contents of The Electronic Gay Community Magazine are Copyright 1995 by The Land of Awes Computer Information System (telephone 316-269-0913 Voice, 316-269-4208 fax/modem) but may be reproduced by any means without permission from the publishers provided that this copyright notice remains with each article. Request the GCM.ARC or GCM.ZIP file for a copy of the magazine. To request the GCM.ZIP file via the Internet, do the following: Address a message to: FTPMAIL@TBB.COM Compose a one line message of: GET GCM.ZIP Send the message. You will get a reply message with the file attached to it.