From: <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 19 Mar 1995 00:57:15 -0500

Two articles for consideration.  To be published in the April edition of The
Letter, Kentucky's gay and lesbian newspaper; permission to reprint hereby
granted, with attribution.

GAY TEACHERS MEET IN LOUISVILLE

Gay and lesbian teachers from Louisville and across the Midwest met at the
University of Louisville on March 11 to discuss ways to combat homophobia in
the classroom and develop resources to assist gay and lesbian youth.

The conference--officially called The First Annual Gay, Lesbian and Straight
Teachers Network/Midwest Conference--was sponsored by GLOBAL and the
Multicultural Center of the University of Louisville.

"Every student has a right to go to school and feel safe there," said Dr.
Richard Mohr of the University of Illinois in his keynote address.
 Statistically, gay and lesbian teenagers are believed to commit suicide at a
rate three times higher than heterosexuals in the same age group.  A great
many opt to drop out of school rather than face the verbal and physical abuse
characteristic of most American undergraduate schools.

Mohr suggested that if American culture becomes more accepting of
homosexuality, the politics will follow suit, rather than the other way
around.  He also felt that as long as the religious right keeps discussing
"things gay," the more the taboo against homosexuality will collapse.

Notable attendees at the meeting included Tony Prince, head of the Jefferson
County Gay and Lesbian Teachers Caucus; Kevin Jennings, executive director of
GLSTN; and Rodney Wilson, whose job is on the line because he told one of his
classes last year that he is gay (see article elsewhere).

While the conference was going on, Frank Simon and about forty supporters
gathered across campus at Third and Eastern Parkway to denounce its agenda
and to drop off anti- gay literature for later distribution by the crowd in
Louisville's twelve aldermanic wards.

Closing his eyes and extending his right hand over the crowd, Simon said in
his best apocalyptic style, "We are here to stand up against the great evil
of the day.  Help our city wake up to the evil of homosexuality, which is
spreading throughout this city and will surely destroy it like it has so many
other cultures."

His handout depicted gays and lesbians as sexual predators of children and
made the erroneous claim that if the Fairness Amendment were passed, it would
be much harder to fire homosexual teachers "no matter what they do."

It also repeated groundless assertions from an article in The Liberty
Standard that Prince, had "forced the children in his English class to write
on 'Is it all right for two adult men to hold hands?'"

In actuality, according to Prince, his students were given a list of several
questions on gender-related issues, including whether it was alright for a
man to stay home and take care of his children while the mother worked.  No
one was forced to write on any one topic.

Simon seemed particularly upset that the teachers' meeting was being held in
a tax- supported school.  Gays and lesbians, however, contribute
substantially to the support of Kentucky's university system each year, and
disproportionately so if another questionable claim of his--that gays and
lesbians have higher than average incomes--is to be believed.