Date: Tue, 8 Aug 1995 06:27:57 -0800 From: jessea@uclink2.berkeley.edu (Jessea NR Greenman) Subject: NH School Targeted w/Anti-Gay Policy EDITORS' NOTE: The following press release is being forwarded to you at the request of the New Hampshire activists listed below. For further information about this issue, please call the activists at the contact number listed. Thank you. ****************** For Immediate Release For more information, contact: Ken Coleman (603) 883-3254; fax (603)881-4877 OR Randy Kottwitz (603) 883 8786, fax (603) 880 6153 [EDITOR'S NOTE: School Board and Superintendent Contact Information: Merrimack School Department 36 McElwain St. Merrimack NH 03054 phone (603) 424 6200, fax (603) 424 6229] Chairman's Anti-Gay Proposal Rocks Merrimack School Board Coleman & Grady Oppose Addition to District Policy as Discrimination Merrimack, NH--In this small, quiet New Hampshire town, Religious Right organizations such as the Christian Coalition (the political front organization for failed presidential candidate Pat Robertson) have torn the citizenry apart with an ideological debate over another item on their national political agenda. At the last School Board meeting, Chairman Chris Ager proposed a policy of discrimination against gays and lesbians. It would ban any neutral discussion of homosexuality in the schools, ban instructional materials that discuss homosexuality in a neutral light, and ban suicide prevention counseling (or referral to counseling) for gay and lesbian students. After years of peaceful consensus about the basic goals of the community's school, the right-wing majority bloc of the Board, under influence from Religious Right political organizations, recently adopted school prayer disguised as a moment of silence, and considered teaching creationism in the science courses. The latter proposal brought legions of angry parents opposing the measure to volatile School Board meetings and triggered intense scrutiny from the national press. "Unless the majority bloc of the School Board drops this, and other parts of the Religious Right's national agenda, Merrimack will again be in the national spotlight--portrayed as a prejudiced and bigoted community," said Board Vice-Chair Ken Coleman. "If the majority bloc enacts this discriminatory policy against gays and lesbians, the door will be open to discrimination against many other groups. Most of all, our children will suffer. Whether heterosexual or homosexual, they will be taught to hate those unlike them--and the quality of their education will flounder as the community debates religious ideology instead of academics." In the Merrimack School Board election last May, the voters delivered a clear message. In a record turnout, they rejected the candidates and inflammatory agenda of the Religious Right. Electing two moderates (Brenda Grady and Coleman) by unprecedented majorities, they told the Board to stop debating ideology and return to the real work of improving education in the school district. The town clearly wanted the School Board to concentrate on issues such as the shortage of classrooms and improving the curriculum. Board members Grady and Coleman went to the School Board meeting July 10th expecting to talk about math, space needs, and reading programs--the published agenda. Instead, they faced two unexpected issues on Chairman Ager's hidden agenda--the severe curtailment of public participation , and a policy discrimination against gays and lesbian students. Policy 6540--Prohibition of Alternate (sic) Lifestyle Instruction "The Merrimack School District shall neither implement nor carry out any program or activity that has either the purpose or effect of encouraging or supporting homosexuality as a positive lifestyle alternative. A program or activity, for purpose of this item, includes the distribution of instructional materials, instruction, counseling, or other services on school grounds, or referral of a pupil to an organization that affirms a homosexual lifestyle." The Analysis On the surface, this seems innocuous, since the schools should not promote sexuality of any kind, heterosexual or homosexual. The phrase at the end, however, specifically prohibits presenting homosexuality in neutral terms. It thus demeans and degrades all gay and lesbian students currently in the school system. It encourages discrimination and violence. The second half of the motion introduces far more drastic and severe measures. It prohibits the schools not only from counseling gay and lesbian students who may face ostracism and discrimination in school, but also prohibits referring students to outside counseling services, even students contemplating suicide. The Board thus would cause deliberate anguish and needless suffering among gay and lesbian students under its supervision. It also permits the Board to censor books in the school libraries which were either written by gay authors or have a gay or lesbian in the story line. It also permits the Board to censor student publications and ban student organizations. Why has Chairman Ager proposed a new policy that solves no problems, but which causes serious harm to Merrimack's students and community? Presidential politics and the national agenda of the Christian Coalition have converged on Merrimack, testing issues for the 1996 presidential election. For example, Board member Uscinski has spoken at the Christian Coalition's National School Board Training Seminar about techniques for gaining control over local schools. Ralph Reed interviewed her about her success in Merrimack on CNET. She is also county co-chair for Pat Buchanan's presidential campaign> Recently, New Hampshire Governor Steve Merrill rejected $10 million of federal funds for Goals 2000 program, claiming that it had too many strings attached. The Christian Coalition, which had lobbied strongly to defeat Goals 2000, immediately declared victory. On the Fourth of July, Bob Dole, Pat Buchanan, Phil Gramm, Governor Merrill, and Congressman William Zeliff all marched in the Merrimack parade--an impressive assemblage of powerful Republican politicians for a small town of 23,000. At the last School Board meeting, several prominent members of the Christian Coalition's state and regional leadership looked on from the audience as Ager made his proposal. Christian Coalition Makes Merrimack A National Test Market...Again Grady and Coleman believe the purpose of this motion is to make Merrimack a national test market once again for the Christian Coalition--just as it was during the creationism debate. The New Hampshire primary is only seven months away. Using these "hot-button" issues to steer political debate during the presidential primary campaign, the Religious Right will attempt to focus attention on their agenda. The national press will cover the controversy because it involves presidential politics, and extremist groups from all over the nation will come to Merrimack. As a result, this quiet New England town has become an unwilling focus group for the marketers of the Religious Right's ideology and national agenda. With little concern for the people of Merrimack, they are testing the viability of discrimination as a campaign issue. The Merrimack School Board is scheduled to discuss Chairman Ager's motion at its next regularly scheduled meeting on August 14th. A formal vote on the motion is scheduled for the board meeting on September 5th. For more information, contact: Ken Coleman (603) 883-3254; fax (603)881-4877 OR Randy Kottwitz (603) 883 8786, fax (603) 880 6153 [EDITOR'S NOTE: School Board and Superintendent Contact Information: Merrimack School Department 36 McElwain St. Merrimack NH 03054 phone (603) 424 6200, fax (603) 424 6229] *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ PLEASE FEEL FREE TO RE-POST OR PRINT, WITH ATTRIBUTION Jessea Greenman Co-Founder, Project 21; ph/fax: 510-601-8883 586 62nd St. Oakland, CA 94609-1245 To get to our gopher, gopher to "gopher.outright.com" or point a web browser at http://www.outright.com/project21 Another Web site, courtesy of "Gay & Lesbian Web Alliance": URL: http://emanate.com/glwa/proj21 Project 21 is *always* looking for more volunteer organizers. If you are interested, please contact Jessea as shown above.