Date: Fri, 12 Apr 1996 06:26:02 -0700 (PDT) From: jessea@uclink4.berkeley.edu (Jessea NR Greenman) Subject: Latest from Utah - write or call Gov Leavitt || Utah Teachers Honored By GLSTN From: KathyWUT@aol.com Date: Thu, 11 Apr 1996 23:50:06 -0400 Subject: Latest from Utah - write or call Gov Leavitt We need for everyone to write letters, notes and postcards to Utah's Gov. Mike Leavitt as soon as possible re SB 246. (Or call Leavitt's office at 801-538-1000.) [or write Governor Michael O. Leavitt, State of Utah, 210 State Capitol, Salt Lake City, UT 84114; ***Internet E-Mail: governor@email.state.ut.us] Let him and the legislature [contact info below provided by The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project] know that the entire country is watching and that there are many, many Americans who think the law they're planning to pass is outrageous and discriminatory. Mail your cards and letters by April 14th, if at all possible. Call by April 16th, the day before the special session. The revised version of SB 246 bans "criminal behavior" - a change supporters hope will alleviate concerns about the first version of the measure which prohibited teachers from discussing "illegal activity." Homosexuality is illegal in Utah, a sodomy state. And after lengthy talks with some lawyers and school officials, the governor and certain legislators decided to amend the bill so that it allows school districts to ban student clubs that promote bigotry, encourage criminal behavior or involve human sexuality (including heterosexual-oriented clubs). The plan is to enact the newly revised version, enabling the Salt Lake School Board to lift its February ban on ALL student clubs and replace it with a ban on LGBT clubs. Such a move is SO likely to draw lawsuits that the revised version of SB246 also stipulates that if school boards are sued for enacting bans on specific clubs, the state will foot legal costs!!! Under the federal Equal Access Act of 1984, according to the Utah Attorney General's Office and the state Office of Education, school districts have no basis for forbidding specific clubs, unless they engage in illegal activities. Carol Gnade, director of the Utah chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said that the latest version of SB246 "flies in the face of the equal-access law" and is certain to be challenged in court. Utah Education Association President Lily Eskelsen believes that most teachers do not oppose the new bill, but they do view the provisions on teacher conduct as unnecessary. "We've never really gotten an answer on what exactly we're trying to make teachers do or prevent them from doing that isn't already covered in Utah law," she said. Senate Members # County(ies) Name/Party Address 1 Salt Lake Robert C. Steiner (D) 80 North Wolcott Salt Lake City, Utah 84103-4477 H-596-1213 O-328-883 2 Salt Lake Wilford R. Black, Jr. (D) 826 North 1300 West Salt Lake City, Utah 84116 H-596-3161 3 Salt Lake Blaze D. Wharton (D) 5322 S. Lucky Clover Ln. Murray, Utah 84123 H-261-2412 O-468-3387 4 Salt Lake Howard A. Stephenson (R) Chair, Education Committee 1038 East 13590 South Utah Draper, Utah 84020 H-576-1022 O-972-8814 FAX-973-2324 5 Salt Lake Brent C. Richards (R) 2251 Prairie Circle Riverton, Utah 84065 H-254-0611 O-254-2574 6 Salt Lake Stephen J. Rees (R), (Education Committee member) 5716 Jordan Canal Road Salt Lake City, Utah 84118 H-969-9937 O-966-0919 7 Salt Lake David L. Buhler (R) 1844 East Hollywood Ave. Salt Lake City, Utah 84108 H-466-7140 O-355-5009 FAX-355-4008 8 Salt Lake Scott N. Howell, (Education Committee member) Minority Leader (D) 9711 South 3725 East Sandy, Utah 84092 H-943-5770 O-328-6643 9 Salt Lake L. Steven Poulton (R) 4524 Briarcreek Dr. Salt Lake City, Utah 84117 H-272-4338 O-484-4477 FAX-486-7541 10 Salt Lake L. Alma "Al" Mansell (R) 6995 Union Park Ctr. #100 Midvale, Utah 84047 H-942-6019 O-567-4200 FAX-567-4201 11 Salt Lake Eddie "Ed" P. Mayne (D) 5044 West Bannock Circle West Valley City, Utah 84120 H-968-7756 O-972-2771 FAX-972-9344 12 Salt Lake Millie M. Peterson (D) 7131 West 3800 South West Valley City, Utah 84120 H-250-5944 O-581-7203 13 Salt Lake, Tooele George Mantes, Minority Whip (D) 185 North Main Suite 201 Tooele, Utah 84074 H-882-4856 SLC-531-8157 14 Utah Craig A. Peterson, Majority Leader (R) 1687 North 200 West Orem, Utah 84057 H-226-3236 O-756-8888 15 Utah LeRay McAllister (R) 296 East 1864 South Orem, Utah 84058 H-225-5455 16 Utah Charles H. Stewart (R) 447 West 4150 North Provo, Utah 84606 H-221-0748 O-375-4100 17 Utah Eldon A. Money (D) 1450 West 5348 South Spanish Fork, Utah 84660 H-798-3668 18 Davis, Weber Nathan C. Tanner (R) (Education Committee member) 6225 Woodland Drive Ogden, Utah 84403 H-479-6442 O-442-3678 FAX-442-5061 19 Weber, Morgan Robert F. Montgomery (R) 1825 North Mountain Road North Ogden, Utah 84414 H-782-1694 20 Weber Joseph L. Hull (Education Committee member) Assistant Minority Whip (D) 5250 West 4000 South Hooper, Utah 84315 H-731-3705 O-732-6012 21 Davis David H. Steele (Education Committee member) (R) Home Page 3376 West 400 North West Point, Utah 84015 H-825-3033 O-546-7347 22 Davis Craig L. Taylor (R) 312 Oak Lane Kaysville, Utah 84037 O-544-5909 23 Davis Lane Beattie President (R) 1313 North 1100 West West Bountiful, Utah 84087 H-292-7406 O-298-7000 24 Box Elder, Cache John P. Holmgren (R) 4570 West 5400 North P.O. Box 208 Bear River City, Utah 84301 H-279-8679 FAX-279-8749 25 Cache, Rich, Summit Lyle W. Hillyard Assistant Majority Whip (R) 175 East First North Logan, Utah 84321 H-753-0043 O-752-2610 26 Carbon, Daggett, Duchesne, Summit, Uintah, Wasatch Alarik Myrin (R) HC 65, Box 30 Altamont, Utah 84001-9703 H-454-3494 27 Carbon, San Juan, Grand, Emery, Kane, Washington Mike Dmitrich (D) 566 North Dover Circle Price, Utah 84501 H-637-0426 O-637-2875 28 Juab, Sanpete, Sevier, Millard, Piute, Wayne, Beaver, Garfield Leonard M. Blackham, Majority Whip (R) P.O. Box 255 Moroni, Utah 84646 H-436-8489 O-436-8125 29 Washington, Iron David L. Watson (R) (Education Committee member) 249 East Tabernacle #302 St. George, Utah 84770 H-628-3369 O-628-4884 A complete roster of Utah's House Members (with contact info) is at URL: http://www.code-co.com/utah/leg/legalph.htm House EDUCATION Standing Committee CHAIR= REP BEVERLY A EVANS (H) 454-3719 HCR 65 BOX 36 (O) 722-4523 ALTAMONT UT 84001-9801 (R) (DISTRICT 54) Karen B. Smith, Vice Chair REP SHERYL L ALLEN (H) 292-8576 620 LARSEN DRIVE (O) 546-2441 EXT.306 BOUNTIFUL UT 84010 (R) (DISTRICT 19) REP RON BIGELOW (H) 968-4188 5148 REDFLOWER CIRCLE (O) 267-2648 WVC UT 84120 (R) (DISTRICT 32) REP MARDA DILLREE (H) 451-2773 379 SHEPARD RIDGE RD (R) (DISTRICT 17) FARMINGTON UT 84025 REP LLOYD FRANDSEN (H) 254-4940 9461 S 2500 W (O) 966-1701 SOUTH JORDAN UT 84095 (R) (DISTRICT 50) REP DARLENE GUBLER (H) 278-3170 2558 FLAMINGO DR (O) 957-4593 SLC UT 84117 (R) (DISTRICT 41) REP J BRENT HAYMOND (H) 489-8046 164 W 200 S (O) 489-6221 SPRINGVILLE UT 84663 (R) (DISTRICT 65) REP NEAL B HENDRICKSON (H) 969-8920 3402 W 4100 S (D) (DISTRICT 33) WVC UT 84119 REP KEELE JOHNSON Email=keele@sjhs.sanjuan.k12.ut.us (H) 678-2077 732 N 300 W (O) 678-2201 EXT 131 BLANDING UT 84511 (R) (DISTRICT 71) REP NORA B STEPHENS (H) 825-3792 2024 N 400 W (R) (DISTRICT 13) SUNSET UT 84015 REP PETE SUAZO (H)596-1750 1307 GARNETTE ST (D) (DISTRICT 23) SLC UT 84116 REP JORDAN TANNER (H) 373-6246 1871 N 1450 E (R) (DISTRICT 63) PROVO UT 84604-5719 REP LAMONT TYLER (H) 272-1218 3810 EASTWOOD LANE (O) 581-6920 SLC UT 84109 (R) (DISTRICT 36) REP JUDY ANN BUFFMIRE (H) 266-1862 765 E 4255 S (D) (DISTRICT 35) SLC UT 84107 REP PATRICIA B LARSON (H) 392-4459 880 BEL MAR DR (D) (DISTRICT 10) OGDEN UT 84403 REP GRANT D PROTZMAN (H) 782-6616 3073 N 575 E (O) 626-6886 NORTH OGDEN UT 84414 (D) (DISTRICT 7) ______________________________ ______________________________ NEWS from the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Teachers Network (GLSTN) 122 West 26th Street, Suite 1100 New York, NY 100001 email: glstn@glstn.org WWW: http://www.glstn.org/freedom/ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 11, 1996 GLSTN HONORS UTAH TEACHERS WITH FIRST ANNUAL GLSTN/WEST PATHFINDER AWARD NEW YORK -- The Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Teachers Network announced today that four teachers who have led the fight for equal treatment for lesbian and gay people in Salt Lake City Schools would receive its first annual GLSTN/West Pathfinder Award, at its Second Annual Western Regional Conference, to be held on Saturday, April 20 at the Center for Early Education in Los Angeles. Utah garnered national attention in February, when the Salt Lake City Board of Education voted 4-3 to ban all extracurricular activities in the school system rather than allow the student Gay-Straight Alliance club to meet at East High School. The Pathfinder Award was created by GLSTN in 1994 to honor individuals was have created new paths for others to follow in the fight against homophobia in our schools. The GLSTN/West honorees include: The teachers to be honored include: * The supporters of the now-banned East High School Gay, Lesbain, Straight Student Alliance, Camille Lee and Scott Nelson, who teach science and special education, respectively; * Clayton Vetter, a debate teacher at Skyline High School who became the first openly gay public school teacher in Utah history when he came out in a press conference on the State House steps in February; and * Doug Wortham, a French teacher at Rowland Hall High School, who is chair of the new Utah Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Teachers Alliance. "We're proud to honor teachers who have put everything on the line to fight for equality in their schools," said Kevin Jennings, GLSTN's Executive Director. "Their work has galvanized national attention as well as community support in Utah, and they deserve to be applauded for their work." Bob Riddle, co-chair of GLSTN/Los Angeles (which is hosting the conference), noted the special courage of these teachers in the face of a new bill in Utah that threatens job loss to any teacher who 'disrupts the educational climate.' "These folks have not allowed themselves to be intimidated, even with the full force of the state legislature bearing down on them," Riddle said. "It's time they're recognized for the heroes they truly are." Camille Lee expressed surprise and delight when informed of the award. "We never expected any of this to get as much attention as it has," Lee said, "and we're thrilled to be given the award." Lee, Nelson, Wortham, and Vetter will receive their awards at the conference's opening session at 9 a.m., which features a keynote talk by Donna Red Wing, who led the successful fight to defeat two successive anti-gay ballot measures in Oregon and is now Field Director for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. A full day of workshops will follow, with closing remarks from actors Jamie Lee Curtis and Robert Guillaume. The Center for Early Education is located at 563 N. Alfred St. in Los Angeles. For more information on the conference, call Lorne Zilkie at 213-651-0707. **** With over thirty chapters, and a membership of over three thousand teachers, parents, and concerned citizens, The Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Teachers Network (GLSTN) is the largest national organization working to insure that schools are places where all people are respected and valued, regardless of sexual orientation. -30- *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ OK TO RE-POST. Jessea Greenman The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project (Public Education Regarding Sexual Orientation Nationally) CHECK THIS OUT FOR TONS OF INFO - - http://www.youth.org/loco/PERSONProject/ Please cc us (for our files) on correspondence you send or receive re our action alerts.