Subject: Utah Teachers Honored By GLSTN
From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 11 Apr 1996 14:29:38 -0400

_________________________________________________

NEWS from the
Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Teachers Network (GLSTN)

122  West 26th Street, Suite 1100
New York, NY 100001
email:  [email-masked]
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.

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