[working.with.straight.allies] Provided by: GLSTN 122 West 26th Street, Suite 1100 New York, NY 10001 USA Tel: (212) 727-0135 Email: glstn@glstn.org Web: http://www.glstn.org/respect/ HELPING HANDS: BUILDING A SUPPORT NETWORK by Warren J. Blumenfeld The broader the coalition you build of people supporting your work, the more effective it will be in making your school safer for all students. This is true in part, because people tend to be influenced most by people who are like themselves. For example, students will listen to other students, administrators will trust the opinions and experiences of other administrators, parents will sympathize with other parents, teachers will listen to the experiences of other teachers. Reaching out to a broad cross-section of members of your school and community will help disseminate the information. Further, having a broad range of support, also means having a broad range of perspectives and experiences. This is the foundation on which a vision of inclusion is truly built, a vision which foresees a school that is safe for all students, that uproots all forms of discrimination and oppression. Encourage your allies to view their decision to tackle the issues facing gay and lesbian students as being an indication of their personal courage and compassion, and one more thing they are doing to help all students achieve. The following section will provide strategies you can use to establish a support network not only to help individual students, but also to build a consensus in your community and school that this work is important and should go forward. Included will be strategies for getting administrators, teachers, students, parents and community members on board and some concrete things that supporters can do to make schools safer for gay and lesbian students. GETTING PEOPLE INVOLVED: ESTABLISHING A SUPPORT NETWORK Here are some things you can do in your school to build support: 1. Distribute Copies of the MASS. Board of Education's Recommendations on the Support and Safety of Gay and Lesbian Students These Recommendations outline some basic steps schools can take to become safer for all students. They have the backing of the Massachusetts Department of Education, Governor Weld, and the Commissioner of Education for Massachusetts, Robert V. Antonucci. 2. Distribute the MASS. Governor's Commission report, MAKING SCHOOLS SAFE FOR GAY AND LESBIAN STUDENTS The report is filled with information about gay and lesbian youth and explains in detail why schools should address these issues and insure the greater safety of gay and lesbian students. (Contact the Governor's Commission for free copies at 617-727-3600 x312) 3. Distribute copies of the Anti-Discrimination Law This recently amended law protects students from verbal or physical harassment in school; from being denied or discouraged from exercising their right to form a school-based gay/straight alliance group; from being excluded from or being made to feel uncomfortable in school courses, activities, or clubs; from being treated unfairly or differently from other students; and from being unable to get assistance from school faculty or administration in dealing with homophobic harassment or discrimination based on actual or perceived sexual orientation. (See Legal Issues for a copy of the actual law and a detailed examination of its repercussions.) 4. Publicize the Concerns of Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Students in Your Own School Use the PTA Newsletter, school newspaper, community newspaper, or local media to inform students, parents, teachers, administrators and community members about why your school is addressing issues effecting gay and lesbian students, how you are doing this, and what you hope to accomplish. Encourage students to write articles about their experiences witnessing, encountering, or fighting anti-gay prejudice. Some Gay/Straight Alliances have distributed surveys for students, staff, and parents primarily focusing on gathering attitudes about gay and lesbian students and experiences with homophobia and anti-gay harassment and violence. Their surveys were designed to determine how safe the school environment was, if there was a need for support, how many incidents of harassment had occurred, etc. Giving school administrators and teachers survey results and/or testimony from students can alert them to the problems gay and lesbian students face in their schools. If positive changes are occurring, document these improvements. Publicizing the issues and concerns of students not only helps wake-up people who think "But anti-gay harassment and violence isn't a problem here," it also helps reinforce that these are important educational issues, not things that should be shameful or secretive. 5. Put these Issues into Context At the Equity for Gay and Lesbian Students Conference: Progress and Promise in Our Schools administrators, superintendents and principals discussed different strategies groups interested in working on gay and lesbian issues can implement to get support from their administrators. The panel suggested that groups emphasize that supporting gay and lesbian students is simply one more way administrators and teachers help all students. They suggested putting the fight against anti-gay discrimination and prejudice into the context of the school's core values (for example, fostering an appreciation of diversity). Emphasize that providing a safe environment for gay and lesbian students is integral to providing a safe school environment for all students and to helping students learn and live in a society filled with diversity. Finally, they stressed the need to distinguish for administrators the difference between "supporting gay and lesbian youth" and "promoting homosexuality." Sheila Tarlin, a guidance counselor at David Prouty High School, recommends that "Faculty might feel less 'intimidated' by the gay and lesbian issue if its viewed along a spectrum of other issues that students face with this one having serious consequences if not addressed adequately...I think the 'struggle' a student might have with his/her sexual identity might be viewed by teachers [more sympathetically] if described as one more adolescent issue that some teens face." A few teachers and administrators have expressed a difficulty in separating their personal beliefs about homosexuality from their professional responsibility. Public school educators have a responsibility to teach all students, including gay and lesbian students. A teacher who feels that homosexuality is morally wrong, must nevertheless not let this interfere with their professional duties and obligations to their gay and lesbian students. Remind teachers who profess a difficulty with separating their job from their moral beliefs that they have probably had to do this on other occasions. Most teachers encounter students they don't particularly like for one reason or another. They have had to put those feelings aside and this is true, as well, for students whose sexual orientation makes them uncomfortable. E. Van Seasholes, the principal of Newton South, said, "If you don't believe that each and every student deserves our very best efforts then you don't belong in teaching." 6. Educate the School and Community Here are some ways to educate your school and community: * Place posters at school that educate people about sexual orientation and homophobia, * Sponsor speakers to educate people about issues affecting the safety gay and lesbian students. Consider inviting students from your school or neighboring schools, faculty members, or administrators to speak. Also, the Safe Schools Program for Gay and Lesbian Students, P-FLAG (Parents, Family Members, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), and the Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth have speakers trained in issues effecting young gays and lesbians. (The Governor's Commission can be reached at 617-727-3600 x312 and see Appendix for a listing of other speakers bureaus.) * Invite faculty members to attend annual GLSTN (Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Teachers Network) Conference which addresses issues of sexual orientation in schools. * Encourage your school to put together a team of students, parents, teachers, and administrators to attend a Safe Schools Program Regional Workshop. * Plan a Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Straight Study Group for teachers so they can learn more about homophobia and heterosexism. * Plan staff presentations about concerns of gay and lesbian students. For example, the Arlington Public Schools had presentations for all the staff on issues effecting gay and lesbian students and in-service meetings on the two days before school started in September, 1994. * Show educational videos like "Gay and Lesbian Youth Making History in Massachusetts" and "Gay Youth." (See Appendix for ordering information and more video suggestions.) * Hold a Parents Night. Brookline High School hosted a parent night when everyone was invited to learn about the high school's gay-straight alliance and issues effecting gay and lesbian youth. This was a time for people to air their concerns and learn why it is important to address these issues. Concord-Carlisle's SPECTRUM, invites parents every year to come to an evening get-together to learn about the group and the work they have done and plan to do in the future. 7. Solicit Letters of Support Consider soliciting letters of support and appreciation from a variety of people including students, teachers, administrators, parents, alumni, influential community members, politicians, religious leaders, pediatricians and other health professionals. These letters can inspire other people to offer their support and can assure hesitant members of the school administration, staff, or community that there is already broad-based support for addressing these issues. If school administrators only hear from a few but loud voices of opposition, they may think that the community in general is more resistant to gay and lesbian student safety than it actually is. According to the superintendents and administrators who participated in the Equity for Gay and Lesbian Students Conference on May 20 and 21, getting supportive and appreciative phone calls or letters from parents and community leaders was extremely important and reassuring. WHEN EVERYTHING COMES TOGETHER The important thing for schools to do is to take the next step, whatever it might be, to build a support network and to better insure the safety of all students. Your group might want to lobby for the administration to re-write the school policy, or perhaps it might want put up posters, but no matter which way you decide to progress, no matter how far along you are, no matter how small the next step, as soon as the silence surrounding issues of homophobia and homosexuality has been broken, your school will be changed, and the lives of students will be changed, irrevocably. Peter Atlas, the faculty advisor to Concord-Carlisle's Gay/Straight Alliance, Spectrum, told this success story. He said that a confluence of events helped his school to effectively address the safety of gay and lesbian students. He said, "In my school we had an 'out' teacher which I don't think is necessary, but I do think is helpful. We had a large group of supportive straight-identified faculty which I think is vital. We had the backing of the state in that the Governor [and Board of Education] said it is important to address these issues. So we were able to go to the administration and say we have to begin to address these issues." It is crucial to remember that all schools addressing the issue of safety for gay and lesbian students have the backing of state law and policy. By building consensus within your school that it is important to address these issues, getting the support of members of the faculty, administration, student body, and the community, you will have the building blocks you need to go forward with this important work. The following are some concrete ways supporters can help make schools safer for all students. HOW SUPPORTERS CAN HELP MAKE SCHOOLS SAFER FOR GAY AND LESBIAN STUDENTS Sometimes people are "passively supportive." They may believe that addressing lesbian and gay student issues is important, but they don't know how to express their approbation and they don't know that students need and want their help. These people can help individual lesbian, gay, and bisexual students by establishing themselves as visible allies -- people that students know they can turn to for support and help. Some teachers, administrators, and guidance counselors have put up gay-positive posters in their classrooms. Others have made a conscious effort to use inclusive language. Many have stuck stickers in their classrooms that have a pink triangle and the word "ally" printed on the front. Some students have plastered these stickers to their sneakers or books. SUPPORTERS CAN ALSO HELP FIGHT ANTI-GAY PREJUDICE BY ADDRESSING INSTANCES OF ANTI-GAY PREJUDICE WHENEVER POSSIBLE. Josh Bennett-Johnson, a student at Concord-Carlisle said that "Lots of guys on the baseball team were doing fag jokes. They didn't realize it was insulting." Now, whenever he hears someone say something anti-gay, he goes up to them and says, "How can you find so much pleasure in putting someone down, in ruining their day. It doesn't bother me that you think [homosexuality] is wrong. It bothers me that you have to insult someone." Supporters can not only help individual students, they can help build consensus within your school and community that it is important to address these issues. Here are some suggestions for ways that supporters can help build consensus and help make schools safer for gay and lesbian students: * Members of the community can encourage Youth Commissions that meet regularly to discuss a range of issues of concern to youth to look at the problems unique to gay and lesbian youth. * Community leaders can establish a Community Task Forces dedicated to addressing the needs of young gays and lesbians. (For example, a Superintendent's Task Force on Gay and Lesbian Students.) * Religious leaders can establish special rap groups for gay and lesbian youth and provide other important services. * Members of the PTO and Parent Advisory Board can address gay and lesbian student safety in their meetings and newsletters. * Faculty and students can establish Gay/Straight Alliances. * Administrators and superintendents can implement the four Board of Education recommendations. * Stores, restaurants, community groups and individuals can help show their support for Gay/Straight Alliances by providing food for meetings, donating t-shirts, etc. For example, P-FLAG donated books for the library at Cape Cod Technical High School on behalf of their Gay/Straight Alliance. Having a strong, active support network will insure that if, at some point, you do encounter resistance you will have a ground swell support and understanding from members of the student body, the faculty, the administration, and the community. The next section looks at some strategies you can use to overcome resistance and go about making your school safe for gay and lesbian students. CONTACT INFORMATION: Warren J. Blumenfeld PO Box 929 Northampton, MA 01061 Tel: (413) 585-9121 Fax: (413) 584-1332 E-Mail: blumenfeld@educ.umass.edu .................................................................. This document is one of the many practical resources available online from GLSTN's web site at http://www.glstn.org/respect/. The Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Teachers Network (GLSTN) is the largest organization of parents, educators, students and other concerned citizens working to end homophobia in K-12 schools and to ensure that all students are valued and respected, regardless of sexual orientation. To fulfill its mission and to raise awareness of these issues, GLSTN produces audio, visual and text-based educational materials, provides training, produces community programming and conferences, and organizes a growing national network of over 40 regional chapters. Membership in GLSTN is open to anyone -- regardless of their occupation or sexual orientation -- who is committed to seeing that the current generation is the last to suffer from homophobia. More than 70% of our budget is funded by individual donations and we need your support to continue to make resources such as this available. GLSTN is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation and all donations are fully tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. GLSTN 122 West 26th Street, Suite 1100 New York, NY 10001 USA Tel: (212) 727-0135 Email: glstn@glstn.org Web: http://www.glstn.org/respect/ (c) 1994-1996, Gay, Lesbian & Straight Teachers Network (GLSTN) .................................................................. Copyright is held by the original author(s) of this document. You may redistribute this document for educational purposes provided that you do not change the material and all notices remain intact.