A Southern California school board has bee the latt proxy for culture wars brewg across the untry after a nservative bloc voted to formally reject state-endorsed curriculum that would have mentned gay rights figure Harvey Milk.
Contents:
- WHAT'S LIFE LIKE FOR GAY KIDS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS?
- THE BT GAY-FRIENDLY SCHOOLS
- WISNS MIDDLE SCHOOL FEATUR 'THIS BOOK IS GAY' LIBRARY, STIRRG ONLE OUTRAGE
- GAY UNSELOR'S FIRG BY INDIANAPOLIS CATHOLIC SCHOOL PERMTED BY FERAL APPEALS URT
WHAT'S LIFE LIKE FOR GAY KIDS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS?
High school is a challengg time for most teens. It n be even more so for lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr stunts. Judy Chiasson of the Los Angel Unified School District and Eliza Byard, executive director of the Gay, Lbian and Straight Edutn Network talk about beg openly LGBT school. * school are gay *
Each year, seems, we hear the stori of the clash of culture and genr when a high school stunt who is gay is banned om attendg the prom, or pays a price for gog.
This year is no different, om a Mississippi unty school board banng 18-year-old Constance McMillan, who wanted to wear a tux and brg her girliend, to the Miami gay senr who was crowned prom queen -only to be disowned by his own fay. Lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr stunts face unique and often cel stggl to fd their place Amerin high schools.
THE BT GAY-FRIENDLY SCHOOLS
Gov. Gav Newsom is takg on nservative Temecula Valley Unified school officials over textbooks that discs sla gay activist Harvey Milk. * school are gay *
Today, we hear om a Los Angel school admistrator charge of equy and diversy, and om an advote whose anizatn has helped gui gay kids through the maze of high school life. COX: Now, is there an office, an anizatn, an agency wh the district that is set up to al specifilly wh the issu of gay stunts?
COX: One of the areas that has been an issue the gay, lbian, transgenr muny, as far as public schools are ncerned, is whether or not to tegrate the stunts to the mastream populatn or to some way segregate them, even if is jt for their safety.
WISNS MIDDLE SCHOOL FEATUR 'THIS BOOK IS GAY' LIBRARY, STIRRG ONLE OUTRAGE
After a Southern California school district rejected a state-endorsed social studi curriculum that clus material on gay rights, top state officials are vowg to buy a textbook qutn and distribute to stunts before the new school year. * school are gay *
COX: Is possible, Judy, to tablish wh a school settg, let's say, a program that will benef stunts who are lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr - not discrimate agast them but at the same time, allow them to have the fort of beg an area where they n feel fortable? If you'd like to jo the nversatn about the liftyl of gay stunts public high school, you n ll at 800-989-8255. After one particularly odd sleepover, everyone found out that I was gay, and was absolutely horrible.
GAY UNSELOR'S FIRG BY INDIANAPOLIS CATHOLIC SCHOOL PERMTED BY FERAL APPEALS URT
* school are gay *
You know, so we would do some kd of supprsn terms of the anti-gay harassment that you experienced and plement that wh tnal terventns bee is through tn that we n really end bias. She is the executive director of the Gay, Lbian and Straight Edutn Network - to talk more about how gay stunts n be assisted. We are talkg about gay stunts and high school, public high school, and we are talkg wh Judy Chiasson wh the Office of Human Relatns, Diversy and Equy the L.
Those are the clear non-discrimatn and anti-bullyg, anti-harassment polici that explicly clu sexual orientatn and genr exprsn and genr inty as among those tegori of protectn; havg supportive faculty and school staff available to young people to help them when issu arise; the prence of stunt clubs, monly known as gay-straight allianc, or GSAs, and other stunt advocy to improve school climate; and the prence of clive curricular elements that accurately and appropriately pict LGBT people, history and life. I am a queer teacher Columb, and the big thg I've noticed, the big problem that I have had, is I live a state where is still legal to fire someone for beg gay. I thk Judy embodi what I thk is bt all people who go to tn, but I do have to pot out that there are ser stutnal barriers across the untry for teachers, gay or straight, who wish to reach out and help stunts who are havg a hard time.
The ntroversial tle scrib genalia, gay sex and rmatn about the e of homosexual datg apps. * school are gay *
And fact, eight stat this untry, there are laws that specifilly prohib posive discsns of homosexualy public schools. And I thk the key thg - thkg about that first email - is that this is about the fact that 90 percent of stunts, gay and straight, report that they hear anti-gay ments, anti-LGBT ments at school every sgle day. Stunts we asked - a natnal sample of sendary school stunts, middle and high school, the - gay and straight - about the most equent bas for bullyg and harassment their schools, and the top three that were listed were physil appearance and body size, actual or perceived sexual orientatn, and whether a stunt was perceived to be, quote-unquote, mascule or feme enough.
So I thk that there's a mon misnceptn, that alg wh LGBT issu K-through-12 schools is about - fundamentally about promotg a - someone beg lbian or gay. Primarily, is about rcg the sea of anti-LGBT sentiment that fuels a lot of bullyg that has nothg to do wh a specific personal anim agast a gay dividual. Sendarily, of urse, is about those stunts an environment who may or may not be gay, maybe thkg about whether or not they are LGBT, and are wnsg the price that they will have to pay.
Our guts are Eliza Byard, executive director of the Gay, Lbian and Straight Edutn Network, also known as GLSEN; and Judy Chiasson, wh the Office of Human Relatns, Diversy and Equy, Los Angel Unified School District. And we n - we know wh some precisn about the elevated risk to gay youth rultg om anti-gay harassment and bullyg.