Gay-Straight Alliance Clubs On Rise In Utah, Salt Lake Cy School Board Enacts Anti-Discrimatn Policy | HuffPost Latt News

Contents:

• GAY STRAIGHTALLIANCE
• GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANCE CLUBS ON RISE IN UTAH, SALT LAKE CY SCHOOL BOARD ENACTS ANTI-DISCRIMATN POLICY
• EAST HIGH GAY/STRAIGHT ALLIANCE V. BOARD OF EDUTN AND EAST HIGH SCHOOL PRISM CLUB V. CYNTHIA L. SEIL (1999)
• GAY STRAIGHT ALLIANCE NOW …ST GEE, UTAH
• GAY STUNT CLUBS BLOSSOMG UTAH
• HOW A BAN ON EXTRACURRICULAR CLUBS SALT LAKE CY SCHOOLS LED TO ‘AN IMPORTANT TONE GAY RIGHTS’ 20 YEARS AGO
• GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANC UTAH
• STUNTS RNE 20 YEARS AFTER A LANDMARK LAWSU OVER GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANC UTAH SCHOOLS
• EAST HIGH GAY STRAIGHT ALLIANCE V. BOARD OF EDUTN OF SALT LAKE CY SCHOOL DISTRICT
• GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANCE EVENT BREAKS DOWN GENR STEREOTYP
• UTAH BOARD BANS ALL SCHOOL CLUBS ANTI-GAY MOVE

GAY STRAIGHTALLIANCE

Often lled Queer/Straight Allianc or Gay/Straight Allianc (QSAs), the clubs are important rourc for lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer (LGBTQ) stunts, as well as for those who are perceived by others to be LGBTQ, who are qutng their inty, who have LGBTQ iends or fay members, or who jt re about LGBTQ issu.

GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANCE CLUBS ON RISE IN UTAH, SALT LAKE CY SCHOOL BOARD ENACTS ANTI-DISCRIMATN POLICY

This requirement is troublg bee stunts who are most impacted by this requirement—those who feel they nnot exprs gay-posive viewpots to their parents and those whose parents are not active enough their liv to sign a permissn slip—are the on who would most benef om beg part of a QSA.

Know Your Rights: A Gui For Utah Public High School Stunts >>ACLU rmatn on LGBT issu schools >> Utah QSA Network >> GSA Network >> Jump-Start: Tools for stunts and gay-straight allianc >>. Posted 11/4/11 - Gay Straight Allianc are school clubs that aim to create safe and supportive environments for all stunts. We want to raise awarens about suici rat and promote tn of homosexualy and acceptance for equaly Sat Gee.

EAST HIGH GAY/STRAIGHT ALLIANCE V. BOARD OF EDUTN AND EAST HIGH SCHOOL PRISM CLUB V. CYNTHIA L. SEIL (1999)

The New York Tim has reported that over 30 Gay-Straight Alliance school clubs have formed across the state of Utah on the heels of a signifint surge anti-discrimatn policy beg enacted throughout the state. "The Utah Pri Center recs and supports stunt anizers, trag them to create and manage Gay-Straight Allianc. Gee, Utah, bisexual sophomore stunt Kate Hanson of Snow Canyon High School actively participat her lol GSA club.

At the time, McGee and a iend were tryg to create a Gay-Straight Alliance group at Lone Peak High School Highland, Utah, the fall of 2014. Utah is one of eight stat that has laws, sometim lled “no promo homo” laws, that lim how teachers n talk about LGBTQ issu wh stunts, or forbid altogether. After a bate at a meetg of the Alpe District school board, the Gay-Straight Alliance was able to move forward.

In an attempt to improve the climate at school for stunts like McGee, the advocy groups Equaly Utah and the Natnal Center for Lbian Rights have brought a feral lawsu to overturn Utah’s “no promo homo” law, which prohibs teachers om discsg LGBTQ issu wh stunts. Most were based on the misnceptn that only gay people uld ntract and spread AIDS, acrdg to Peter Renn, senr attorney at LGBTQ advocy anizatn Lambda Legal. In Oklahoma, the law requir that AIDS tn clu the false claim that “engagg homosexual activy” is one of the behavrs “primarily rponsible for ntact wh the AIDS vis.

GAY STRAIGHT ALLIANCE NOW …ST GEE, UTAH

School districts Arizona nnot e curriculum that “promot a homosexual liftyle, ” while Utah teachers nnot participate “the advocy of homosexualy.

” (When the laws were passed, “homosexual” was a blanket term for any LGBTQ person, which many LGBTQ lears say is now outdated. In the absence of curriculum that addrs LGBTQ issu, some stunts those stat have created Gay-Straight Allianc, which are still allowed bee they are n by stunts, not teachers.

LGBTQ stunts are already at an elevated risk for bullyg and vlence at school, and are ls likely to attend class and fish high school, acrdg to a 2015 report om the Gay, Lbian and Straight Edutn Network. Peyton Carter, who graduated om Alta High School Draper, Utah, said this reluctance to speak about LGBTQ issu was notable even his muny, where he felt accepted as a gay man. In high school, he would notice small signs of support — some teachers had “safe space” stickers outsi their doors, and another teacher told stunts they uldn’t ll somethg “gay” if they meant “stupid.

GAY STUNT CLUBS BLOSSOMG UTAH

But Alabama, and other stat that still have their anti-sodomy laws tact, the state requir that health teachers tell stunts that “homosexual nduct is a crimal offense. Mississippi’s state policy, which passed 1998, also referenc “current state law” on “homosexual activy, ” which was illegal the state at the time. In Texas, whose anti-sodomy law was the foc of the Supreme Court se, tors mt “state that homosexual nduct … is a crimal offense.

HOW A BAN ON EXTRACURRICULAR CLUBS SALT LAKE CY SCHOOLS LED TO ‘AN IMPORTANT TONE GAY RIGHTS’ 20 YEARS AGO

Patricia Todd, a member of the Alabama Hoe of Reprentativ and the only openly gay elected official the state. Raven Rice, 17, and a senr at Grissom High School Huntsville, Alabama, me out as bisexual toward the end of middle school and joed the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance as a hman. A Gay-Straight Alliance, or GSA, is a youth-led school or muny group anized for the purpose of supportg LGBTQ youth and straight alli through discsn, actn, iendship, and advocy.

However, while gay stunt anizatns have existed on llege mp sce the civil rights era, the tablishment of siar groups high schools did not occur until the late 1980s.

GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANC UTAH

The first gay stunt anizatn Ameri (and perhaps the world) was found at Columbia Universy 1966 unr the name the Stunt Homophile League. Gay-Straight Allianc the US are protected by the Feral Equal Accs Act of 1984 which, ironilly, was origally sponsored by nservative legislators for the purpose of protectg Bible Clubs and siar relig anizatns high schools. As of 2007, there were more that 3500 GSAs registered wh the Gay, Lbian, and Straight Edutn Network (GLSEN), a natnal anizatn tablished 1990 by Conrd Amy GSA founr Ken Jenngs to advote for the rights and well-beg of LGBTQ stunts.

Wele to the Gay Straight Alliance portal, one of the most tnal plac on the web updated daily and dited to each person who striv for human rights. Every gay and straight stunt has a right to a public tn an environment that is ee om harassment, vlence, namellg and timidatn. Amerin rightwg fascists are tryg to stop you om discsg human rights for gay people wh your iends school, but the First Amendment is alive and well the USA.

They nnot claim equaly for gay human begs is beg tght by schools if you, the stunts, are already tg one another about . This is the first sign that such tste, admistrators, and school systems are disgenuo about nontg homophobia and discrimatn; they start out discrimatg agast your anizatn by tryg to dictate s name and prevent s name beg ed to most-easily nvey s purpose.

STUNTS RNE 20 YEARS AFTER A LANDMARK LAWSU OVER GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANC UTAH SCHOOLS

For stance, they don't want the term gay, straight or rabow ed the name bee that would actually be specific and clear. Such admistrators and tste abg children this manner are rpt, should not be allowed around stunts and should be removed om their post; they are a source of the very discrimatn gay straight allianc aim to bat. Some policians are g ernment to wage a war to harm cizens and damage the health and wellbeg of gay, bi, and straight human begs by tryg to prevent important rmatn om reachg your iends and peers.

EAST HIGH GAY STRAIGHT ALLIANCE V. BOARD OF EDUTN OF SALT LAKE CY SCHOOL DISTRICT

If policians try to stop you, for example, om creatg a gay straight alliance Middle School, then simply add a relig ponent to your club such as the J Gay Straight Alliance or the Children of God Gay Straight Alliance - showg love, passn, acceptance, unrstandg, and equaly to all God's children gay, bi, and straight to stand up agast bullyg and discrimatn.

After all, the re msage of Christiany is not ntrolled by anti-gay groups, and there are plenty of welg relig groups and dividuals the USA who have every right to have clubs reflectg their clive Christiany.

Stunt Rights, Free Exprsn, LGBTQ Equaly - On October 6, 2000, the Salt Lake Cy School Board reversed the most extreme steps taken anywhere the untry agast gay-supportive stunt clubs when cid to change s policy and allow the clubs to meet at school. This cisn end nearly five years of ntroversy as well as two ACLU of Utah lawsus brought on behalf of stunts who had sought to form gay-supportive stunt clubs at East High School, and fally gave stunts accs, on a non-discrimatory basis, to important non-curricular clubs that had been banned sce is due to the credible urage of the stunt platiffs and other members of the East High Gay/Straight Alliance and PRISM Club that the Salt Lake Cy School District is now a fom which stunts n exprs gay-posive viewpots and help create a safer school environment for lbian and gay youth. Board of EdutnThe nflict began 1995 when a group of stunts at East High School attempted to form a school club lled the Gay/Straight Alliance (GSA).

GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANCE EVENT BREAKS DOWN GENR STEREOTYP

Its purpose, like that of hundreds of other siar clubs that have long been meetg schools across the untry, was to provi a safe and welg fom which stunts uld discs important issu facg lbian and gay youth. Our plat also charged that the district’s policy regardg school clubs was evince of a broar, unwrten, but very real policy prohibg the exprsn of gay-posive viewpots any school settg, and therefore vlated the stunts’ First Amendment rights as October 1999, U.

In a November 1999 pre-trial hearg, the district stated no uncerta terms that stunts have a First Amendment right to exprs gay-posive views approved school groups. This policy is an extremely signifint nsequence of our lawsu, and the new state policy is a help to admistrators, teachers, and stunts who wish to create a fom for gay-posive viewpots that will unter the overwhelmgly negative atmosphere that lbian and gay youth often face (click here to view Judge Jenks’s November Judgment and Orr of Dismissal) December 1999, we appealed the urt’s cisn regardg the EAA, argug that the tt Judge Jenks relied upon to terme whether a stunt club related to the curriculum was so broad that practilly any club the school board emed acceptable uld be fed as curricular.

The anizatns emphasized the importance of GSAs public schools as a way to meet the very real needs of lbian and gay stunts. SeilDpe the fact that the Salt Lake Cy School District acknowledged 1999 that stunts have the First Amendment right to exprs gay-posive viewpots approved stunt clubs, on March 1, 2000, Assistant Supertennt Cynthia Seil, the school official rponsible for approvg stunt clubs, rejected the applitn of a group that wanted to provi stunts wh the opportuny to do jt that. History, and Soclogy, by “talk[g] about mocracy, civil rights, equaly, discrimatn and diversy” through the perspectiv of lbians and gay the PRISM Club’s applitn, the stunts outled an anizatn that f the district’s fn of curriculum-related stunt groups that s subject matter was tght the school curriculum and s activi provid an “extensn and rercement, applitn, and practice of curricular ntent.

UTAH BOARD BANS ALL SCHOOL CLUBS ANTI-GAY MOVE

And, through her nsistent applitn of the standards, she effectively silenced gay-posive viewpots the fom available to stunt groups, and therefore vlated the district’s policy regardg the exprsn of the April 2000, the ACLU of Utah, along wh operatg attorney Richard Van Wagoner, the Natnal Center for Lbian Rights, and Lambda Legal Defense and Edutn Fund, filed a plat on behalf of the PRISM Club, the East High Rabow Club (a siar club whose applitn had been rejected 1999), and dividual stunts Jsi Cohen and Margaret Hckley.