Pioneering gay student athlete says schools must protect all students
Ten years after drawing national attention for coming out while serving as co-captain of his high school football team, Middleton native Corey Johnson told attendees at the annual conference of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network of Boston (GLSEN Boston), that his own visit to the conference a decade ago was instrumental in his decision to come out publicly. Speaking to a crowd of youth, teachers and administrators gathered at Jamaica Plain’s English High School on May 1 Johnson recalled traveling to that year’s conference on the Tufts University campus on a bus with his school’s gay/straight alliance (GSA), but the Masconomet Regional High School student sat as far away from the GSA kids as possible for fear that people would think he was gay. Yet arriving at the conference completely changed his perspective. See Pioneering gay student athlete says schools must protect all students
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Gay, lesbian groups call for public restroom equity in Taipei
Gay and lesbian student activists yesterday called on universities to alter public toilet designations to accommodate gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) students’ needs.
“Because public toilets at schools are designated as either men’s rooms or women’s rooms, it creates a lot of trouble for GLBT students who may not always look the way mainstream opinion would expect someone of their gender to look,” Tsai Pi-jung (蔡璧嶸), president of National Chengchi University’s (NCCU) Gay Student Club, told a press conference in Taipei.
“We suggest that schools change the designation on public restrooms from marking the gender to marking whether it has toilets or urinals or both inside,” he said.
Tsai then showed two restroom signs he had made. On one, the shape of a toilet is drawn to indicate that “there are only toilets inside,” and the other has a shape of a toilet and the shape of a urinal drawn to indicate that “both toilets and urinals are inside.”
“This way, public toilets would be designated by ‘function’ instead of ‘gender,’” he said.
NCCU’s Lesbian Student Club president has short hair and dresses in jeans and a T-shirt. People sometimes mistake her for a man, she said.
Wishing only to be known as “Strawberry,” she told the press conference that women sometimes asked her what she was doing in the women’s restroom.
“Whenever that happens, I have to explain that I am a woman. Then I’m asked why I dress like a man,” Strawberry said. “Why do I have to go through all this questioning when I just want to use the bathroom?”
A student from Shih Hsin University Graduate School of Journalism who wished to be known only as “Hsiao Mo (小莫),” is a man who likes to dress in what would be considered women’s clothing. He usually encounters the same problem. See Gay, lesbian groups call for public restroom equity Taipei Times
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Gay Students at a Kentucky High School Report Not Being Able to Use the Restroom because of their Sexual Orientation
Kentucky Equality Federation received reports that a Franklin County High School official allegedly sent an email to teachers instructing them not to allow homosexuals to leave class to use the restroom.
Frankfort, KY — Kentucky Equality Federation received reports that a Franklin County High School official allegedly sent an email to teachers instructing them not to allow homosexuals to leave class to use the restroom.
The email was allegedly sent after two female classmates were caught kissing in the public restroom.
In response, 15 students protested outside the school yesterday.
“My daughter was involved in a protest at Franklin County High School yesterday for their right to use the restroom,” stated Michelle Sexton.
“I have been in contact with one of the parents of the children involved in the protest and we support their constitutional right to assemble peacefully,” stated Kentucky Equality Federation President Jordan Palmer. “We call on the media to investigate this issue further and shed light on the discrimination gays and lesbians face throughout the Commonwealth. Kentucky Equality Federation will also be contacting the other parents of the children involved in today’s protest.”
Though Superintendent Harrie Buecker stated steps are being taken to address the students’ concerns, Kentucky Equality Federation is concerned they will not be addressed properly. Though not directly connected, Kentucky Equality Federation has received similar complaints in Casey, Pulaski, and Powell counties about unfair treatment of gay and lesbian students and teachers.
“I’d like to know what level this mentality, that gay and lesbian students should not be treated equally is coming from. An incident in one county could be called an isolated incident, but we now have similar reports in three other Kentucky Counties,” stated Kentucky Equality Federation Managing Director Laura Reed.
Kentucky Equality Federation will continue its own investigation and assist parents or students in filing any necessary complaints with Kentucky officials.
Palmer added that assembling together in a peaceful manner is the most basic right granted by the Kentucky Constitution, and that Kentucky Equality Federation had contacted the Office of Helen W. Mountjoy, Kentucky’s Secretary of Education for assistance in resolving the issues.
Kentucky Equality Federation offers an online complaint system for people around the Commonwealth to report discrimination or harassment. The online complaint system can be located at www.kyLGBT.org, or www.kyequality.org.
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Kentucky Equality Federation is Kentucky’s largest statewide, grassroots LGBTI civil rights organization.
Kentucky Equality Federation is the sponsor of Marriage Equality Kentucky. For additional information, visit http://www.marriageequalityky.org/.
Kentucky Equality Federation is a member of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (“ILGA”). Composed of over 600 member organizations around the world, ILGA is to this day the only international non-profit and non-governmental community-based federation dedicated to achieving equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people at the United Nations.
Kentucky Equality Federation is a member of Marriage Equality USA.
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Larry Kramer Blasts Yale’s ‘Conspiracy of Silence’ on Gay History
When more than 300 Yale alumni and their guests arrived at Yale for the University’s first-ever lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender alumni reunion this weekend, they found not only camaraderie, but also controversy.
The first-ever recipient of the GALA Lifetime Achievement Award, gay activist Larry Kramer ’57, harshly rebuked the University for its treatment of gay history as an academic field during the three-day reunion, which was jointly organized by the LGBT alumni association Yale GALA and the Association of Yale Alumni. At a dinner ceremony Saturday, Kramer said the University has wrongly relegated the study of gay history to LGBT studies, arguing that there is a significant semantic difference between gay “history” and gay “studies.”
Declaring that queer and gender theories are “relatively useless,” Kramer — who was among the first to call for action against the AIDS crisis — said gay history has been “hijacked” by queer theorists.
Kramer and Yale have clashed before; in the mid-nineties, Yale rejected a sizable gift from Kramer to create either an endowed chair in gay and lesbian studies or a student center for gay students. In 2001, Kramer’s brother, Arthur Kramer ’49, gave a $1 million gift in Larry’s name to found the Larry Kramer Initiative for Gay and Lesbian Studies, which was closed after five years when the gift was spent.
In order to demonstrate the importance of gay history, Kramer declared that he believes many prominent American historical figures were gay, including George Washington, the famous explorer Meriwether Lewis, Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth.
The study of gay history is therefore important as a means of promoting acceptance for LGBT individuals, Kramer said.
“The plague of AIDS was allowed to happen because most of the world hates us,” he said. “They don’t know we’re related to Washington and Lincoln.”
While alumni sat attentively throughout the speech and gave Kramer a standing ovation, some said afterwards that they were standing not necessarily out of agreement with Kramer, but rather out of respect for his activism in the wake of AIDS.
“He’s been a provocateur all of his career, since the AIDS crisis,” said Ken Demario ’64. “I don’t know if this was an appropriate forum for as nasty a broadside as his was against the University.”
In a brief interview after the speech, Provost Peter Salovey said he agreed that the study of LGBT history is important.
See Gay activist and playwright Larry Kramer Blasts Yale & Yale Daily News. * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Arizona School Agrees To Lift Rainbow Ban Following ACLU Demands; Gay Student Now Allowed To Wear Wristband
Quintanilla contacted the ACLU in February after her son Chris’s principal told her he wouldn’t allow her son to wear his cloth wristband with words “Rainbows are gay” to school anymore. Last week, the school finally gave assurances to the ACLU that it would not censor Quintanilla’s wristband in the future.
“Students have a constitutional right to free speech at school, and school officials should be aware of their responsibility for upholding this cornerstone of our freedom,” said Elizabeth Gill, staff attorney for the ACLU national Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project. “This district was right to come to its senses and back down from violating the First Amendment, because students have 40 years of Supreme Court precedent on their side when schools do this kind of thing.”
In its letter, the ACLU reminded PUSD officials about the 1969 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Tinker v. Des Moines in which the Court wrote, “It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights… at the schoolhouse gate.” The letter also pointed to Gillman v. Holmes County School District, a Florida case in which a high school principal had attempted to ban symbols in support of LGBT rights, including rainbows, at school. In that case, a federal judge ruled last May that the school had violated students’ First Amendment rights. Both cases were handled by the ACLU, which celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Tinker decision in February.
“The schools we entrust to teach our children about society and their freedoms should know better than to violate one of our most fundamental freedoms,” said Alessandra Soler Meetze, Executive Director of the ACLU of Arizona. “We’re glad that PUSD has seen the light about this, but we’re going to be keeping an eye on this district and hold them to their word that they’ll respect the First Amendment from now on.”
The letter the ACLU sent to the district last month is available here:
http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/lgbt/schoolsyouth/az_armb_letter.pdf.
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University drops gay student housing plan
(Fort Worth, Texas) Texas Christian University has abruptly reversed itself and dropped plans for LGBT student housing following a massive outcry from evangelicals opposed to gay rights.
The Fort Worth school is the largest of 17 colleges and universities associated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). More than 59 religious …
Indian River insists it supports gay students
Indian River Central School District officials are defending the way their schools support students after a federal gay-bias lawsuit was lodged against the district and several employees Wednesday.
The lawsuit claims that district employees wouldn’t allow former student Charles P. Pratt, 20, to start a Gay-Straight Alliance in 2004 and that Superintendent James Kettrick, who was the high school principal at the time, “displayed utter and willful indifference” to the harassment Mr. Pratt said he was subjected to at school.
“The Indian River Central School District has, as a matter of practice and policy, promoted tolerance and inclusiveness in all of its schools,” a statement released Thursday reads. “We have support groups to assist students with a variety of difficulties, including, but not limited to religious issues, racial tension, sexual orientation, socio-economic difficulties, and any other type of bias or discrimination.”
See Indian River insists it supports gay students
WatertownDailyTimes.com
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Indian River insists it supports gay students
Indian River Central School District officials are defending the way their schools support students after a federal gay-bias lawsuit was lodged against the district and several employees Wednesday.
The lawsuit claims that district employees wouldn’t allow former student Charles P. Pratt, 20, to start a Gay-Straight Alliance in 2004 and that Superintendent James Kettrick, who was the high school principal at the time, “displayed utter and willful indifference” to the harassment Mr. Pratt said he was subjected to at school.
“The Indian River Central School District has, as a matter of practice and policy, promoted tolerance and inclusiveness in all of its schools,” a statement released Thursday reads. “We have support groups to assist students with a variety of difficulties, including, but not limited to religious issues, racial tension, sexual orientation, socio-economic difficulties, and any other type of bias or discrimination.”
See Indian River insists it supports gay students
WatertownDailyTimes.com
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STUDENT VOTERS HELP GAY RIGHTS
STUDENT VOTERS HELP GAY RIGHTS
STUDENT VOTERS HELP GAY RIGHTS
STUDENT VOTERS HELP GAY RIGHTS
