This Georgia story is wrong on so many levels I don’t even know where to begin. A substitute math teacher is accused of putting a hit on a student (what is the deal with these subs?). Suspect Randolph Forde got into an argument with one of his charges after he asked him if he were gay. Why the math teacher needed to know this is not clear, but I have my theories (and all of them involve something illegal considering how the student is 16).

Anyway Forde and the student get into an argument over the question. The nosey pedagogue (feeling jilted perhaps?) allegedly goes to another student and says there is someone who needs to be no more. He writes the name of the student on a piece of paper and hands it to the high-school version of Brother Mouzone (that reference only makes sense if you watch The Wire). This being high-school though, a place where there are never any secrets, the word spreads and the kid who “caused” all of this mess finds out.

“He says, ‘Ma, you’re not going to believe this but Mr. Forde offered another student money to kill me,’” said the young boy’s mother Marcia Killebrew.

Forde’s lawyer says it was all a big joke and no one’s name was on any piece of paper.

Sure. Okay. I’ll take that, but I still want to know why he needed to know the kid’s sexuality. Wait a minute. Maybe I don’t.

Confrontational evangelists condemn abortion and gay marriage. Conservative students bash President Obama’s bailout plan. The rhetoric is heated, and the discussions not always polite.

College campuses have long been hotbeds of activism, from Vietnam War protests a generation ago to more recent efforts to roll back affirmative action in admissions.

But a rash of confrontations in recent years has led to a nationwide effort to promote civil debate on campus. A $4 million Ford Foundation initiative that began in 2006 and was expanded this year aims to promote dialogue on college campuses after a series of clashes between liberals and conservatives.

One of the colleges taking part in the foundation’s effort is the University of Missouri, where a survey several years ago found widespread reports of harassment targeting minority student groups.

“We’re not here to tell people what to believe and what not to believe,” said Roger Worthington, the school’s chief diversity officer. “The overall goal is to create safer places for the free exchange of ideas.”

Missouri recently hosted a Ford Foundation “difficult dialogues” workshop for campus leaders from nine schools: Alaska-Anchorage, Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Missouri-St. Louis, Oklahoma State, Texas-Austin, Texas A&M and Texas Tech.

Participants spent four days swapping stories about volatile classroom encounters and tips on promoting academic freedom, while tolerating offensive speech without allowing racial, ethnic, cultural and religious slurs or sexually explicit remarks.

They engaged in role-playing exercises including one that simulated an unpleasant classroom encounter between an evolution-denying student and an astronomy professor struggling to control her lecture. They also learned to avoid the name-calling shout-fests that often pass for public debate on cable television and political campaigns.

“The culture wars have been ongoing in this country for many years,” Worthington said. “We can’t afford for the university to become a political battleground.”

That’s just what happened at the University of California’s Irvine campus, where disputes between Jewish and Muslim student groups escalated in the aftermath of 9/11.

At the Orange County campus, vandals struck both a Holocaust memorial and a symbolic model of the barrier separating Israel and the West Bank. When some Muslim students wore garments at graduation that critics said paid tribute to the Palestinian militant group Hamas, an outside group filed a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Education.

The department refused to take up the complaint. But the tensions caused the school told hold its own “difficult dialogues” workshop, which led to the creation of several courses and public events designed to promote religious and cultural diversity.

Robert O’Neil, who heads the Ford Foundation effort, called the balancing act required of faculty members faced with divisive classroom comments a “constant dilemma.”

“If you react candidly, you may stifle the student’s inclination to participate,” said O’Neil, the director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression. “But if you say, ‘That’s a great point’ every time, your comments cease to have value. The issue is how to strike a balance.”

In a February essay in The Chronicle of Higher Education, scholars A. Lee Fritschler and Bruce L.R. Smith decried what they called “the new climate of timidity on campus,” a fear among professors of appearing too liberal that prevents them from speaking out or being overly cautious when it comes to confronting intolerance – or simply ignoring controversial topics.

Such an approach deprives students of one of the fundamental college experiences: the opportunity to be expose to intellectual ideas and philosophical approaches contradictory to their own, O’Neil said.

“As a constitutional law scholar, I have to address polygamy, faith healing and gay bishops, among other subjects,” he said. “My commitment is to never avoid talking about these issues, but to do so in a way that doesn’t offend students in the trenches.”

The lawsuit names Knox County Schools and Metropolitan Nashville Schools and was filed on behalf of two high school students in Nashville, one student in Knoxville and a high school librarian in Knoxville who is also the advisor of the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA).

Students at Knox County and Metro Nashville schools and others are being denied access to content that is protected speech under the First Amendment as well as the Tennessee state constitution, the lawsuit says.

Students who need to do research for assignments on current events can only get one viewpoint, keeping them from being able to cover both sides of the issue.

When public schools only allow access to one side of an issue by blocking certain websites, they’re engaging in illegal viewpoint discrimination, the ACLU said.

No federal or state law requires school districts to block access to LGBT sites. Tennessee law only requires schools to implement filtering software to restrict information that is obscene or harmful to minors.

The ACLU said that as many as 107 Tennessee public school districts, or roughly 80 percent, could be illegally preventing students from accessing online information about LGBT issues.

While non-sexual websites advocating the fair treatment of LGBT people are blocked, websites that urge LGBT persons to change their sexual orientation or gender identity through so-called “reparative therapy” or “ex-gay” ministries can still be easily accessed by students, the ACLU said.

Andrew Emitt, a 17-year-old senior at Central High School in Knoxville, was at the school library searching for scholarships for LGBT students when he discovered he couldn’t access websites for non-profit advocacy and educational organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign, Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, and the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network.

Instead of the websites, a message appeared on his screen stating that the filtering software his school used blocked gay websites. Frustrated in his attempts to resolve the issue on his own, Andrew contacted ACLU-TN.

The ACLU sent a letter to the school districts last month warning them they were illegally preventing students from accessing online information about LGBT issues.

The letter demanded that Knox County Schools, Metro Nashville Public Schools, and the Tennessee Schools Cooperative unblock the Internet filtering category designated “LGBT” so that students can access political and educational information about LGBT issues on school computers.

The lawsuit was filed when the school districts did not respond.

(Lebanon, Indiana) An Indiana student is suing her high school after she was told she could not wear a tuxedo to the school’s prom.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana on behalf of the 17-year-old girl, who is not named in the lawsuit.

Court papers identify her only as a senior at the school and describes her as a lesbian who chooses not to wear dresses because she believes they represent a sexual identity.

The lawsuit alleges the girl was told by her principal that while the school’s dress code does not contain gender-based requirements, there is a special dress code for the prom. That code requires female students to wear a formal dress, the suit charges.

The ACLU, in the court filing, said that the dress code discriminates against students based on gender. It further states that because the school receives federal funds, the policy also violates federal anti-discrimination law and that it also violates her constitutional right to free speech.

The lawsuit asks the court to issue an injunction requiring the school to let the girl wear the same formal attire to the prom as male students.

The Lebanon Community school district called the suit premature.

The district’s attorney, Kent Frandsen, told the Associated Press that the final decision on prom attire was not up to the principal and no final decision had been made.

Frandsen said the school was still trying to work out a deal with the girl that would allow her to wear a pantsuit if that made her more comfortable. He also said there are about six weeks until the prom and there was still time to reach an agreement without going to court.

Another lawsuit in Indiana, brought last year by a gay male who was barred from going to his prom wearing a dress, is pending in court.

In December 2007, Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit on behalf of K.K. Logan challenging a Gary School Corporation policy barring clothing that advertises sexual orientation or indicates that a student’s gender is different from the student’s sex.

Logan argues that the policy violates students’ First Amendment freedom of expression.  Logan also claims that his exclusion from prom constitutes discrimination on the basis of gender.  West Side High School filed a motion to dismiss the case in February 2008 leading to this week’s ruling. 

Students and teachers knew that K.K. Logan was gay for years.  During his senior year, Logan attended West Side High expressing a deeply rooted femininity in his appearance and demeanor. At school, Logan wore makeup, accessories and clothing typically associated with girls his age.

However, on May 19, 2006, Principal Diane Rouse stretched her arms across the door of the senior prom, blocking Logan’s entrance because Logan was wearing a dress. Classmates and friends rallied to Logan’s defense to no avail—even though a female student was allowed to attend dressed in a tuxedo.

Principal Rouse enforced a Gary School Corporation policy that forbids any clothing or accessories that “advertise sexual orientation” or “portray the wearer as a person of the opposite gender.”

]]> http://www.365gay.com/news/girl-sues-school-over-tux-ban/feed/ 7 http://www.365gay.com/blog/ruby-sachs-no-more-catholic-school-girl-fantasies/ http://www.365gay.com/blog/ruby-sachs-no-more-catholic-school-girl-fantasies/#comments Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:43:09 +0000 ERubySachs http://www.365gay.com/?p=5068

It’s a classic tale: two girls in cute uniforms can’t hold back their burning desire for each other and end up consummating their love behind the back of an overbearing nun/ English teacher. Well, the story is about to get racier, for Californians, that is.

A District Court of Appeal has ruledthat a private Lutheran school can expel students for  having “a bond of intimacy” that was “characteristic of a lesbian relationship.” That’s the part of the story that didn’t make it into the story books: two girls consummate their love and then are expelled. They appear in front of a panel of judges who give religious schools carte blanche to expel all students who violate their “religious ideals.”

Despite my outrage at the ruling, it has long been understood that private actors are not subject to public restrictions on membership or public guarantees of fairness. If tax dollars didn’t create the school then they don’t have to let everyone in. That said, human rights legislation that is specific to a city or State can apply to private actors. 

This ruling indicates that there is a legislative hole in California. Certain basic requirements should be handed to all private operators in the state. One of those requirements should be a commitment to eliminate certain backwards, hateful and destructive practices regarding admission or employment. Especially when the population you serve as vulnerable as school children.

Without these requirements, schools will be able to punish children for all sorts of actions. Not just the “sexy” lesbian ones.

Missouri health authorities say preliminary October test results for St. Louis County show two new cases of HIV among people 24 and under.

It isn’t clear whether those cases are even connected to Normandy High School, where students were tested voluntarily in late October. An infected person told county health officials that as many as 50 teens might have been exposed to the virus that causes AIDS.

The county plans a second round of HIV testing in January. Antibodies to the virus can take three to six months to appear. A final assessment isn’t expected for at least six months.

Irmo High School principal Eddie Walker in May said he would quit at the end of the 2008-09 school year because the group conflicts with his beliefs and religious convictions.

The resignation announcement sparked a fury of controversy in the community and led to demands by parents that the Gay-Straight Alliance be officially barred from organizing.

Faced with the threat of a lawsuit in support of the gay students, the Lexington-Richland School District 5 school board considered a proposal to ban all extra-curricular clubs.

The board then changed its mind and voted in June to allow clubs, but to give parents the right to decide which clubs their children can join.  The board also voted to prohibit clubs from discussing sexually explicit topics in keeping with the district’s abstinence-based curriculum.

At the time Walker repeated his intention to quit over the club. But now, it appears, Walker has changed his mind.

Interim superintendent Herbert Berg received a letter from Walker this week “indicating his desire to remain at Irmo High School,” The State newspaper reported Friday.

Like other employees, Walker’s contract will be up for renewal in the spring. A school district spokesperson did not indicate if he will be offered a new contract.

A study released by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network in 2006 showed that homophobia is widespread in the nation’s schools.

Nearly one in five students reported they had been physically assaulted because of their sexual orientation and over a tenth  because of their gender expression.

Three-quarters of students surveyed said that over the past year they heard derogatory remarks such as “faggot” or “dyke” frequently or often at school, and nearly nine out of ten  reported hearing “that’s so gay” or “you’re so gay” – meaning stupid or worthless – frequently or often.

Over a third of students said they experienced physical harassment at school on the basis of sexual orientation and more than a quarter on the basis of their gender expression.

The study also showed that bullying has had a negative impact on learning.

Some LGBT advocates hail the idea, but others warn the school would isolate gay students. Conservatives call the proposal a waste of taxpayer money.

A 2005 study commissioned by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network found that gay-bashing remains a major problem in the nation’s schools.

Three-quarters of students surveyed across America said that over the past year they heard derogatory remarks such as “faggot” or “dyke” frequently or often at school, and nearly nine out of 10 reported hearing “that’s so gay” or “you’re so gay” – meaning stupid or worthless – frequently or often.

Over a third of students said they experienced physical harassment at school on the basis of sexual orientation and more than a quarter on the basis of their gender expression.

Nearly one-in-five students reported they had been physically assaulted because of their sexual orientation and over a tenth because of their gender expression.

The study also showed that bullying has a negative impact on learning.

LGBT students were five times more likely to report having skipped school in the last month because of safety concerns than did the general population of students.

Nevertheless, some LGBT community leaders say a separate school for gay students could give them a false sense of security and make them unprepared for life outside schoolhouse walls.

“If we’re going to set up a separate school, let’s put the bullies in the school and not our gays kids,” Rick Garcia, public policy director of Equality Illinois told the Chicago Tribune. “Kids should be able to go to school in a safe environment wherever they are.”

Conservatives call the proposal for the school a misuse of public funds and charge it would require administrators to take a moral stance on homosexuality.

The plan must still undergo a series of public hearings – the first is set for Sept. 18. It then would require approval by a Chicago Public Schools evaluation team with the final decision up to the head of the school system, Arne Duncan.

The earliest it could be up and running would be 2012.

The first all-gay high school in the U.S. opened in New York City in 2003, and is named for slain San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk.

Two students sued the school district in September 2005, claiming that groups including the Spirit Council, the Asian Culture Group and the Chess Club were allowed to publicize meetings and events, but members of Straights and Gays for Equality (SAGE) were consistently denied such requests.

The plaintiffs were two female students who were seniors at the school.  They were represented by  the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota.

Defendants included the current and past superintendents of the Osseo School District, the school’s principal and the district’s school board members.

The lawsuit claimed a violation of the federal Equal Access Act, which holds that public schools must extend the same privileges to all student-organized, non-curricular clubs.

Last year, a federal judge ordered the school district to recognize the club and to treat SAGE like any other student group when it came to access for meetings, avenues for communication and other rights.

The school district appealed to the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals. The Appeals Court ruling upholds the lower court ruling.

“The federal Equal Access Act makes it crystal clear that schools can’t pick and choose how they treat clubs based on which students’ views they like and which ones they don’t,” said Chuck Samuelson, Executive Director of the ACLU of Minnesota. 

“These students wanted nothing more than a place to talk about how to stop anti-gay harassment and discrimination at their school and in the community.  That’s something schools should welcome, rather than waste taxpayer money and break the law to stop.”

Students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate,” Judge K. Michael Moore said in his written ruling.

The battle for recognition of the GSA began in 2006 ,when student Yasmin Gonzalez and her girlfriend were told they could not attend the school prom as a couple.

The rejection was one of several incidents targeting LGBT students at Okeechobee High School and led to the formation of the GSA.

The school blocked the club from meeting on campus and the students sought the help of the ACLU which filed the federal suit.

The ACLU argued that the Equal Access Act stipulates that when a school allows any non-curricular club to meet on campus, it must allow all non-curricular clubs to meet on campus.

The school district argued at the time that the Equal Access Act can’t be used in the case of a GSA and that Florida law requires schools to teach abstinence, “while teaching the benefits of monogamous marriage.”

In his ruling Moore made legal history for a federal court, saying that schools must provide for the well-being of gay students to the same extent as straight students, and therefore, the school may not discriminate against the GSA.

The school violated the students’ First Amendment rights, the ruling said.

Judge Moore quoted the famed 1969 Tinker case stating that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”  Moore went on to state that “the desire of the GSA to meet as a group to discuss matters pertinent to the challenges presented by their non-heterosexual identity and to build understanding and trust with other heterosexual students sounds in the political speech addressed in Tinker.”

In referencing Tinker, Moore was referring to Gillman v. School Board for Holmes County, Fla., a first amendment case won by the ACLU in May. In a two-day trial, the high school principal testified that he believed clothing or stickers featuring rainbows would make students automatically picture gay people having sex. 

In June, federal judge Richard Smoak ordered Ponce de Leon High School to pay $325,000 in legal fees to the ACLU after ruling that the school violated student Heather Gilman’s Constitutional right to free speech. Gillman and her friends were suspended from school after wearing clothes and stickers supporting their openly gay friends.

In his order Moore grants students in the Okeechobee GSA “all the rights and privileges granted to other noncurricular groups.”

“Judge Moore’s ruling that GSAs are beneficial to gay students and that they don’t harm straight students is unparalleled. This is a clear victory for the students, for the Okeechobee GSA and indeed for all high school students in Florida,” said Robert Rosenwald, director of the ACLU of Florida LGBT Advocacy Project. 

“These are brave students who would not be silenced and did not tolerate discrimination.  So many children cannot stand up for themselves, but hopefully this ruling will serve as warning to other Florida schools that equal access truly means equal access, and schools that choose not to follow the law will be inviting similar litigation,” he said.

The order will allow the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and straight students to meet on campus, just as other non-curricular clubs do, to discuss issues about bullying, tolerance and discrimination. GSAs across the state and country have been shown to help gay and straight students feel safer at school, and provide an open forum for students to discuss their fears, hopes and challenges.

“I can’t tell you how happy I am that the judge agreed we have a right to create a safe space for gay students at my school,” said Brittany Martin, a 17-year-old upcoming senior at OHS who is the GSA’s president.  She added, “All we’ve ever wanted was to have a club to talk about tolerance and harassment so we can try to make our school a better place for all students.”