by James Neeley, Examiner Staff Writer
The Peterborough Examiner, Canada
In poignant, at times offensive language, a stage production by PCVS theatre students tackled homophobia to inspire tolerance.
The Coming Out Proud production, developed and written by the Grade 9 theatre class, took an honest and powerful look at the controversial topic.
The students used first-hand accounts of homophobia from classmates and friends to help develop the script.
The students have gone through a journey in their own lives during the production, Hughes said, explaining it forced them to confront homophobia, discuss it with classmates and parents.
"We have helped make the school safer," she said. "And cool to be who you are."
full article
by Lynn Turner
The Kalamazoo Gazette, Michigan
WAYLAND -- A Wayland Union High School freshman was allegedly attacked by two other girls Tuesday on the last day of school in what police say may be a hate crime related to the victim's sexual orientation.
The three students, all 14, were cleaning out their lockers after fourth period, about 1:30 p.m., when the suspects surrounded the girl and the fight broke out, Wayland Police Chief Dan Miller said. The fight lasted about 30 seconds before school staff broke it up.
The victim, who had some facial bruising and was treated by emergency medical technicians at the school, identifies herself as a lesbian, Miller said.
"I guess some say she's pretty outspoken, and the other two girls didn't like that,'' he said. "We were told by the two suspects it was over the sex-orientation issue that they don't believe in.''
full article
by Alannna Berman
The Daily Aztec
San Diego State University
Bryan Moreluck spoke to the Associated Students Council about a recent incident involving a gay student on campus. At 12:59 a.m. last Monday, the student was leaving the Arts and Letters building when he was chased and beaten. The student was in the hospital as of Wednesday. Moreluck invited the council to think about this incident further and be aware that homophobia is rampant and affects all people.
full article
by Amy Wooten
Windy City Times
Many LGBT parents don't know where to start when it comes to finding a school or working to make their child's school a better place for the entire family. Knowing where to begin and what resources are available to both parents and students is crucial given the light a recent study has shed on the issue.
A report released by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network ( GLSEN ) , Family Equality Council and COLAGE in February found that although LGBT parents are more involved in their children's education ( more likely to attend parent-teacher conferences and volunteer ) , they are also more likely to feel excluded and ignored because the school community doesn't accept them.
full article
by: Ali Bay, Equality California Institute, OIA Newswire
SACRAMENTO – Student advocates from across California will meet at the state Capitol next week to speak with legislators and the California Superintendent of Public Instruction about the harassment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students in California schools. The youth are participating in Queer Youth Advocacy Day 2008, a three-day youth leadership summit co-sponsored by the Gay-Straight Alliance Network, Equality California Institute, Transgender Law Center and BIENESTAR.
full article
Backstory (original article)
WASHINGTON -- Prosecutors have dropped assault charges against a Georgetown University student accused in a possible hate crime beating near campus.
D.C. police arrested sophomore Phillip Anderton Cooney in connection with the early morning attack on Sept. 9, 2007, in the 1400 block of 36th Street Northwest.
The 19-year-old student from Texas was charged with assaulting another student while yelling homophobic slurs. The case was flagged as a potential hate crime based on the victim's sexual orientation.
Prosecutors said they dropped the charges because they did not think they had enough evidence to prove Cooney was the person who committed the assault.
full article
How does an LGBT or ally student qualify to become an Elsie Frank Scholarship recipient? By going above and beyond just joining their high school gay/straight alliance (GSA), said Greater Boston PFLAG Executive Director Pam Garramone, whose organization will award $10,000 in scholarships to six students at its annual fundraiser, Pride and Passion, on April 12. "They take action that changed the climate of the school, literally," Garramone explained
Plenty of students, it seems, are taking action. Greater Boston PFLAG received a record 95 applications from students at 74 high schools statewide for this year’s Elsie Frank Scholarships, named for the late mother of openly gay Congressman Barney Frank, who was active with PFLAG. The pool was narrowed down to 16 semi-finalists, and then winnowed to six winners by a seven-member scholarship committee. Choosing from among a strong and diverse pool of applicants, which included female and male allies, gay and lesbian students, bisexual and transgender students and the children of gay parents, was not an easy task. "It was very difficult because they were all outstanding like you wouldn’t believe," said Garramone, a member of the scholarship committee.
full article
(New York City) A study of LGBT parents has found they are more likely to be involved in their children's K-12 education than the general parent population.
It found that the parents were more involved in school activities and were more likely to have consistent communication with school personnel. In addition, both LGBT parents and children of LGBT parents often report harassment because of their family structure.
Compared to data from the National Center for Education Statistics LGBT parents are more likely to attend a parent-teacher conference in the past year (94 percent to 77 percent) and more likely to volunteer (67 percent to 42 percent).
Current estimates indicate there are more than seven million LGBT parents with school-age children in the United States.
More than half of LGBT parents described various forms of exclusion from their school communities: being excluded or prevented from fully participating in school activities and events, being excluded by school policies and procedures, and being ignored and feeling invisible.
In addition, LGBT parents reported mistreatment from other parents in the school community and even from their children's peers at school. Twenty-six percent of LGBT parents in the survey reported mistreatment from other parents and 21 percent reported hearing negative comments about being LGBT from students.
The study found that nearly a quarter of students felt unsafe around other students at school due to others' negative attitudes toward people with LGBT parents.
Forty-two percent said they had been verbally harassed at school in the past year because their parents were LGBT. Over a third reported that they had been verbally harassed because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation and nearly a third had experienced verbal harassment because of the way in which they expressed their gender.
Additionally, the report said that nearly a quarter of students said that a teacher, principal or other school staff person had discouraged them from talking about their family at school, and more than a third had felt that school personnel did not acknowledge their LGBT family. Furthermore, 28 percent said they heard teachers or other school staff make negative comments about LGBT families.
full article
Written by Tim Sakahara - tsakahara@kgmb9.com
The University of Hawaii is celebrating diversity this week with various cultural performances. It's even handing out bookmarks that read "Diversity Matters at Manoa". Yet this week they are being sued for discrimination.
A couple says they were denied on campus housing because they are gay. At UH married couples can live together in the family housing building even if only one of them is enrolled as a student but not if it's a same sex marriage.
O'Leary and his partner of five years Phi Ngo say they were denied on campus housing because they're gay. A letter sent to them from the University's Office of Student Affairs states its policy follows state law, which defines marriage "only between a man and a woman." The letter goes on to say, "Until such time that the state revises its definition of marital status, we will continue to apply the existing definition to our assignment policy for married housing."
A big part of the complaint is the fact that the couple was allowed to live together in the Hale Wainani student housing complex the entire 2006-2007 school year, but when they reapplied to live there again this year they were denied.
"The woman that I talked to said that giving us housing for the 06-07 year was a mistake and that it was a mistake they had just caught," said O'Leary.
"If you're a professor at the University of Hawaii you can put your same sex partner on your health insurance. If you're a professor at the University of Hawaii you can put your same sex partner on your gym membership to the university gyms. If you're a professor the University will pay for your same sex partner's moving expenses. So why are they treating students differently? Its arbitrary discrimination," said Brian Chase, Lamda Legal.
With this lawsuit the university will have to prove their commitment to diversity is more than just a bookmark.
full article with video
West Des Moines, IA – January 30 – Iowa Pride Network today announced findings from the 2007 Iowa School Climate Survey (ISCS), the only state survey to document the experiences of students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) in Iowa's schools. The survey results were released today at West Des Moines Valley High School in conjunction with Iowa Pride Network's 2nd Annual Gay-Straight Alliance Day.
"The 2007 Iowa School Climate Survey reveals that anti-LGBT bullying and harassment remain commonplace in Iowa's schools," said Iowa Pride Network Co-Founder and Director Ryan Roemerman. "On the positive side, it also makes clear that inclusive policies, supportive school staff and student clubs, like Gay-Straight Alliances, all relate to reduced harassment and higher achieving students."
Anti-harassment and non-discrimination policies with enumerated categories such as “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” do work to end bullying, harassment and discrimination in our schools.
Students who have a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) in their school report having decreased absenteeism, lower rates of name calling, harassment and assault.
In response to the survey findings, the Governor’s Office has declared today “Iowa Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) Day”. The goals of Iowa Pride Network’s GSA Day are to honor GSAs, students and staff around that state that work to end violence, homophobia and transphobia in Iowa schools and colleges.
full article
PONCE DE LEON, FL – A Florida high school has been trampling the First Amendment rights of students who support equal rights for gay people, according to a federal lawsuit filed today by the American Civil Liberties Union. In its lawsuit, the ACLU describes an atmosphere of fear and censorship at Ponce de Leon High School, where the school board’s attorney says even expressions like a rainbow sticker may mean students are members of an “illegal organization.” Ponce de Leon High School is located in Holmes County in the Florida Panhandle.
“All any of us wants to do is be able to talk about gay rights issues without having to be scared,” said Heather Gillman, a 16-year-old junior and straight student at the school. “Nobody should have to worry about being kicked out of school just for having a rainbow sticker on your notebook.”
The ACLU sent a letter in November to the school board’s attorney on behalf of Gillman, asking for clarification as to whether a variety of symbols and slogans, such as the rainbow flag or “I support my gay friends,” would be allowed at the school. The school district replied that it would not allow any expressions of support for gay rights at all because such speech would “likely be disruptive.” The district then went even further, claiming that such symbols and slogans were signs that students were part of a “secret/illegal organization.”
“Because the Supreme Court has held that students have a right to free speech at school unless that speech disrupts the educational process, many administrators think they can just slap the label ‘disruptive’ on anything they don’t like and get away with stomping on students’ First Amendment rights. The law doesn’t work that way,” said Benjamin James Stevenson, ACLU of Florida staff attorney who is representing Gillman. . “School should be a marketplace of ideas, where students share new ideas and learn about themselves and others. Just talking about gay rights or any other topic outside of class isn’t inherently disruptive.”
“Schools shouldn’t be in the business of trying to frighten students into silence.”
full story
Naperville, IL — A federal judge has once again ruled that a Neuqua Valley High School student cannot wear an anti-gay shirt to school that reads "Be Happy, Not Gay."
U.S. District Judge William Hart declined to issue a temporary injunction that would have ordered school officials to allow sophomore Alexander Nuxoll to wear the shirt this April as a protest to the National "Day of Silence" when students wear T-shirts, buttons and stickers showing support of gay students.
Nuxoll is one of two students who were told by their Naperville school that the t-shirt is discriminatory. Nuxoll and Heidi Zamecnik had tried to wear the shirts in 2006.
According to the federal lawsuit Zamecnik filed against Indian Prairie District 204 board and administrators, she was told she had to remove the shirt or leave school because some students and staff found it offensive.
Last year the Alliance Defense Fund, a law firm that represents conservative Christians, sought an injunction barring the school from taking action against them for wearing the t-shirts.
At that time a federal judge ruled that the school had the right to dictate a dress code.
"The (school) board and school administrators have engaged in a considerable effort to create a positive and tolerant school environment with an emphasis on respectful attitudes and discourse," Federal Judge William T. Hart said in April.
Early Sunday morning three college-aged men assaulted a 29-year-old Austin resident at West 25th and Rio Grande streets, an Austin Police Department spokesman said.
The victim, who did not want his name printed for security reasons, said he was riding his bike in the area and came across three apparently drunk males who were shouting at him. When he stopped to ask the group what they had said, they responded, "Don't worry about it, faggot, go on."
"Before I could do anything they knocked me off my bike and beat the shit out of me," he said.
On Sep. 11 around 7 p.m., it was reported the wording of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Center was stripped from the Adams Residence Hall sign, according to the university police. Originally cited by police as an act of vandalism, an eyewitness says otherwise.
David Kelvey, an Adams Hall resident, said he is "pretty sure" he witnessed a university worker scraping the center's name off the sign on the morning of Sept. 11.
"Well, one morning I was coming out of my dorm ... and I just saw a car, well a van, with the university seal on it," Kelvey said. "I saw a man get out of it with a scraper in his hand and he scraped off the sign. It was early in the morning."
Sponsored by Equality California SB 777 will become law in January 2008.
The Student Civil Rights Act would create uniform nondiscrimination standards within the state’s education code so students, teachers and school administrators clearly understand the protections that are provided within California’s publicly-funded schools and programs.
Georgetown University: Students March to President's Office, Voice Demands
Sparked by a Sept. 9 hate crime that sent one student to the hospital, a
protest organized by GUPride yesterday brought professors and student leaders together to speak against bias-related incidents at Georgetown.
According to the incident report from the Metropolitan Police Department, on Sept. 9, a student was assaulted by a man yelling homophobic epithets on the 3600 block of O Street. The victim later identified his assailant on Facebook as Philip Cooney (MSB ’10). Cooney has since been arrested for the crime but pleaded not guilty on Friday.
Members of GUPride tabled in Red Square from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. yesterday gathering signatures for a petition supporting reforms to university procedure for addressing future hate crimes. Scott Chessare (COL ’10), co-president of GUPride, said that the petition received approximately 750 signatures, over 10 percent of the undergraduate student body.
Update: Charges dropped
A Georgetown University sophomore, implicated in a gay-bashing by a fellow student, has ties to the Bush Administration,
PageOneQ has learned.
19-year-old Philip Anderton Cooney, pictured here in the spring of 2005, is the son of fallen Bush aide and American Petroleum Institute oil lobbyist
Phil Cooney.
Phil Cooney was appointed chief of staff with the White House Council on Environmental Quality, suffering criticism for his lack of environmental experience. After his resignation and subsequent hire to a position with
ExxonMobil, it was found that Cooney had reportedly
tampered with data to support the Bush line on climate change.
Philip Anderton Cooney was identified by the victim and reported to police thanks to his
Facebook profile, which contained a photograph. He is being charged with simple assault, which, as a hate crime, carries a jail sentence of up to 270 days, the Washington Post
reports. On the morning of September 9, the victim says, he was attacked physically and verbally, including with anti-gay slurs, by Cooney while walking near 36th and O Streets in northwest Washington, DC.
The study is the first to
explore the link between victimization and suicidal behavior among college students. In the course of the study, UW researcher Heather Murphy also uncovered a group of students who previously had not been studied and are at increased risk for suicidal behavior. These students identified themselves as heterosexual, but also reported being attracted to people of the same sex or engaging in same-sex behavior.
This group was three times as likely as heterosexuals to have made a plan to commit suicide in the past year and six times more likely to have actually attempted suicide in the same period. Gay, lesbian and bisexual students also were at increased risk for suicidal behavior. They were twice as likely as heterosexuals to have planned and to have attempted suicide in the previous year.
"There is a lot of hype that gay kids are more suicidal," she said. "My study shows that this is not so. In my study, being victimized for being gay was the risk factor that increased suicidal-behavior risk."
She said the high suicidal-behavior rate among the same-sex attracted heterosexuals was a surprise, primarily because researchers previously had not looked at them as a separate group. "I was shocked by the finding because the rate for these students was just off the charts," Murphy said.
Anti-gay threats written in chalk were discovered on the campus of Michigan Tech University in Houghton last Friday. They were written in the middle of the night the same week that a slate of gay pride activities was scheduled at the University.
The threats involved the killing, mutilation, and shooting of gay people. The activities on campus at MTU last week included the wearing of "
Gay, Fine By Me" T-shirts, meant to send a message of tolerance to students there. Obviously, some homophobe was threatened. If the message that anti-gay prejudice is real wasn't getting across
before, it surely has now.
Said Vice President of Student Affairs Les Cook: "This is probably the most pervasive incident we’ve had on campus since I’ve been here. We take these kinds of things serious and we are trying to provide our support. It’s an issue. It’s not healthy for our community and we’re hoping we can resolve things quickly."
Authorities are still trying to find out the identity of the vandals.
"We're very pleased that the board has decided to follow the mandate of the federal Equal Access Act and treat all student clubs at Hononegah High School equally and fairly," said John Knight, director of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project at the ACLU of Illinois. "And we're so proud of the students from the GSA for standing up for their rights and demanding the equal treatment that the law requires."
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