CAPITAL COVERAGE NEWS SERVICE
media in the public interest
Being Gay and Going Back to School
By John Zeh
Capital Coverage News Service
CINCINNATI - As they return to classrooms around the country, teenagers will hear anti-gay epithets nearly 25 times a day. Teachers overhearing those homophobic remarks will fail to respond 97 percent of the time. No wonder, since more than three-fourths of U.S. schools fail to train teachers about issues facing gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) students.
That's the frightening prognosis for the new school year from the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Educators Network. GLB youth are more than four times as likely as their non-gay peers to be threatened with a weapon while at school, GLSEN warns. It documents the same stats for kids skipping school because they feel unsafe at - or en route to - classes. Harassed youth are also more than four times as likely to report having made a suicide attempt serious enough to seek a medical professional's help.
GLSEN's timely work to protect GLBT students - and urging more teachers to speak out for their rights- was the topic at the Greater Cincinnati Gay and Lesbian Community Center's (the Center's) monthly "Saturday Social" Aug.14.
"I have zero tolerance within my earshot for any harassing comments about sexuality," said local GLSEN chapter co-founder Jeff Bixby, a third grade teacher here who was the Center's guest presenter at it new Northside storefront. "I'm going to deal with it (snaps fingers) on the spot, saying, 'Whoa, time out. We need to talk about this."
GLSEN also works to help teachers who may be reluctant to be so pro-gay assertive in classes. "Some are so afraid of speaking out," said Bixby, co-chair of the American Federation of Teachers' Gay and Lesbian Caucus. "But we help them realize that we're talking about children's safety- and in a positive learning environment."
To that end, GLSEN stalwarts Jan Smith and Kathy Laufman, both recently retired from the city school system, have visited local colleges' teacher-training classes. "We might as well catch them as they're becoming teachers," said Bixby, "and give them the power to speak out and understand that their job is to create a safe, positive learning environment."
Such training also offers teachers "ammunition with school administrators" who must be told that they cannot say no to protecting GLBT children, he said, citing an eastern Clermont County suburban principal who has "a huge problem" with GLBT rights.
Bixby, who moved here in 1978 from Cleveland, stressed the importance of coalition building. He cited GLSEN's work with PFLAG and Stonewall Cincinnati. "Networking makes your job easier when you want to achieve goals with others."
He's excited about the Center's work to rebuild the dissolved Greater Cincinnati Gay and Lesbian Coalition beginning with a 10 am Sept. 4 meeting at Mt. Auburn Presbyterian Church. "We've lost the community's cohesiveness over the years. We need to know what each other is doing. We are a team here, but we've lost that."
GLSEN works to end the cycle of anti-gay bigotry in K-12 schools. Through its growing network of 85 chapters in 35 states, it strives to assure that each member of every school community is valued and respected, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
With that mission in mind, GLSEN will hold a special "Back to School" program at 2 pm Sunday, Sept. 19, to help high school graduates contact their alma maters to ask what school officials are doing to protect and nurture GLBT students. Mary Pierce Brosmer of Crazy Ladies Bookstore will lead the workshop at her Women Writing for a Change office in Oakley. Young people are welcome, Bixby said.
GLSEN's goals for 1999-2000 here include providing greater outreach to youth with direct contact, inclusion at GLSEN programs, outreach to high schools, staff training workshops, and a scholarship for education majors through PFLAG. It also wants to increase diversity within the chapter to include Northern Kentucky and suburban members and more diverse representation by age, race, occupation, and transgender status Bixby said
A third grade teacher in the Queen City's pubic school system, Bixby also a member of the executive board of Pride at Work, a new initiative of the AFL-CIO. He's excited to be working with gay and lesbian sheet metal workers and other Teamsters, "touching blue collar workers other gay groups don't reach."
The new group, which has opened a Washington, DC, office, allows unprecedented networking, he said. "When you pull together the AFT, National Education Association, GLSEN, and the AFL-CIO there's an awful lot that can be done."
Founded as a volunteer group in Boston in 1990, GLSEN led the fight that made Massachusetts one of the first states to ban anti-gay discrimination in its public schools in 1993. GLSEN went national in 1994 and has since become one of the nation's leading voices for equality and safety in the educational system.
GLSEN combats anti-gay bias in schools by:
Community Organizing - It has built the second largest such network in the entire GLBT civil rights movement. GLSEN volunteers educate school officials about the need to pass non-discrimination policies in schools, train teachers to prevent anti-gay name-calling, and serve as a community resource for teachers, parents, and students grappling with LGBT issues. In addition, GLSEN's rapidly expanding Student Pride Project provides resources and technical support to over 400 high school-based Gay-Straight Alliances.
Educational Resources - GLSEN creates and distributes teacher training materials and LGBT-inclusive curricular resources too elementary and secondary schools across the country. By increasing the availability of high-quality educational resources, such as the Sundance Award-winning documentary Out of the Past, GLSEN provides K-12 teachers the language and tools they need to create safe and affirming learning environments for all.
Federal, State and Local Advocacy - GLSEN seeks to change the attitudes of those who have influence over daily scholastic life -- from public policy leaders in Washington D.C. to state superintendents of public instruction to local school board members. Using tools such as the annual Back-to-School Campaign, which documents programs and policies protecting LGBT youth in schools, GLSEN helps education leaders understand the pervasiveness of anti-gay bias in schools, and then works with them to stop these harmful forces.
GLSEN can be reached at:
GLSEN National Office
121 West 27th St., Ste. 804
New York, NY 10001
tel: (212) 727-0135
fax: (212) 727-0245
e-mail: glsen@glsen.org
OHIO
GLSEN Central Ohio
216 Hamilton Ave.
Columbus OH 43203
Phone: 614-253-5033
GLSEN Cincinnati
PO Box 19856
Cincinnati OH 45219
E-mail: GLSENCincy@aol.com
GLSEN Cleveland
PO Box 433
Berea OH 44017
E-mail: glsencleve@aol.com
Web: http://www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/9600
GLSEN Dayton
572 Towncrest Dr
Dayton OH 45434
Phone: 937-427-1578
