PFLAG Launches First-Of-Its-Kind Safe Schools Initiative & Training Program
FROM PFLAG ONLINE NEWSROOM:
December 10, 2008
Community-Based Program Will Train Local Leaders to Work with Schools on LGBT Issues
Washington, DC – Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) launched a comprehensive, community-based safe schools program today to address a growing epidemic of anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) animus in the nation’s schools. The program, entitled Cultivating Respect, includes training seminars for local parents and allies, empowering PFLAG supporters at the local level to work directly with their community leaders and school administrators to protect LGBT students. PFLAG plans trainings across the country in 2009, following initial training sessions held earlier this year in Ohio and Tennessee.
“Too many students attend school in fear, and too few school administrators and leaders understand just how damaging a hostile learning environment can be for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people,” said Jody M. Huckaby, PFLAG’s executive director. “Cultivating Respect is the very first program designed to identify and mobilize a grassroots network of parents and allies to take an active role in combating anti-gay behavior, policies, information and environments in their local schools. When children do not feel safe, they cannot learn, and their school experience becomes fraught with the long-lasting effects of unchecked hostility. By working with local parents and local administrators, Cultivating Respect addresses community and school-specific concerns. This is a significant step forward in making our classrooms, hallways and locker rooms safer for every student.”
The PFLAG training, which builds on the organization’s prior work in schools across the country, includes insights on fostering on-going dialogues with local school leaders; approaching administrators about implementing safe schools policies; skills building seminars on language, policy and problem solving in schools; identifying and leveraging access points within the school community; and training on three specific programs that can be implemented in local schools. The program is also designed to counter harmful, anti-gay campaigns by conservative advocacy groups, including attempts to infiltrate libraries with anti-gay literature and information on so-called “reparative therapy” practices, which have been condemned by medical experts. A workbook on LGBT school issues, titled The Top 10 Ways to Make Schools Safer for All Students, was also released today in conjunction with the training and outreach program.
“It is critically important that students, teachers, parents and administrators have accurate, inclusive information and materials about sexual orientation and gender identity,” said Huckaby. “Anti-family advocates are pushing an extreme, anti-gay agenda that seeks to mislead adults and ultimately undermine the well-being of the countless LGBT young people who deserve a healthy learning environment, too. This new program asks those responsible for the well-being of our children to listen, think, act and be respectful of every member of our families.”
According to statistics compiled by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), 73.6% of LGBT students hears derogatory remarks such as “faggot” or “dyke” frequently or often at school. More than half (60.8%) reported feeling unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation, and more than a third (38.4%) felt unsafe because of their gender expression. An overwhelming 86.2% of students reported being verbally harassed.
“Hostile classrooms and campuses impact every member of the school community.” Huckaby concluded, “From LGBT students, to those perceived to be, and even young people who are denied the opportunity to learn because of the distractions presented by anti-gay behavior, the consequences of not dealing with these issues reach far and wide. Now, at last, parents have the tools they need to work directly with their local leaders to stand up for every young person, including those who are LGBT or are impacted by these behaviors.”
For more information on Cultivating Respect, including .pdf copies of The Top 10 Ways to Make Schools Safer for All Students, visit www.pflag.org.
Media Contact:
Steve Ralls
(202) 467-8180, ext. 214
sralls@pflag.org
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HRC: Comments Comparing Prop 8 Protestors with Mumbai Terrorists Shows True Colors of Anti-Gay Movement
FROM THE HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN:
Pat Boone’s Bizarre Rant Claims “Awful Similarity” Between “Jihadists” in Mumbai and Prop 8 Protestors; Attacks CA Gov Schwarzenegger for Encouraging Protests
12/9/2008
WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender civil rights organization, responded today to the exclusive commentary posted on the extremist, right-wing website World Net Daily by anti-gay activist and former singer Pat Boone. Boone published a bizarre and disturbing commentary comparing the horrific tragedy in Mumbai, which took the lives of over 170 people, to the protests against Proposition 8 here in the U.S. In essence, equating the Mumbai tragedy with those protesting the passage of the discriminatory amendment in California that took marriage rights away from gay and lesbian couples to terrorists.
In the commentary titled “Hate is hate, in India or America,” which can be viewed at http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=82830, Boone writes, “let me ask you: Have you not seen the awful similarity between what happened in Mumbai and what’s happening right now in our cities?” Boone went on to state, “What troubles me so deeply, and should trouble all thinking Americans, is that there is a real, unbroken line between the jihadist savagery in Mumbai and the hedonistic, irresponsible, blindly selfish goals and tactics of our homegrown sexual jihadists.”
“Pat Boone wouldn’t normally warrant a second thought, even if his only claim to fame these days is his unabashed homophobia, but his disturbing commentary on this right-wing site can’t go unanswered,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “His commentary marks a new low in anti-gay rhetoric. And yet it also demonstrates the depths of hatred from these demagogues toward the LGBT community. Most Americans would be shocked to see this level of vitriol coming from someone who presented himself as America’s sweetheart.”
Boone even lodged an attack on Governor Schwarzenegger for encouraging gay Americans to “never give up” in the quest for equality. Boone wrote, “You haven’t seen, on the evening news, prominent entertainers and even California Gov. Schwarzenegger, urging the demonstrators on, telling them they should “never give up” until they get their way?” Boone added, “Hate is hate, no matter where it erupts. And hate, unbridled, will eventually and inevitably boil into violence.”
“Bigots like Boone will never see how absurd their arguments are, but just like that other anti-gay icon from the 70s, Anita Bryant, Pat Boone’s screed actually helps our efforts for equality,” continued Solmonese. “In most places in America today it isn’t acceptable to be an outright bigot. Obviously, Pat Boone hasn’t got that memo.”
The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.
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GLAAD UPDATE: Episcopal Leaders Say ‘No’ to Defectors and ‘Yes’ to Gay People
December 08, 2008
The head of the Episcopal Church announced that defectors from the denomination, who broke away because of the ordination of openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson, are no longer members of the Episcopal Church. Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts-Schori took a stand after leaders in the breakaway dioceses announced that they would form a rival denomination and seek official standing with the worldwide Anglican Communion. Many members in the offending dioceses of Pittsburgh; Fort Worth; Quincy, Ill; and San Joaquin chose not to defect and their congregations are being reorganized.
On the following day Bishop Jefferts-Schori was present as the Los Angeles Diocese voted to lift the moratorium on the ordination of gay bishops imposed last summer by the international Anglican Church at their once-per-decade Lambeth Conference in England. Later, the Bishop of the Los Angeles Diocese also announced that blessing of gay couples is an official rite of the diocese — it had already been practiced by many priests.
Related Media Coverage:
Los Angeles Times – December 5, 2008
“Episcopal Church leaders says those who defected ‘are no longer Episcopalians’”
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-episcopal5-2008dec05,0,7356324.story
San Bernardino County – December 6, 2008
“At Riverside convention Episcopalians say no to ban on gay bishops”
http://www.pe.com/localnews/sbcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_S_episcopal07.41dc34d.html
Los Angeles Times – December 8, 2008
“Episcopal Diocese of L.A. officially condones the blessing of gay unions”
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-episcopal8-2008dec08,0,7919724.story
Media Contact:
Adam Bass, Media Field Strategist – West
Phone: (323) 634-2018
Email: bass@glaad.org
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Mom Logic: ‘Gay or Nay’ on Same Sex Adoption?
FROM MOM LOGIC:
Monday, December 8, 2008
Arkansas’ same sex adoption ban will take effect in a matter of days. This comes just weeks after Florida lifts their ban. How do you feel about same sex adoption?
Arkansas’ law means all gay couples will not be allowed to adopt or foster as of January 1. While heterosexual unmarried couples are also forbidden, some say the law is only to ensure that homosexuals aren’t given the right. Susan Hoffpauir, President of the Arkansas chapter of the National Association of Social Workers agrees that adding such restrictions will only cut down on the amount of quality homes available.
While it began to seem like some were warming up to the idea of same sex parenting — a judge in Florida last month struck down an old law prohibiting same sex couples to adopt — Utah and North Dakota also disqualify gay couples from being foster parents or adopting.
NOTICE: This posting is meant as a courtesy to the LGBT community at large to direct individuals to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender items of interest. We do not post full articles, so if you wish to read an entire story you should follow the link to its original author/publisher. We in no way, stated or unstated, claim to be the authors of any content posted here unless we say so explicitly. All content should be considered intellectual property of the original publisher, and should not be redistributed without full back-links and proper citations.
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