By Julie
Foster
© 2000 WorldNetDaily.com
Teachers at a Massachusetts high school are being encouraged to "work
on [their] own biases" against homosexuality in order to create a "safe
zone" for students struggling with sexuality issues.
A handout distributed to all faculty of the Springfield
High School of Science and Technology lists 11 suggestions "to protect
the most maligned victims in today's society -- the gay, lesbian and
bisexual students."
Titled "What teachers can do to make schools safe for lesbians, gays
and bisexuals," the guidelines were accompanied by two news articles and a
cover letter from advisers to the Gay-Straight Alliance, a student club
that deals with sexuality issues. The letter stated, "Please read it and
put it to use if you will."
Some of the guidelines include general suggestions, such as, "Make it
clear that harassment of and discrimination against gay, lesbian and
bisexual students will not be tolerated in your classrooms, in the
hallway, or anywhere else at your place of employment."
Others, however, were more specific, pertaining to curriculum and
personal beliefs, including:
- Make your curriculum inclusive of gay, lesbian and bisexual people
by including GLB [gay, lesbian and bisexual] components in a variety of
ways in a variety of courses;
- Inform yourself about the needs of and resources for gay, lesbian
and bisexual students. Learn about and refer to community organizations.
Familiarize yourself with current resources and call them before you
refer to make sure they are ongoing. Also, become aware of gay-themed
bibliographies and refer to gay-positive books;
- Have something gay-related visible in your office. A poster, a
flyer, a brochure, a book, a button, a bumper sticker. ... This will
identify you as a safe person to talk to and will hopefully allow a gay,
lesbian, bisexual or questioning youth to break his/her silence. SAFE
ZONE CAMPAIGN stickers and resources can provide this visibility;
- Normalize and validate students' feelings about their sexuality. Let
them know that you support and believe them. If you cannot be
supportive, please refer to someone who can be. Then work on your own
biases by reading, learning and talking to people comfortable with this
issue.
Teachers are also encouraged to use "inclusive language
that implicitly allows for gay, lesbian and bisexual possibilities by
using 'parent' rather than 'mother' or 'father,' 'spouse' or 'partner'
rather than 'wife' or 'husband,' etc."
Critics of the guidelines say "safe schools" efforts are being used as
fronts for promotion of the homosexual lifestyle.
"We can't ignore the fact that kids get picked on and harassed," said
Ed Vitagliano, spokesman for the American
Family Association. "Schools should teach kids to respect everyone --
kids that are overweight, kids from different socio-economic backgrounds
or even kids who self-identify as gay or lesbian. The solution is to
enforce school policies which forbid verbal and physical harassment, not
specifically indoctrinating kids about homosexuality."
"Homosexual activists, however, aren't interested in a compromise
position," he continued. "And this demonstrates that the school-safety
issue is a smoke screen for a broader agenda. If it wasn't, activists
would be only too happy to recognize and respect the moral and religious
views of parents who don't want their kids taught about homosexuality."
Vitagliano told WorldNetDaily the American Family Association is "not
surprised at this latest attempt to push this agenda unashamedly on
teachers who may be uncomfortable with it."
"The attempt to portray resistance to this new policy as a bias or
homophobia is standard operating procedure for homosexual activists. It's
an attempt to intimidate and coerce teachers so that they will fall in
line with this push in elementary schools," he said.
Massachusetts has long been seen as a leader in public acceptance of
homosexuality, having both the Governor's Task Force on Hate Crimes and
the Safe Schools Project.
The state came under fire in March after a parent audio-recorded a
class titled "What They Didn't Tell You About Queer Sex and Sexuality in
Health Class: Workshop for Youth Only, Ages 14-21." The presentation, held
at Tufts University on March 25 and
led by two state employees, was part of a seminar for the community
sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.
As
reported in WorldNetDaily, the state employees were recorded giving
graphic and explicit instruction in homosexual sex practices to teenagers.
Though officials in the Department of Education condemned
the specific actions of the state workers, advocates of the program
insist such seminars are necessary to protect students.
Attached to the guidelines given to teachers in Springfield just two
days after the seminar were two news articles describing acts of violence
and harassment against students.
In one case, three students were charged with assault and civil-rights
violations after they taunted a fellow student on the bus for several
weeks, saying she was a "lesbian." While the students were waiting for the
bus after school, the three teen-agers attacked the victim, causing head
and internal injuries, according to the report.
"We think it's wonderful when schools work on training their staff on
issues related to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth," said
Andrea Hildebran, public education director of Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders.
"GLBT kids take a lot of harassment and violence in schools. It's great
that there are some school districts that have gone to the effort of
trying to make sure they have a completely safe experience and safe
opportunity to access education like everybody else," she said.
Responding to Vitagliano's statement about "safe school" programs being
used as "smoke screens," Hildebran explained, "There are many different
circumstances in which kids get harassed, but a big one is because kids
are gay. If they have to be cautious about revealing their sex identity or
their concerns about their sexual identity where they know they're going
to face homophobia, that's a huge barrier to getting any help facing what
can be very violent harassment."
She added, "The kind of harassment we're talking about isn't neutral.
It is because of perceived sexual orientation. If the adults responsible
for helping kids don't understand the issues, they're not going to be much
help."
Faculty at the Springfield High School of Science and Technology were
unavailable for comment.
Related stories:
State
condemns 'gay' sex discussion
Public
employees teach kids 'gay' sex
'Gay-Straight'
group wins court battle
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