Indiana: Overturned gay-marriage ban encourages, worries students

by Savannah Worley
The Indiana Daily Student

GLBT Student Support Services assistant Carol Fischer said she has been sending announcements via e-mail to students involved in the IU GLBT organization. She said some students, as well as herself, have mixed feelings about the May 15 ruling.

Fischer said GLBT students leaving Indiana and states that will not recognize same-sex couples is becoming a trend, which will last until same-sex marriage is legalized in those states.

GLBT outreach and grant coordinator Ryne Shadday said students have a sense of excitement about the ruling, but there is also worry. He said voters could overturn the ruling, thus celebrating would be a premature act.

Shadday said he is somewhat pessimistic about Indiana and sees more same-sex couples moving to states such as Massachusetts and California.

“It’s Indiana,” he said. “Indiana is just too conservative of a state to take up an issue like that now.”

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Mount Si High School Principal defends DOS

WASHINGTON: Despite some parents' and students' objections to the Day of Silence, Mount Si High School Principal Randy Taylor told the Snoqualmie Valley School District board last week that the high school's Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) had begun planning this year's event, scheduled for April 25.

Taylor said organizers were working to set expectations of respect for all students - participants and non-participants - on the Day of Silence, which is part of a nationwide effort to raise awareness of gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans-gendered and questioning (LGBTQ) students and allies who do not feel safe enough to speak their true voice.

"The Day of Silence is just one [of many school activities] that sends a powerful message that all students are respected and have the right to learn regardless of the label they wear at school, at home or in the community. We are a better school because of activities like the Day of Silence," Taylor said at the standing-room-only meeting Thursday, March 6.

He said the GSA was working to address "the blatant misconception that participating or not participating in the Day of Silence is about choosing a side and drawing lines over GLBTQ rights."

Taylor added that staff members and students would be educated on expectations for the day, and communication with parents would remain open. Aune said that participating in the Day of Silence is within students' right to free expression, and that "any form of bullying will not be tolerated."

Mount Si parents and other community members belonging to a group called the Coalition to Defend Education (CoDE) wrote in a letter to the school board and Mount Si administration that the Day of Silence creates an unsafe environment for non-participating students, whom they claim are labeled as anti-gay. They also wrote that the Day of Silence is a distraction to learning, and shapes a school environment where school employees feel emboldened to advocate their personal opinions.

Tom's personal opinion:

I find it very telling how the anti-gay community is screaming and yelling about their children having to feel offended if they are non-supportive of DOS.

GLBTQIA's are asking the non-supportive community to feel, for one single day, what the GLBTQIA community feels EVERYDAY!

It seems the non-supportive community can't handle it for even one day. Now who are the weak and pathetic?

Long Beach supports nonviolent education

LONG BEACH - Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students have a right to attend school and live without harassment, the City Council made clear at its Tuesday night meeting.

The council stepped outside of its typical role of addressing budgets, development and similar issues to unanimously approve two recommendations meant to improve acceptance of these students by their peers and society.

About a dozen gay and lesbian Long Beach students and representatives of support groups spoke at Tuesday's meeting to endorse the council action.

The speakers gave emotional testimony about how gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youths often are taunted or intimidated in school.

Thalia Duran, a graduate student in social work at Cal State Long Beach, said diversity training is especially needed in schools.

"We're talking about hate crimes here," Duran said. "Hate, I don't believe as a social worker, is an innate quality. It is a learned quality and therefore implies that it can be unlearned."

The students and other speakers said schools should provide a "safe zone," a place where gay and lesbian students can gather to escape the discrimination of their peers.

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Florida school district denies GSA

OKEECHOBEE — The Okeechobee School District has asked federal courts for a summary judgment on whether a Gay-Straight Alliance should be allowed to meet on the Okeechobee High School campus.

The motion contends the district legitimately had the authority under the Federal Equal Access Act and current case law to determine the formation of the student group would not protect the well-being of students at Okeechobee High.

But American Civil Liberties Union attorney Robert Rosenwald Jr. said Wednesday the board violated the Equal Access Act by banning the alliance but allowing other clubs to meet on the school campus.

"The school just needs to obey the law," Rosenwald said.

But the district contends in the motion the club was denied in order to protect students from inappropriate sexually explicit discussions among students. Any sex-based student club would be denied, the motion says.

In November 2006, the ACLU filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of former student Yasmin Gonzalez, who graduated last year. The courts issued a preliminary injunction in April allowing the club to meet on campus until a ruling. Rosenwald said the club has met at the school without incident.

"There is a problem with bullying and harassment of gay and lesbian students at Okeechobee High School," he said. "The school should be a part of the solution, not the problem."

The ACLU will file a response to the district's motion, Rosenwald said.

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USC will not tolerate homophobia

When two men marched around the Free Speech Zone on Wednesday carrying signs declaring "Homo sex is sin," students proved we are a campus with a conscience. We demonstrated our abilities as thoughtful citizens beyond the classroom, protesting these men's hateful words.

Students nearby were promoting a different message - one of acceptance and unity as part of National Coming Out Week.

Five-hundred T-shirts with the words, "Gay? Fine by me" sprawled across the front flew off Program Board's table in just 15 minutes.

Students, gay and straight, proudly wore the shirts; some followed with pink signs and marched up to the protestors, questioning and challenging intolerance at its human roots.

We demonstrated that straight people can have gay pride, too. On Wednesday, people of different sexual orientations loudly proclaimed that USC will not tolerate homophobia.

National coming out day: University of Tennessee

The Lambda Student Union will be tabling at the Pedestrian Walkway on October 9 from 10 A.M to 3 P.M. in support of National Coming Out Day. There will be literature available to students, including a guide to those who wish to 'come out', a guide for straight allies of the LGBTQ community, and a guide regarding transgender issues. There will also be a phamplet about the Lambda Student Union available, as well as goodies for passersby. The official date of National Coming Out Day is October 11.