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About Sexual Orientation & Youth |
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By Bill Berkowitz and Greg Paroff
I turned to Paroff. "What's this about?" "It's about as good an idea as I've seen?" "Let's check it out." The case: A broad-based coalition of "education, heath, mental health, and religious organizations that all share a concern for the health and education of all students in schools, including lesbian, gay, and bisexual students" put out the 12-page booklet.
I flicked on the computer and in a New York-minute we were at GLSEN's web site www.glsen.org. They're a tireless bunch who work in support of educators and LGBT students across this fine country. Started in 1990 to deal with anti-gay discrimination in Boston schools. A few years later they went national. Now they've got 85 chapters nationally. "Why's it called that?" "Huh?" I said, moving my hand from the mouse to a cup of tea. "Why Just the Facts?" A recent GLSEN survey found that "high school students hear, on a typical day, 25 anti-gay comments such as 'faggot' and 'dyke' from their peers. Most of the time, teachers who hear these comments do not intervene. More than half of students report hearing school staff make homophobic comments." In addition, 80 percent of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered youth report "severe social isolation," 69 percent say they've been harassed or physically attacked and 41 percent say that they do not feel safe in school. That's a tough atmosphere to live in, especially if it's you being harassed. In response, students have formed approximately 700 Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) clubs, predominantly at high schools, throughout the country (more than half were formed after the brutal slaying of Matthew Shepard, a gay Wyoming college student eighteen months ago).
He told Education Week (4/19/00) that "what they call teaching tolerance, we call advocating homosexuality, and we believe homosexuality is morally wrong...there are a lot of groups that get picked on, like skinny boys and fat girls, and we don't have specific policies for them." That brings me to the beginning of this tale. In November, Just the Facts gets sent to the Superintendents at all 14,700 public school districts in the United States. It's supposed "to help school personnel 'prepare for any controversies'...and 'so that the educational and heath needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and questioning youths are better served'." "I think this is a history-changing moment," said Kevin Jennings, executive director of GLSEN. "The entire mainstream education and mental health establishment has said that it isn't lesbian, gay and bisexual students who need to change, it is the conditions in our schools that need to change." According to Jim Anderson, Communications Director for GLSEN, "the response to the distribution was overwhelming. Many of the participating groups, especially the AFT and NEA, received so many requests for the pamphlet that they quickly ran out of stock." I turned to Paroff. "That sounds good to me." "There's just a problem or two," replied Paroff, fidgeting with his pencil. "What's that?" "Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council, and the Family Research Institute." "Is that it?" "Nope." "Don't tell me. Dr. Laura Schlessinger." "You got it." A chill ran down my spine like a summer's day in San Francisco. Why do these organizations, which claim to support family values and the well-being of America's youth, oppose Just the Facts, a program aimed at insuring the well-being of those same kids? Could Dr. Laura feel this way too? It was time to get the facts. Here's what I wanted to know: Why would these groups try to suppress this material to the good students of this country? We took a little culture-watching expedition through cyberspace. We clicked onto some of the critics publications, press releases, and commentaries. Here's what we found: John Paulk, a homosexuality and gender analyst for Focus on the Family (FOF) and one of a small coterie of "ex-gays" who participates in FOF's "Love Won Out" conferences where reparative therapy is boosted, told The New York Times that "they're saying they want to present factual information on homosexuality, but we believe that they're presenting propaganda." "We're all for the facts about homosexuality getting out, but you won't find them in this publication," said Janet Parshall, chief spokeswoman for the Family Research Council. "This is another attempt by the homosexual lobby to silence any views on homosexuality but its own. The primer doesn't acknowledge the unhealthy consequences of homosexuality. It presents a one-sided case that promotes homosexuality by advocating censorship of information in schools about the opportunity of individuals to experience a healthy change and leave the homosexual lifestyle." An FRC Insight paper, The Facts about Just the Facts and two FRC publications by LaBarbera, Top 10 Strategies Used by Homosexual Activists in Schools and How to Protect Your Children from Pro-Homosexuality Propaganda in Schools, were published to counter the Just the Facts primer. And Dr. Laura, who seems to have difficulty dispensing just the facts, wrote in a recent column that the pamphlet "discourages school counselors from referring kids to their clergy or church groups because of the phobic fear of violating separation of church and state. It also claims that therapy to change sexual orientation is 'contraindicated,' which is not science but propaganda, since there have been no scientific studies to objectively investigate its effectiveness." I'd seen enough. "One thing is certain. It's a great career move." "What's that." "Becoming 'ex-gay' and working for the Christian Right." "Well, what happens if all the 'ex-gays' become ex-'ex-gays'?" "Paroff?" "Yeah?" "Let's call it a day." Greg Paroff, a student at Diablo Valley College, contributes to the college's newspaper and helps out at CultureWatch. Bill Berkowitz is the editor of CultureWatch www.igc.org/culturewatch/, a monthly publication tracking the Religious Right and related conservative movements, published by Oakland's DataCenter. Subscriptions are $35 a year. Contact Culturewatch via phone: 510-835-4692, ext. 308, or by e-mail: culturewatch@datacenter.org For a free sample copy, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to: CultureWatch, 1904 Franklin St., Suite 900, Oakland, CA 94612. |
Cover of XY Magazine, geared to gay youth 
Inside Out Magazine is another publication marketed to gay youth 
© 1997-2000 BEI