 |  |  |
| ||
 | |  |
| ||
GSA Network News Email Archive - September 2005
| | |
| ||
| | |
| ||
In this issue of GSA Network News, you'll find:
GSA Network Highlight
Stand Up & Speak Up On National Coming Out Day!
GSA Network Announcements
1. Tickets going fast, buy now! Love, Chaos & Dinner with GSA Network
and Teatro Zinzanni (San Francisco)
2. Re-Register your GSA today - get new resources & keep informed!!
3. Apply for GSA Network Youth Council! It's Cool! (Statewide)
4. GSA Leadership Training (San Mateo County)
5. Liberation Ink Posters - Free For GSAs (Statewide)
6. Sign-up for the High Contrast Photo Exhibit at your school (Bay Area)
7. Register for GSA Network youth activist conferences this Fall!
8. JOB:GSA Network - Central Valley Program Associate
9. JOB:GSA Network and ACLU of Southern California Seek Applicants for Legal
Fellowship
Other Announcements
10. ACTION ALERT: Scouting For All Rally (San Diego)
11. One-Day Conference on LGBTQ Issues in Schools (Santa Barbara)
12. Youth Conference at UCLA (Los Angeles)
13. San Diego Safer Schools Summit (San Diego)
14. New Online Forum Available for Central Valley GSAs
15. Queer Youth Speak: In and Out at the Library (San Francisco)
16. Queer Youth Fund Accepting Letters of Intent for the 2005-2006 cycle
17. National Coming Out Day - Party in the Park (Los Angeles)
18. Out Queer Teens Needed for Online Spots
19. Calling all LGBTQQI Youth - Free $25 Gift Card!!! (San Francisco)
20. LifeWorks Mentoring's LifeSupport Workshop
21. G2G Girls' Leadership Program (Los Angeles)
22. NEWS: Christian School Expels Child of Lesbians
23. NEWS: They didn't wait until middle age to question their birth sex. They
are the 'Transgeneration.'
+++++++++++++++ GSA NETWORK HIGHLIGHT+++++++++++++++
Stand Up & Speak Up On National Coming Out Day!
National Coming Out Day (October 11) is just around the corner! This day marks
the 18th anniversary of the 1987 March on Washington for equal rights for LGBTQ
people. National Coming Out Day (NCOD) is all about speaking up---making it
a fantastic opportunity for your GSA to educate about the importance of creating
supportive school climates where LGBTQ youth can be comfortable expressing themselves.
Here are some ideas for how your club can celebrate this year:
1. Host a speak-out! Host an open mic where people come up
and share their coming out stories. Try staging it in a high traffic area on
your campus like the cafeteria during lunch or in the main quad. Spread the
word though flyers and classroom announcements before the big day to attract
as many people as you can.
A public speak-out is also a great way for some people to come forward and talk
about what their concerns are and give your club a look into what some of the
important issues are that you can tackle through activism.
2. Take over class! Get your teacher's permission to take over
class and lead a discussion about equal rights, coming out, and/or LGBTQ issues
at your school.
3. Take over the media! Talk to the writers of your school's
newspaper and get them to run an article about National Coming Out Day and what
it's like being out on your campus. At the end of the article, encourage students
to submit their own coming out stories and get the newspaper staff to agree
to run the stories in the following issue.
4. Be the media! Create your own club zine and get people to
draw and write for it. Ask your local copy shop if they can make free copies
of it for your club and pass out the copies to other students at school.
5. On-air marathon! Collect coming out stories, short articles
about LGBTQ youth, poems and flash fiction pieces about being LGBTQ, and have
students read them over the intercom during homeroom and between classes for
the entire day. If you can get permission and round up enough volunteers, your
club can take over the airwaves for the entire day!
+++++++++++++ GSA NETWORK ANNOUNCEMENTS +++++++++++++
*********************************************
1. Tickets going fast, buy now! - Love, Chaos & Dinner with GSA
Network and Teatro ZinZanni (San Francisco)
Join the Gay-Straight Alliance Network on Thursday October 6, 2005 for a full
evening of entertainment and dining. Teatro ZinZanni combines some of the world's
most renowned cirque artists, contortionists, aerial artists, jugglers and illusionists
with live music from a five-piece band and a gourmet five-course meal. Guests
quickly discover that the entertainment is not confined to the stage as European
clown characters engage and entertain the entire room.
Teatro ZinZanni breaks new artistic territory with this intoxicating blend of
interactive theater, spectacle, fine arts and fine dining, put together under
the artistic direction of One Reel's Norman Langill.
Teatro ZinZanni was created by Pacific Northwest non-profit arts and events
producer One Reel in 1998 and enjoyed a sold-out 14 month run in Seattle before
settling down to its permanent San Francisco home on The Embarcadero in 2000.
For complete details see: http://www.teatrozinzanni.com
GSA Network, through the generosity of one of our Board members, has secured
a block of donated tickets allowing GSA Network to raise funds by selling these
at a reduced price. They are for the evening of Thursday October 6, 2005. Each
ticket includes dinner and the entertainment. The venue will be charging an
additional $10 per person dining room fee to be collected the evening of the
event along with any alcoholic beverage charges.
Doors open at 6pm and the show starts at 7pm. Tickets will be held at the door
beginning at 5:45pm. Venue location: Pier 29 on the Embarcadero (at Battery)
We have a very limited number of tickets and are making these available at a
reduced price range, between $50 and $100 (valued at $110). Each ticket includes
dinner and entertainment. All monies donated benefit the Gay-Straight Alliance
Network and its mission to support more then 500 GSA student-led clubs across
California.
To purchase tickets contact Justin Probert, Operations Director, at 415.552.4229.
We accept checks or credit card (Visa and Mastercard). If paying by check, we
will hold your ticket up to four days or until receipt of the check. Please
make all checks payable to Tides Center/GSA Network. All tickets will be held
at will-call the night of the event.
*********************************************
2. Re-Register your GSA today - get new resources & keep informed!!
Before you plan any events for your GSA, remember to register or re-register
your group with the GSA Network. Do it NOW to make sure you receive our student
activism manuals, FREE posters, other resources, and notifications of future
GSA Network or LGBT-related events. (Mailings will go out only to California
GSAs in middle and high schools.)
Register online at http://www.gsanetwork.org/register/index.php
If you have any questions or concerns contact:
Tanya Mayo, Program Director
tanya@gsanetwork.org
415-552-4229
**********************************************
3. Apply for GSA Network Youth Council! It's Cool! (Statewide)
GSA Network is accepting applications for new Youth Council members.
Go to the website and apply www.gsanetwork.org/about/ycapp.html
The Youth Council is responsible for making decisions about and guiding the
program activities of the GSA Network. They set goals and establish priorities
for the work of our organization. Youth Council members also represent the needs
of GSAs and youth activists from the geographic region of California they represent.
The requirements for joining the Youth Council include:
1. Involved in a GSA or LGBTQ-youth related group in your school.
2. Willing to commit to serve on the Youth Council for one year.
3. Interested in developing and suggesting ideas to strengthen GSAs and the
GSA Network.
4. Committed to creating change for LGBTQ youth and fighting homophobia in schools.
Southern California
For more info contact Sandy@gsanetwork.org
or call 213-534-7162
Central Valley
For more info contact Robin@gsanetwork.org
or call 559-453-9040
Northern California
For more info contact Lai-San@gsanetwork.org
or call 415-552-4229
*********************************************
4. GSA Leadership Training (San Mateo County)
WHO: GSA Members, potential members, and GSA advisors
WHEN: Saturday, October 1st, 2005, 10:00-4:00 (Free food!)
WHERE: Mills High School---400 Murchison Drive in Millbrae
(West Gym)
COST: Free!
CO-SPONSORS: Mills H.S. GSA & PFLAG-Peninsula Chapter
Directions from BART: Get off at the Millbrae stop. Turn right
(west) and walk down Millbrae Avenue to El Camino. Turn left (south) and walk
one block south to Murchison where you will turn right. Mills High is located
at 400 Murchison about half a block from El Camino.
For more information or to RSVP, please contact: Lai-San Seto, GSA Network Northern
CA Program Coordinator, at 415-552-4229 or email
lai-san@gsanetwork.org
*********************************************
5. Liberation Ink Posters - Free For GSAs (Statewide)
LIBERATION INK POSTERS AVAILABLE
FREE FOR GSAs IN CALIFORNIA!!
Seven poster designs are available for GSAs, organizations, and individuals to make change by building a presence of youth voices for justice, peace, and youth empowerment and against hatred, harassment, and discrimination of all kinds. Every GSA in California can receive 30 FREE posters to use at your school. You can order more than 30 for $1 each. From community organizations and individuals we request a donation of $5 each for 1-10 posters, $4 each for 11-30 posters, and large quantity discounts are available.
You can view the designs and order posters on the Liberation Ink website:
www.gsanetwork.org/freezone/liberation.
HERE ARE SOME WAYS TO USE LIBERATION INK TO MAKE CHANGE AT YOUR SCHOOL!
* Attach information about your GSA to the posters to advertise and recruit
members.
* Encourage teachers to hang the posters in their classrooms.
* Have GSA members lead discussions and activities related to the posters.
* Use the posters as part of an anti-slur campaign.
* Put the posters up in the courtyard with easels and/or use while you're tabling.
* Get the posters printed in your school or community newspaper with an article
or announcement about your GSA.
* Create an agreement for teachers to sign and give them posters to symbolize
their support.
* Display the whole Liberation Ink series in one place or fill a whole wall
with posters in a grid.
* Use the posters in conjunction with Day of Silence (April), Transgender Day
of Remembrance (November), LGBT History Month (October), LGBT Pride Month (June),
Coming Out Day (October 11), or Diversity Day or Week at your school.
Liberation Ink was a collaborative project of GSA Network, LYRIC, and
Mission Grafica at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts in San Francisco.
It was supported by the Youth Initiatives Program of the Open Society Institute,
the San Francisco Arts Commission, and the Walter and Elise Haas Fund.
**********************************************
6. Sign-up for the High Contrast Photo Exhibit at your school
(Bay Area)
GSA Network's High Contrast photo exhibit is on the move again!
A photo-narrative exhibit by youth and for youth.
"I think it was powerful and provocative and sparked good conversations."
- GSA Advisor
"There were at least 400 students that interacted with the exhibit. The
whole week while High Contrast was there, the GSA and other groups on campus
did workshops on hate crimes and ways to deal with it-letting students know
that it is an issue that needs to be addressed." - GSA student president
"Many students responded well to the universality of human issues and emotions.
The emotions weren't just linked to being gay, they were feelings we all have."
- GSA Advisor
In this exhibit we bring you our voices with hopes that you will hear us, see
us... and identify. We use art as a means for change -- to show people what
they might not choose to see, to incite dialogue, and to inspire transformation.
We want to make schools free from harassment, discrimination, and violence.
We don't want anyone to leave thinking, "this isn't my issue." Because
all kinds of people are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. Because there
are so many shades to our identities. Because we all deserve to be safe enough
to learn.
High Contrast is available for circulation as of October 1. If you
are a GSA in the Bay Area and are interested in bringing the High Contrast
photo exhibit to your school, email highcontrast@gsanetwork.org.
For more information on, and pictures of, High Contrast go to:
www.gsanetwork.org/highcontrast/index.html
*********************************************
7. Register for GSA Network youth activist conferences this Fall!
For the 2005-2006 school year, kick-off your GSA with a Fall youth activist conference and dance. GSA Network's annual youth conferences are going to be held earlier in the year, so you can use all the skills and resources you get throughout the school year!!
Bay Area - Y.E.S. (Youth Empowerment Summit) December 3rd
2005
Register online at www.gsanetwork.org/yes/
Central Valley - E.N.S. (Expression Not Suppression) October
29th 2005
Register online at www.gsanetwork.org/ens/
*********************************************
8. JOBS: GSA Network - Central Valley Program Associate
Central Valley Program Associate: GSA Network is looking for a part-time (20 hours/week) Program Associate to work in our Fresno office. The Program Associate will assist the Central Valley Program Coordinator with grassroots community organizing and program implementation throughout the region. A demonstrated passion for LGBTQ youth leadership and empowerment, experience in policy advocacy, and a commitment to social justice are required for this position. Visit http://www.gsanetwork.org for the complete job announcement.
*********************************************
9. JOBS: GSA Network and ACLU of Southern California Seek Applicants
for Legal Fellowship
The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California (ACLU-SC), along with the Gay-Straight Alliance Network, is seeking to sponsor an applicant for the Pride Law Fund fellowship and other public interest fellowships to commence in the Fall of 2006. The fellow would specialize in advocacy on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students, particularly in schools in rural areas. The fellowship would involve both direct advocacy and impact litigation on behalf of LGBT youth and their right to a safe and equal learning environment, their right to form gay straight alliance clubs, and their free expression rights. Visit www.gsanetwork.org for the complete job announcement.
++++++++++++++++ OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS ++++++++++++++++
GSA Network News is a publication of Gay-Straight Alliance Network. Events,
resources, and news items listed under "Other Announcements" are not
sponsored or written by GSA Network, and do not necessarily reflect the views
and opinions of GSA Network.
**********************************************
10. ACTION ALERT: Scouting For All Rally
(San Diego)
Sunday, October 9, 11:00-12:30
Where: Boy Scouts Headquarters Desert Pacific Council, 1207 Upas Street, San
Diego, CA 92103.
Scouting For All is running its 6th annual rally protesting the sweetheart lease
provided for the Boy Scouts by the City of San Diego AND to promote inclusion
in an organization that needs to reevaluate the kind of damage its doing to
ALL youth, be they gay, atheist, or straight. We were met by a sizable contingent
of counter protesters (bibles in hand) last year. We do have a police presence
just to make sure that things remained peaceful, but we still need YOU there.
The other side is "marshalling their forces." We need to let the media
know that people from EVERY walk of life think that the exclusionary policies
of the BSA are totally UNACCEPTABLE.
PLEASE show up in numbers. Bring your friends. Bring your family. Bring your
colleagues. Bring your students. There will be a number of other fine speakers
there. We will have a sign for you to hold. We will have petitions for you to
sign. We need you there.
For more info contact Mick Rabin,
Eagle Scout 1987 - Resigned Badge in Protest 2000
COMICK1@aol.com
**********************************************
11. One-Day Conference on LGBTQ Issues in Schools (Santa Barbara)
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9th.
The Central Coast Consortium of Gay-Straight Alliances and the UCSB Resource
Center for Sexual & Gender Diversity are sponsoring this one-day conference
on Sunday, October 9th from 9:30am-5pm. The event will be held on the campus
of UCSB.
This conference is open to educators, teachers, school administrators, students,
and interested community members.
This one-day conference will discuss how to address lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender, queer issues in the schools, including expanding resources, advocacy,
and organizing to eliminate prejudice and violence.
Workshop topics include LGBTQ youth organizing & advocacy; LGBTQ issues
across cultures; trans/genderqueer issues; bisexuality; and queer history.
The featured keynote speaker will be Janet Stanley, former CEO of Pacific Pride
Foundation.
As part of the event, there will be a special screening of the film It's Elementary:
Talking About Gay Issues in School, followed by a discussion. More information
about the film can be found at their website: http://www.womedia.org/itselementary.htm
To register, contact Kyle Richards at kyle.richards@sa.ucsb.edu or (805) 893-5847
no later than Wednesday, October 5. Registration fee is $25 ($10 for students).
For more information about attending or volunteering for this event, please
contact: Kyle Richards (kyle.richards@sa.ucsb.edu) or Patti Wilczek Patti_Wilczek@cate.org
**********************************************
12. Youth Conference at UCLA (Los Angeles)
Saturday, October 29th, 2005, 11am-3pm
*Help defeat AMENDMENTS that would put discrimination in the California Constitution!
*Prevent same-sex marriage from being constitutionally banned! Save Domestic
Partner rights!
*Right now, anti-gay extremist groups throughout California are gathering signatures
to amend our state's constitution to permanently ban same-sex marriage and repeal
all domestic partnership protections.
We as students have tremendous power to fight these hateful and divisive amendments,
and this conference will help teach you how to exercise that power. Come to
get invaluable activist training and network with fellow youth activists.
Please RSVP to Joe Goldman at equalityjoe@gmail.com
or Gabe Rose at gaberose18@gmail.com. The
room location will be announced in early October.
**********************************************
13. San Diego Safer Schools Summit (San Diego)
Saturday, October 15, 2005 - 10am-4pm
San Diego State University
5500 Campanile Drive
Aztec Center, Room 158 B
San Diego, Ca 92182
The summit includes workshops and resources. Admission is FREE & lunch is
included.
For more information contact Allan - boywonder88@gmail.com
**********************************************
13. Third Annual Girls For A Change Girl Summit (San Jose)
Date: Thursday November 3, 2005
Time: Registration begins at 8:30 a.m., the program begins at 9:40 a.m. and
ends at 3:40 p.m.
Location: San Jose Convention Center, downtown San Jose
Who: Middle School and High School Girls
Cost: The event is FREE! Girls are also provided with breakfast, lunch and a
t-shirt.
What: The Girls For A Change Girl Summit empowers 1,200 girls with leadership
and networking skills and introduces them to social issues their communities
are facing. It also honors the intellect, energy and power of girls. The conference
includes workshops and presentations by women leaders in our community and performances
by women artists.
Deadline: Register online at www.girlsforachange.org. Please register by October
14, 2005.
Girls For A Change is entering its fourth year of empowering girls to be social
change agents in their own neighborhoods. The Girl Summit is our kick off event
for the year. The program partners 1,000 urban girls with 200 professional women
in the Bay Area who break into teams of 10 girls and two women. With guidance
from the women, over the course of a year, the girl teams identify an issue
that needs to change in their community. The girls then come up with a solution
to institute that change and design, lead, fund and implement a project that
will solve the issue they identified. The program not only helps girls learn
the skills they need to be successful decision makers of the future, but also
allows them to network with professional women and politicians throughout the
Bay Area. Girls For A Change provides the tools, resources and support girls
need to move from being spectators to being leaders.
For more info contact: Patty Torres
Phone: 650.752.7063
**********************************************
14. New Online Forum Available for Central Valley GSAs
Central Valley GSA's and other LGBT youth groups are facing a lot of the same
challenges in their schools and communities, we need a place to network. The
forum is for any help, questions, suggestions, comments, or ideas needed by
members of GSAs in Central Valley. By being better connected we could also form
some useful coalitions to tackle some of the larger problems.
To sign up or take a peek, please go to www.createforum.com/phpbb/?mforum=centralvalleygs
Forum created by Nicole Blagg & Justin Walker (Rocklin High
GSA)
**********************************************
15. Queer Youth Speak: In and Out at the Library (San Francisco)
The James C. Hormel Gay & Lesbian Center of the San Francisco Public Library
in association with the Bay Area Video Coalition, Frameline and LYRIC presents
All programs at the Library are free.
Sponsored by Friends of the San Francisco Public Library
Queer Youth Speak:
In and Out at the Library
Saturday, October 1, 2005
2:00 p.m.
Koret Auditorium, Main Library, Lower Level
The premiere of a youth video response to the Hormel Center’s Out at the
Library exhibition, as well as a lively panel discussion about queer history,
media and queer youth reponse to their history.
Panelists include Madeleine Lim (founder and director of the Queer Women of
Color Media Arts Project), Jennifer Gilomen (director of the Out at the Library
youth video), Martin Meeker (queer historian) and Anne Leache (educator and
founder of a PRYDE group at Hayward Middle School). The discussion will be moderated
by Barbara Levine, guest curator of the Out at the Library exhibition. In conjunction
with the exhibition: Out at the Library
**********************************************
16. Queer Youth Fund Accepting Letters of Intent for the 2005-2006 cycle
The Queer Youth Fund supports innovative programs and organizing projects that
improve the quality of life for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and
questioning (GLBTQQ) youth. This fund makes multi-year grants to grassroots,
local, state, national and international nonprofit organizations that empower
queer youth to improve societal conditions for GLBTQQ youth.
Deadline for Letters of Intent: October 21, 2005
Grant Range: $100,000
Questions contact Carol Lee: clee@libertyhill.org
/ subject Queer Youth Fun or Phone: (310) 453-3611, ext. 130
To download a PDF or MS Word version of the guidelines and application, please
go to: www.libertyhill.org/qyf/
**********************************************
17. National Coming Out Day - Party in the Park (Los Angeles)
Come join Lifeworks and Childrens Hospital for a night if movies, games, pizza,
prizes and fun!
Where: LifeWorks Mentoring Office - 9021 Melrose Ave, Suite 309 /
West Holloywood, Ca 90069
When: Tuesday, October 11th @ 6:00-9:30pm
Who: Queer Youth 15-24
What: Come Hang out and Celebrate National Out Day
with pizza, movies, prizes and games. At 7:30 pm we will head over to West Hollywood
Park to play games.
For more information contact Bobby at LifeWorks Mentoring
phone: 310-724-6300
email: bidenour@lifeworksmentoring.org
website: www.lifeworksmentoring.org
**********************************************
18. Out Queer Teens Needed for Online Spots
The Trevor Project is seeking 4-6 out queer teens (13-18 years old) who are
willing to go on camera for a series of on-line spots being developed for distribution
on mogenic.com and other queer youth websites. In these spots, teens will express
their opinions on how to deal with the common issues that queer teens face,
such as religion, coming out, family, etc.
Interested parties should contact Andy Scheer, Program & Special Events
Manager of The Trevor Project, @ 310.271.8845 or andy.scheer@thetrevorproject.org.
**********************************************
19. Calling all LGBTQQI Youth - Free $25 Gift Card!!! (San Francisco)
Queer Youth Health Services Research Study in San Francisco. Participants Needed!!!
Would you like a $25 gift card, for an hour (or less) of your time?
Do you want your voice to be heard?
Dimensions Clinic, at the Castro-Mission Health Center on Thursday evenings,
wants to hear what you've got to say! Dimensions Clinic was begun in 1998, a
direct result of a survey filled out by people like you!
Participant Criteria:
Between 12 - 18 years of age
Identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, questioning,
etc.
Lives in San Francisco
Get a free $25 gift card for an hour of your time-snacks will be provided!
If interested, please contact Dimensions at 415-487-7589, or email: dimensionsYABresearch@hotmail.com
**********************************************
20. LifeWorks Mentoring's LifeSupport Workshop
SEPTEMBER 29th, 2005 @ 7:00pm
In collaboration with LA Shanti's C.I.T.Y. Project LifeWorks Mentoring is providing
a Free workshop for youth ages 15-24 years old. We will be looking at Race,
Class, and Economics in the Queer Community: DO YOU BUY IT?
We will discuss how RACISM and CLASSISM affect LGBTQ Youth and what we can do
to improve our Community.
Come and Join us for a Fun, Confidential, and Chill night with LifeWorks Mentoring
and LA Shanti's C.I.T.Y. Project
Refreshments will be provided.
For more information contact Bobby at LifeWorks Mentoring
phone: 310-724-6300
email: bidenour@lifeworksmentoring.org
website: www.lifeworksmentoring.org
**********************************************
21. G2G Girls' Leadership Program (Los Angeles)
REACH LA is recruiting 10 young women of color (ages 16-24) to participate in
a new leadership training program that will focus on reproductive justice and
public policy. The program will run from October 2005-June 2006 and consist
of 4 training and project development retreats, monthly meetings and the development
of team policy projects. If you or you know young women who have a great passion
for women's and reproductive rights, please encourage them to apply. A $300.00
stipend and certificate of completion will be awarded to those who complete
the program. As an added benefit, REACH LA will work with participant to
obtain community service hours, internship credit or independent study
credit whenever possible.
The deadline to apply is Sept. 30, 2005.
Contact REACH LA at 213-622-1650.
**********************************************
22. NEWS: Christian School Expels Child of Lesbians
By Seema Mehta
LA Times
September 23, 2005
A Christian school in Ontario expelled a student Thursday because her parents
are lesbians, according to a letter from the school's superintendent.
Freshman Shay Clark, 14, was told to leave Ontario Christian High School after administrators learned of her parents' relationship this week.
"Your family does not meet the policies of admission," Supt. Leonard
Stob wrote to Tina Clark, Shay's biological mother. The policy, he added, states
that at least one parent cannot engage in practices "immoral or inconsistent
with a positive Christian life style [sic] such as cohabitating without marriage
or in a homosexual relationship."
To read the full article, visit:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gay23sep23,1,181536.story
**********************************************
23. NEWS: They didn't wait until middle age to question their birth
sex. They are the 'Transgeneration.'
by Reyhan Harmanci
San Francisco Chronicle
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Butch Greenblatt entered middle school as a tomboy and left as a girly-girl.
At age 14, Butch came out as a lesbian. A year later, Butch came out again.
As a guy.
"For a long time, people thought the boy thing was a phase and I'd eventually
grow out of it and be pretty and attractive and normal. I tried my best in middle
school, but I never was very good at it," he says.
"I was pretty sure, though, for a while, that I'd end up as a butch lesbian."
While at camp for Gay-Straight Alliance organizers, Greenblatt expressed something
that had been on his mind for years. "During this time where we did a 'check
in,' I said I just wanted to share something and said, 'I don't feel like I'm
a woman.' It was definitely scary -- I didn't know what would happen next --
but speaking the truth felt pretty awesome."
Greenblatt is part of a new generation of transgender people who come out at
a young age. Now 21, he speaks of gender as a spectrum, not a binary.
To read the full story, visit:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/09/15/DDGTJEN03887.DTL
In this issue of GSA Network News, you'll find:
GSA Network Highlight
Fresno Unified School District Addresses Anti-Gay Bias on Campus
GSA Network Announcements
1. Love, Chaos & Dinner with Gay-Straight Alliance Network and
Teatro Zinzanni (San Francisco)
2. Re-Register your GSA today - get new resources & keep informed!!
3. Apply for GSA Network Youth Council! It's Cool! (Statewide)
4. Calling LGBTQ youth to join student speakers panel (Central Valley)
5. GSA Leadership Training (San Mateo County)
6. Liberation Ink Posters - Free For GSAs (Statewide)
7. Sign-up for the High Contrast Photo Exhibit at your school (Bay Area)
8. Register for GSA Network youth activist conferences this Fall!
9. JOB:GSA Network - Central Valley Program Associate
10. JOB:GSA Network and ACLU of Southern California Seek Applicants for Legal
Fellowship
Other Announcements
11. ACTION ALERT: Statewide actions on Thursday, Sept 22
12. ACTION ALERT: Mass Anti-War March
13. "Bring Back Summer!" party to promote HIV Awareness for teens
(Oakland)
14. GLBT Center Mentoring Youth Through Empowerment new drop-in hours. (Long
Beach)
15. LGBTQ issues impacting Mexicano/Mexicano youth? (San Jose)
16. Central California Power Summit - LGBT/Ally Activist Training (Central California)
17. Lots happining at AQUA (San Francisco)
18. Seeking LGBT youth, ages 15 and younger, and their families for a new documentary
19. FREE tickets to OutSpoken (San Francisco)
20. JOBS: New Connections is hiring!! (Contra Costa County)
21. NEWS: District joins fight on bullying
22. NEWS: Two Convictions in Araujo Murder
+++++++++++++++ GSA NETWORK HIGHLIGHT+++++++++++++++
Fresno Unified School District Addresses Anti-Gay Bias on Campus
September 14, 2005
The ACLU of Southern California and the Gay-Straight Alliance Network entered
into an agreement with the Fresno Unified School District to take steps to eliminate
anti-gay discrimination from Fresno campuses after receiving multiple complaints
from students who were harassed, in some cases by school officials, because
of their actual or perceived sexual orientation.
"Our concern is that all students regardless of whether they are gay or
straight feel comfortable on campus and that learning is their primary concern
while they are at school," said Christine P. Sun, staff attorney for the
ACLU of Southern California. "We are pleased that the Fresno Unified School
District is finally taking action to incorporate education on all biases into
its curriculum."
The agreement was reached after the ACLU and the GSA Network were contacted
by a parent who for months had unsuccessfully attempted to work with the District
to end the discrimination against her son by school administrators. In an email
obtained by the student’s parent, the District Parent Ombudsman instructed
other school officials to "document if [the student] is possibly confused
about his sexual preference and suggest ways to train him in appropriate ways
of expressing his preferences." In the email, the District Ombudsman also
suggested that the student needed "psychological testing."
The agreement creates a comprehensive training and curricular program for administrators
and students over the next two years that directly addresses anti-gay bias.
The training will start this fall and requires that all administrators, teachers,
and some additional staff attend a training session focused primarily on sexual
orientation and gender identity diversity, discrimination and harassment.
"Daily harassment against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students
is ubiquitous in our schools," said Carolyn Laub, executive director of
GSA Network. "We look forward to working with Fresno Unified to take comprehensive
steps to solve the problem. Other school districts should take a page from Fresno
Unified's lesson book and commit to safety and respect for all."
The trainings will include a live presentation by students who can talk about
personal experiences and the adult response to such behavior. The District also
agreed to provide mandatory instruction for all high school students focusing
exclusively on the subject of preventing harassment and discrimination on the
basis of actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity.
Fresno students said the program and training sessions would be a positive step
forward.
"I think this kind of training will be great for our district," said
Frankie Martinez, a senior at Sunnyside High School. "I know how difficult
it may be for gay youth like me and I think this will greatly increase tolerance
and I believe that things will finally begin to improve."
Go to www.aclu-sc.org/News/Releases/101316/ to read the Fresno Unified School District Agreement.
+++++++++++++ GSA NETWORK ANNOUNCEMENTS +++++++++++++
*********************************************
1. Love, Chaos & Dinner with GSA Network and Teatro Zinzanni (San
Francisco)
Join the Gay-Straight Alliance Network on Thursday October 6, 2005 for a full
evening of entertainment and dining. Teatro ZinZanni combines some of the world's
most renowned cirque artists, contortionists, aerial artists, jugglers and illusionists
with live music from a five-piece band and a gourmet five-course meal. Guests
quickly discover that the entertainment is not confined to the stage as European
clown characters engage and entertain the entire room.
Teatro ZinZanni breaks new artistic territory with this intoxicating blend of
interactive theater, spectacle, fine arts and fine dining, put together under
the artistic direction of One Reel's Norman Langill.
Teatro ZinZanni was created by Pacific Northwest non-profit arts and events
producer One Reel in 1998 and enjoyed a sold-out 14 month run in Seattle before
settling down to its permanent San Francisco home on The Embarcadero in 2000.
For complete details see: http://www.teatrozinzanni.com
GSA Network, through the generosity of one of our Board members, has secured
a block of donated tickets allowing GSA Network to raise funds by selling these
at a reduced price. They are for the evening of Thursday October 6, 2005. Each
ticket includes dinner and the entertainment. The venue will be charging an
additional $10 per person dining room fee to be collected the evening of the
event along with any alcoholic beverage charges.
Doors open at 6pm and the show starts at 7pm. Tickets will be held at the door
beginning at 5:45pm. Venue location: Pier 29 on the Embarcadero (at Battery)
We have a very limited number of tickets and are making these available at a
reduced price range, between $50 and $100 (valued at $110). Each ticket includes
dinner and entertainment. All monies donated benefit the Gay-Straight Alliance
Network and its mission to support more then 500 GSA student-led clubs across
California.
To purchase tickets contact Justin Probert, Operations Director, at 415.552.4229.
We accept checks or credit card (Visa and Mastercard). If paying by check, we
will hold your ticket up to four days or until receipt of the check. Please
make all checks payable to Tides Center/GSA Network. All tickets will be held
at will-call the night of the event.
*********************************************
2. Re-Register your GSA today - get new resources & keep informed!!
Before you plan any events for your GSA, remember to register or re-register
your group with the GSA Network. Do it NOW to make sure you receive our student
activism manuals, FREE posters, other resources, and notifications of future
GSA Network or LGBT-related events. (Mailings will go out only to California
GSAs in middle and high schools.)
Register online at http://www.gsanetwork.org/register/index.php
If you have any questions or concerns contact:
Tanya Mayo, Program Director
tanya@gsanetwork.org
415-552-4229
**********************************************
3. Apply for GSA Network Youth Council! It's Cool! (Statewide)
GSA Network is accepting applications for new Youth Council members.
Go to the website and apply www.gsanetwork.org/about/ycapp.html
The Youth Council is responsible for making decisions about and guiding the
program activities of the GSA Network. They set goals and establish priorities
for the work of our organization. Youth Council members also represent the needs
of GSAs and youth activists from the geographic region of California they represent.
The requirements for joining the Youth Council include:
1. Involved in a GSA or LGBTQ-youth related group in your school.
2. Willing to commit to serve on the Youth Council for one year.
3. Interested in developing and suggesting ideas to strengthen GSAs and the
GSA Network.
4. Committed to creating change for LGBTQ youth and fighting homophobia in schools.
Southern California
Saturday, September 24, Youth Council orientation and open meeting
When: Saturday, September 24, 2:00 - 4:30pm
Where: GSA Network Office (605 W. Olympic Ave., Suite 650 Los Angeles, CA 90015)
What: All SoCal Youth interested in participating in GSA Network's Youth Council
for the upcoming school year are welcome to attend. We will be making plans
for the school year, deciding on a Youth Council Project, welcoming new members,
and a variety of other things, as well as scheduling a Training for Youth Council
Trainers. There is a lot to do, and we need the participation and input of youth
from across Southern California.
Call Sandy to RSVP.
For more info contact Sandy@gsanetwork.org
or call 213-534-7162
Central Valley
For more info contact Robin@gsanetwork.org
or call 559-453-9040
Northern California
For more info contact Lai-San@gsanetwork.org
or call 415-552-4229
*********************************************
4. Calling LGBTQ youth to join student speakers panel (Central Valley)
GSA Network is looking for LGBTQ youth in Fresno and the Central Valley that are interested in being a part of a speakers bureau for the 2005-2006 school year. Youth ages 12-21 will be asked to speak about their personal experiences both in school and in their home life to teachers, administrators and fellow students. Some stipends are available. Call today!
For more info contact Robin@gsanetwork.org or call 559-453-9040
*********************************************
5. GSA Leadership Training (San Mateo County)
WHO: GSA Members, potential members, and GSA advisors
WHEN: Saturday, October 1st, 2005, 10:00-4:00 (Free food!)
WHERE: Mills High School---400 Murchison Drive in Millbrae
(East Gym)
COST: Free!
CO-SPONSORS: Mills H.S. GSA & PFLAG-Peninsula Chapter
Directions from BART: Get off at the Millbrae stop. Turn right
(west) and walk down Millbrae Avenue to El Camino. Turn left (south) and walk
one block south to Murchison where you will turn right. Mills High is located
at 400 Murchison about half a block from El Camino.
For more information or to RSVP, please contact: Lai-San Seto, GSA Network Northern
CA Program Coordinator, at 415-552-4229 or email
lai-san@gsanetwork.org
*********************************************
6. Liberation Ink Posters - Free For GSAs (Statewide)
LIBERATION INK POSTERS AVAILABLE
FREE FOR GSAs IN CALIFORNIA!!
Seven poster designs are available for GSAs, organizations, and individuals to make change by building a presence of youth voices for justice, peace, and youth empowerment and against hatred, harassment, and discrimination of all kinds. Every GSA in California can receive 30 FREE posters to use at your school. You can order more than 30 for $1 each. From community organizations and individuals we request a donation of $5 each for 1-10 posters, $4 each for 11-30 posters, and large quantity discounts are available.
You can view the designs and order posters on the Liberation Ink website:
www.gsanetwork.org/freezone/liberation.
HERE ARE SOME WAYS TO USE LIBERATION INK TO MAKE CHANGE AT YOUR SCHOOL!
* Attach information about your GSA to the posters to advertise and recruit
members.
* Encourage teachers to hang the posters in their classrooms.
* Have GSA members lead discussions and activities related to the posters.
* Use the posters as part of an anti-slur campaign.
* Put the posters up in the courtyard with easels and/or use while you're tabling.
* Get the posters printed in your school or community newspaper with an article
or announcement about your GSA.
* Create an agreement for teachers to sign and give them posters to symbolize
their support.
* Display the whole Liberation Ink series in one place or fill a whole wall
with posters in a grid.
* Use the posters in conjunction with Day of Silence (April), Transgender Day
of Remembrance (November), LGBT History Month (October), LGBT Pride Month (June),
Coming Out Day (October 11), or Diversity Day or Week at your school.
Liberation Ink was a collaborative project of GSA Network, LYRIC, and
Mission Grafica at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts in San Francisco.
It was supported by the Youth Initiatives Program of the Open Society Institute,
the San Francisco Arts Commission, and the Walter and Elise Haas Fund.
**********************************************
7. Sign-up for the High Contrast Photo Exhibit at your school
(Bay Area)
GSA Network's High Contrast photo exhibit is on the move again!
A photo-narrative exhibit by youth and for youth.
"I think it was powerful and provocative and sparked good conversations."
- GSA Advisor
"There were at least 400 students that interacted with the exhibit. The
whole week while High Contrast was there, the GSA and other groups on campus
did workshops on hate crimes and ways to deal with it-letting students know
that it is an issue that needs to be addressed." - GSA student president
"Many students responded well to the universality of human issues and emotions.
The emotions weren't just linked to being gay, they were feelings we all have."
- GSA Advisor
In this exhibit we bring you our voices with hopes that you will hear us, see
us... and identify. We use art as a means for change -- to show people what
they might not choose to see, to incite dialogue, and to inspire transformation.
We want to make schools free from harassment, discrimination, and violence.
We don't want anyone to leave thinking, "this isn't my issue." Because
all kinds of people are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. Because there
are so many shades to our identities. Because we all deserve to be safe enough
to learn.
High Contrast is available for circulation as of October 1. If you
are a GSA in the Bay Area and are interested in bringing the High Contrast
photo exhibit to your school, email highcontrast@gsanetwork.org.
For more information on, and pictures of, High Contrast go to:
www.gsanetwork.org/highcontrast/index.html
*********************************************
8. Register for GSA Network youth activist conferences this Fall!
For the 2005-2006 school year, kick-off your GSA with a Fall youth activist conference and dance. GSA Network's annual youth conferences are going to be held earlier in the year, so you can use all the skills and resources you get throughout the school year!!
Bay Area - Y.E.S. (Youth Empowerment Summit) December 3rd
2005
Register online at www.gsanetwork.org/yes/
Central Valley - E.N.S. (Expression Not Suppression) October
29th 2005
Register online at www.gsanetwork.org/ens/
*********************************************
9. JOBS: GSA Network - Central Valley Program Associate
Central Valley Program Associate: GSA Network is looking for a part-time (20 hours/week) Program Associate to work in our Fresno office. The Program Associate will assist the Central Valley Program Coordinator with grassroots community organizing and program implementation throughout the region. A demonstrated passion for LGBTQ youth leadership and empowerment, experience in policy advocacy, and a commitment to social justice are required for this position. Visit http://www.gsanetwork.org for the complete job announcement.
*********************************************
10. JOBS: GSA Network and ACLU of Southern California Seek Applicants
for Legal Fellowship
The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California (ACLU-SC), along with the Gay-Straight Alliance Network, is seeking to sponsor an applicant for the Pride Law Fund fellowship and other public interest fellowships to commence in the Fall of 2006. The fellow would specialize in advocacy on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students, particularly in schools in rural areas. The fellowship would involve both direct advocacy and impact litigation on behalf of LGBT youth and their right to a safe and equal learning environment, their right to form gay straight alliance clubs, and their free expression rights. Visit www.gsanetwork.org for the complete job announcement.
++++++++++++++++ OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS ++++++++++++++++
GSA Network News is a publication of Gay-Straight Alliance Network. Events,
resources, and news items listed under "Other Announcements" are not
sponsored or written by GSA Network, and do not necessarily reflect the views
and opinions of GSA Network.
**********************************************
11. ACTION ALERT: Statewide actions on Thursday, Sept 22
CFJ and the Campaign for Quality Education—a statewide coalition of educational justice organizations are holding statewide actions this Thursday, September 22nd. Right now, the governor has an opportunity on his desk to sign into law a bill (AB1531), that would make the CAHSEE a more comprehensive assessment.
Furthermore, this bill would give ELD students, students with disabilities, poor students, and students of color through out the state an opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned. One test alone cannot measure what students have learned. The highest standard is to be measured by more then one standard.
The Oakland Press Conference and Rally will be held:
Thursday, September 22, 2005 @ 4:30pm
In front of OAKLAND TECH HIGH
4351 Broadway (between 42nd & 45th)
Speakers include student members from:
Californians for Justice, Oakland
Youth Together—Oakland, Berkeley, & Richmond
La Fuerza Unida—Richmond
**********************************************
12. ACTION ALERT: Mass Anti-War March
Saturday, September 24in Washington D.C.
Regional demonstrations in San Francisco, Los Angeles & Seattle
United for Peace and Justice: www.unitedforpeace.org/
San Francisco
Gather 11 a.m.
Dolores Park
To get involved:
Not in Our Name: www.notinourname.net/~bayarea/
International Answer: www.actionsf.org/
Los Angeles
Saturday Sept. 24, 12 noon
Olympic & Broadway, downtown
To get involved:
Not in Our Name: lanotinournamela.blogspot.com/
International Answer: www.answerla.org/
**********************************************
13. "Bring Back Summer!" party to promote HIV Awareness for
teens (Oakland)
You Are Invited to Bring Back Summer!
The 21 Generations Peer Health Educators will host a "Bring Back Summer!"
party to promote HIV Awareness for teens.
Saturday, Sept 24, 2005
SMAAC Youth Center
1608 Webster Street @ 16th Street
Downtown Oakland, CA 94612
(Near 12th or 19th Street BART)
This is a free event for teens (12-19 years old); we will have a DJ, food, games,
and door prizes. This is a violence free, drug free, and alcohol free event.
See the attached flyer for more details.
This event is being hosted by the National Native American AIDS Prevention Center
and the American Indian Child Resource Center and will be chaperoned by youth
program staff from the host agencies and the event site.
Please take note that there is no transportation provided for this event. If
your youth group is interested in attending, your organization will need to
decide what the best transportation option is for your teen, both to and from
the event. Public transportation options are: BART (19th / 20th Street station)
and any ACTransit Bus that goes to Downtown Oakland (go to www.actransit.org/).
All public transportation options are within a 2 to 5 block radius from the
event site.
Teens who want to attend this event must RSVP to Sherry at 208.1870 x 318 by
Wednesday, September 21st. Please call Sherry if you have any questions.
We hope to see you there!
back to top
**********************************************
14. GLBT Center Mentoring Youth Through Empowerment new drop-in hours.
(Long Beach)
The Gay and Lesbian Center of Greater Long Beach announce today that their
Mentoring Youth Through Empowerment (MYTE) program now has drop-in hours.
Drop-in hours are from 2 to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursdays at The Center, which
is located at 2017 E. Fourth Street, near Cherry Avenue.
The drop-in hours are geared to our local LGBT youth ages 13 to 24 years old
and will include fun events, outings, movies, games, art, and leadership training.
Wednesday evenings 8-9pm we also offer a young Adults support group
For more information:
Contact Ty Tover, Youth Services Manager,
562-434-4455 ext. 237 or tyt@centerlb.org>tyt@centerlb.org
**********************************************
15. LGBTQ issues impacting Mexicano/Mexicano youth? (San Jose)
Are you interested in discussing LGBTQ issues impacting Mexicano/Mexicano youth?
Then Join US
When: Thursday, September 22, 4:30pm-6pm
Where: Martin Luther King (MLK) Library Downtown / 5th Floor, Cultural
Heritage Center
Contact Info: 408.250.9245
Language: Spanish, English and Spanglish
What: A group of students, mothers and youth workers are intersted in learning
more about issues faced by LGBTQ Mexicano/Chicano youth and creating a safe
sapce and community involvement by and for Mexicano/Chicano LGBTQ youth
For more info: Adriana Cabrera-Garcia, La Patriota Productions "La-Que-Puede-Todo"
lapatriota34@hotmail.com
(408) 250-9245
**********************************************
16. Central California Power Summit - LGBT/Ally Activist Training
(Central California)
Learn what it will take and how to defeat the anti-LGBT/anti-marriage constitutional
amendment that will be on the June 2006 California ballot. This initiative will
not only ban same sex marriage but will also strip our domestic partnership
rights and responsibilities. We must mobilize now!
The Central California Power Summit is an intensive two day training and action
program for dedicated people who are highly motivated to build powerful state
and local campaigns, organizations, and coalitions aimed at creating positive
community change. Leaders will gain valuable skills on how to build larger teams
and communicate with voters in effective ways.
The training will focus on cutting-edge skills and strategies necessary for
building political, organizational, and community power. Task Force staff, as
well as co-trainers with extensive experience in their fields, will lead sessions
designed to:
· Develop broad public support for LGBT issues
· Identify and build a large-scale base of pro-LGBT voters & citizen
lobbyists
· Recruit the volunteers needed to build this base
· Develop a sustained campaign to win at the ballot box or in the legislature
· Build action-oriented coalitions across race, class, & gender lines
Dates: Saturday October 22 - Sunday October 23, 2005
Hours: Saturday 9am-9pm and Sunday 9am-3pm
Training site: Cal Poly University - San Luis Obispo
University Union Room 220 · Cal Poly University · San Luis Obispo,
CA
Summit Fees: $40 - limited scholarships available
For More Information: slo.chapter@eqca.org
Sponsored by Equality California, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Gay and
Lesbian Alliance of the Central Coast, San Luis Obispo County Community Foundation.
**********************************************
17. Lots happining at AQUA (San Francisco)
YOUTH GET PAID TO WORK WITH AQUA!
If you're between the ages of 14-21 and can work in San Francisco, there are
paid internships available to work with AQUA. As an intern, you'll meet great
people, have lots of fun, and help build a queer API youth community. You'll
also learn some great leadership skills like event planning, community
organizing, outreach, facilitating workshops. Internships go for 3 months and
the pay is ~$8.50 an hour.
If interested, please contact Bryant ASAP
bryant@apiwellness.org or 415-292-3420
x315
++++++
THINGS I'LL NEVER SAY FILM SCREENING
This Saturday - September 17 - 6-8PM
A&PI Wellness Center (730 Polk St., 4th Floor)
Join us for a free screening from AQU25A Filmmaker, Caroline Le, for a short
film about a complex love traingle between three friends - two girls and a boy.
It's about friendship, love, and being honest to oneself. Meet the cast, directors,
and crew of this amazing film by this up-and-coming filmmaker.
Please RSVP to Bryant NOW because seats are limited.
bryant@apiwellness.org or 415-292-3420
x315
++++++
APAture: A WINDOW ON THE ART OF ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICANS
Sat, 9/24, 1-5pm, SomArts Cultural Center (934 Brannan St., SF)
Meet us and get in free (reg price $10-15) for APAture's main event, featuring
artists, art workshops, and live music. APAture is an annual multidisciplinary
arts festival and expo presenting, examining and discussing the work of emerging
Asian Pacific American (APA) artists between the ages of 18 and 35 living or
working in the San Francisco Bay Area.
For more info, go to www.kearnystreet.org/apature.html.
You must RSVP by contacting Bryant at bryant@apiwellness.org
or 415-292-3420 x315
**********************************************
18. Seeking LGBT youth, ages 15 and younger, and their families for
a new documentary
World of Wonder is seeking LGBT youth, ages 15 and younger, and their families
for a new documentary about their experiences.
The documentary is being developed by World of Wonder Productions which is an
award-winning, gay owned production company which has a long history of producing
acclaimed gay themed documentaries including SCHOOL'S OUT, an MTV documentary
on a gay high school in Dallas, Texas, GAY REPUBLICANS and the upcoming TransGeneration
which focuses on transgender college students.
For more information, please contact:
Chris McKim
World of Wonder Productions
cmckim@worldofwonder.net
323-603-6300
**********************************************
19. FREE tickets to OutSpoken (San Francisco)
Thanks to generous underwriting from our funders, we are now offering FREE
tickets to OutSpoken by Prince Gomolvilas this October. This is the first play
commissioned exclusively for the YouthAware Educational Theatre program at NCTC.
OutSpoken is appropriate for 7th through 12th graders and runs from October
5th - 21st at 10:15am here at NCTC.
Because this is a new program for us, I could really use the help of teachers
and groups who have seen other YouthAware programs in generating interest and
filling seats. More information is below and attached in a flyer which
you may forward, post and or reproduce. Please spread the word to any
teachers or campus groups who would be interested in coming to see this exciting
new program. OutSpoken would make a great field trip for GSA's and other
diversity clubs on campus. Call to reserve seats today!
Written by Prince Gomolvilas and Directed by Sara Staley
Join us for the world premiere of our newest YouthAware Educational Theatre
program, OutSpoken by Prince Gomolvilas. Based directly on the voices of young
people, OutSpoken is a new drama for teens that goes beyond the themes of tolerance
and homophobia explored in the hard hitting YouthAware program, The Other Side
of the Closet, to look at the many reasons that young people feel ostracized
in school, at home and in their community including race, religion, sexual orientation
& body type. Through OutSpoken, we hope young people will find new ways
to move past these differences to a place of real tolerance and understanding.
OutSpoken features a talented cast of professional young actors. Many of whom
have performed in YouthAware programs in the past. We are now offering
FREE tickets to schools and youth groups. The program lasts about 70 minutes
and includes the play and a post-show discussion with the cast. We can seat
up to 65 students and teachers per performance.
October 5th - 22nd 2005 Weekdays @ 10:15am Saturday Oct 22 @ 2 pm
All performances held at the New Conservatory Theatre Center
25 Van Ness Ave. @ Market St. in San Francisco
Call (415) 861-4914 or email sara@nctcsf.org
to reserve seats!
*********************************************
20. JOBS: New Connections is hiring!! (Contra Costa
County)
LGBTQ Counselor/Trainer
The LGBTQ Counselor/Trainer is generally responsible for providing school- and
community-based counseling, intervention and prevention services to LGBTQ youth,
and to provide training for other professionals working with LGBTQ youth.
The LGBTQ Counselor/Trainer is a part-time (13 hours/week), non-exempt position.
Evening and weekend hours may be required. The position reports directly to
the agency’s Director of School Counseling.
The starting salary range for the position is $35,000 FTE or $11,375 annually
for a position of 13 hours/week. This position will receive clinical supervision
toward licensure, but is not eligible for additional fringe benefits. Positions
of 20 hours or more at New Connections are eligible for a variety of benefits,
including paid time off, medical and dental insurance coverage, professional
development, and clinical supervision towards licensure.
Applications for available positions should include a cover letter and résumé, and may be emailed to Barbara Petterson, MFT at bpetterson@newconnections.org or faxed to her attention at 925.363.5075.
Monument Community Counselor in the Multicultural Community Counseling
Program
The Monument Community Counselor is generally responsible for providing school-
and community-based counseling, intervention, prevention and case management
services to Latino youth and their families in the Monument Corridor community.
The Monument Community Counselor is a part-time (20 to 40 hours per week), non-exempt
position. The position reports directly to the agency’s Director of School
Counseling. Evening and weekend hours may be required. The starting salary range
for the Monument Community Counselor is $34,000 to $42,000 FTE annually. Positions
of 20 hours or more at New Connections are also eligible for a variety of benefits,
including paid time off, medical and dental insurance coverage, professional
development, and clinical supervision towards licensure.
Applications for available positions should include a cover letter and résumé, and may be emailed to Barbara Petterson, MFT at bpetterson@newconnections.org or faxed to her attention at 925.363.5075.
School Counselor
The School Counselor is responsible for providing counseling and related services
to youth and their families in a school-based setting.
The School Counselor is a 15 hour/week, non-exempt position, reporting to the
agency’s Director of School Counseling. Some evening or weekend hours
may be required.
The salary for the School Counselor position is $35,000 FTE or $13,125 annually
for 15 hours per week. A licensed MFT or LCSW, or person bilingual in Spanish,
would receive additional compensation. New Connections provides medical and
other benefits for staff positions of at least 20 hours/week. This position
also receives clinical supervision per BBS requirements.
Applications for available positions should include a cover letter and résumé, and may be emailed to Barbara Petterson, MFT at bpetterson@newconnections.org or faxed to her attention at 925.363.5075.
**********************************************
21. NEWS: District joins fight on bullying
Fresno Unified's new policy comes after settlement.
By Erin Kennedy / The Fresno Bee
(Updated Thursday, September 15, 2005, 5:42 AM)
Parents and advocacy groups praised Fresno Unified's attempt Wednesday to deal
with harassment and bullying of students, but said it took attorneys getting
involved to make it happen.
"I'd like to see the school district doing it because it is the right thing,
rather than because lawsuits are threatened," said Robin McGehee, Fresno
area Gay-Straight Alliance Network organizer. GSA and the ACLU of Southern California
had been negotiating for eight months with Fresno Unified after receiving multiple
complaints from students who said they were harassed, in some cases by school
officials, because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation.
Trustees voted Wednesday to hire Tides Center/Gay Straight Alliance Network
to work next year with high schools and help with classroom instruction on anti-bullying,
and for Kanwarpal K. Dhaliwal, an anti-bullying consultant from Oakland, to
provide 12 staff training sessions for administrators districtwide on civility
and anti-discrimination issues.
The school board also reviewed changes to the district's anti-bullying policy
that is set for a vote on Sept. 28.
Sunnyside High senior Frankie Martinez, who is gay, said he was glad to see
the district taking a first step, "but it takes time to go from a hostile
to an accepting climate."
ACLU staff attorney Christine Sun said a Fresno parent contacted her after attempting
unsuccessfully for months to work with Fresno Unified officials to end discrimination
against her son.
In an e-mail obtained by the student's parent, the district's parent ombudsman
instructed other school officials to "document if (the student) is possibly
confused about his sexual preference and suggest ways to train him in appropriate
ways of expressing his preferences." In the e-mail, the ombudsman also
suggested that the student needed "psychological testing."
The ACLU said its agreement with Fresno Unified calls for comprehensive training
and curriculum for administrators and students during the next two years that
directly addresses anti-gay bias.
The district is more than a year late in hiring anti-bullying consultants that
could have circumvented that problem, parent Tony Pings complained to the school
board.
The district signed a legal agreement with Pings 19 months ago that promised
to develop a program and train all school staff members, from janitors to principals,
on how to recognize when a child has been bullied or molested and what to do
about it. If the district had done what it promised, Pings said, Regina Martinez's
three boys might have been spared taunts of "gay" and "fag"
and the playground pokes and trippings that made them physically ill.
Regina Martinez settled a complaint with Fresno Unified last week for an undisclosed
amount of money. She had complained repeatedly to Fremont Elementary's principal,
an assistant superintendent and police, but said it took an attorney's involvement
to get someone to listen and to get her children moved to another school last
spring.
At the school board meeting, new Superintendent Michael Hanson acknowledged
that the district was late on fulfilling its legal obligation but promised,
"We will be working on these issues very aggressively."
To read the full story, visit:
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/11222008p-11973070c.html
**********************************************
22. NEWS: Two Convictions in Araujo Murder
Jury hung in charges against third man in 2002 murder of transgendered California
teen
By JOE DIGNAN
Almost three years after four Newark, California men allegedly beat and then
murdered transgendered teen Gwen Araujo, the second jury to hear the case came
back on Tuesday with a mixed verdict, convicting two of manslaughter and deadlocking
in the case of the third. The fourth in a quartet of high school classmates
and drinking buddies, Jaron Nabors, had turned on his former friends in exchange
for a reduced manslaughter conviction and an 11-year prison term.
Defendants Michael Magidson and José Merel, both now 25, face mandatory
sentences of 15 years-to-life for second-degree murder. Superior Court Judge
Harry Sheppard declared a mistrial in the case of the third, Jason Cazares,
who is out on bail. Prosecutors are deliberating whether they will re-try him
and will announce their decision on November 18. Cazares’ lawyer, famed
defense attorney Tony Serra, said he thinks his client was nothing more than
an accessory after the fact, with no role in the brutal murder, other than to
help bury the body.
While all three of the defendants were charged with hate crimes in the case,
none was convicted on that score.
Araujo’s case, like the murder of Matthew Shepard in Wyoming in 1998,
has become a touchstone. Transgendered Americans are murdered at a rate of more
than one per month, according to activist Gwen Smith, who maintains a Web site
chronicling such crimes. Many of those cases are not prosecuted, but the killing
of Araujo, a photogenic young woman at the time of her murder, attracted widespread
interest and outrage.
At a memorial service at San Francisco’s LGBT Community Center after the
verdict was announced, the center’s director, Thom Lynch, said he felt
that justice had not been completely done.
“Some lives are not valued as much as other lives,” he said. “The
battle for equality is far from over.”
Araujo, who was 17 at the time of the killing, was baptized Edward, called herself
Gwen, but was known to her murderers only as a girl named Lida. Prosecutors
maintained that at least two of the men, Merel and Magidson, had sex with Araujo
during their several-month acquaintance with her; but on the night of October
3, 2002, after a night of drinking and partying, they and two other friends,
Nabors and Cazares, discovered she was biologically male and killed her.
The pictures of Araujo’s battered body taken when sheriffs unearthed it
after 13 days in a shallow rocky grave in the Sierra Nevada Mountains confirmed
the brutality of the killing. The basic facts of the murder are not in dispute.
During the trial, Nabors said that on that October night, he and the three other
men, plus José Merel’s older brother Paul, his younger brother
Emmanuel, and Paul Merel’s girlfriend, Nicole Brown, were all in the Merels’
Newark house, on a quiet suburban street in the small, heavily Latino city,
just a few blocks from the police department headquarters. At some point after
2 a.m., when the four accused men closed the local bars, they sat with Brown
and the other Merels at the dining room table and started quizzing Araujo about
her gender. Finally, after Brown led Araujo to the bathroom, lifted the teen’s
skirt, and discovered that Araujo was biologically male, the four accused men
began to subject her to an ordeal of beatings and torture.
The younger and older Merel brothers and Brown soon fled the house, fearing,
they said during the trial, what was about to happen. They did not call the
police—but drove within a block or two of the station. The four men, according
to police accounts, beat Araujo over the head with a can and then a skillet,
smashed her head into a wall with enough force to crack the plaster, and then
dragged her into the garage, where they strangled her with a rope and threw
her body into the bed of Magidson’s pick-up truck. They then set off on
the approximately 150-mile drive to the remote Sierra campground where they
buried the body.
They stopped for breakfast at McDonalds on the way back.
To read the full story, visit:
http://www.gaycitynews.com/gcn_437/twoconvictionsinaraujo.html
In this issue of GSA Network News, you'll find:
GSA Network Highlight
The California Endowment Invests in GSA Network
GSA Network Announcements
1. Hurricane Katrina: A Call to Action and Urgent
Plea
2. Re-Register your GSA today - get new resources & keep informed!!
3. Apply for GSA Network Youth Council! It's Cool! (Statewide)
4. Calling LGBTQ youth to join student speakers panel (Central Valley)
5. GSA Leadership Training (San Mateo County)
6. Liberation Ink Posters - Free For GSAs (Statewide)
7. Sign-up for the High Contrast Photo Exhibit at your school (Bay Area)
8. Register for GSA Network youth activist conferences this Fall!
9. JOB:GSA Network - Central Valley Program Associate
10. JOB:GSA Network - Advocacy Coordinator
11. JOB:GSA Network and ACLU of Southern California Seek Applicants for Legal
Fellowship
Other Announcements
12. New gay-straight youth chorus (Orange County)
13. GSA Social (San Diego)
14. Scouting For All Rally (San Diego)
15. Be a star (MTV public service announcement) for LGBTQ So CA youth ages 16-25
(Southern California)
16. LGBTQ social and support group (Marin)
17. Come see our favorite Tranny Band, the Frootie Flavors (Mountain View)
18. Volunteer on the Community United Against Violence (CUAV) crisis
line (San Francisco)
19. Nominate "Young People For's National Fellowship Program"
20. NEWS: Two found Guilty, One deadlock in the Gwen Araujo murder trial
21. NEWS: Fresno Unified reconsiders bully policy
22. NEWS: Veterans invited to share needs - Officials want to hear from gays
and lesbians, too
23. NEWS: Interview with 2 Student Activists: Fighting for Comprehensive Sex
Ed and GSAs
24. NEWS: Lesbian claims school failed to halt anti-gay abuse
+++++++++++++++ GSA NETWORK HIGHLIGHT+++++++++++++++
The California Endowment Invests in GSA Network
GSA Network is thrilled to announce that The California Endowment has awarded
us a grant of $341,445 over the next 2 years. This is the single largest grant
GSA Network has ever received and it promises to help GSA Network significantly
deepen its impact on school safety for LGBT youth in California in the years
to come.
"Harassment in schools based on actual or perceived sexual orientation
and gender identity has serious health consequences for students," says
Senior Program Officer Barbara Webster-Hawkins. "We are pleased to support
the GSA Network's continued efforts to increase its effectiveness; It is
an important resource to young people who want to make their schools safer."
The grant will enable GSA Network to increase its organizational capacity to
engage in advocacy and organizing on a statewide, regional and local basis to
address harassment and violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
youth in schools throughout California.
About The California Endowment
The California Endowment's mission is to expand access to affordable, quality
health care for underserved individuals and communities, and to promote fundamental
improvements in the health status of all Californians. Learn more at:
http://www.calendow.org
+++++++++++++ GSA NETWORK ANNOUNCEMENTS +++++++++++++
*********************************************
1. Hurricane Katrina: A Call to Action and Urgent Plea
Here at GSA Network, we are deeply saddened by the devastation of Hurricane
Katrina that has affected millions in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. We
are also outraged at the blatant disregard shown by our government in responding
to the wreckage that followed. And perhaps the most disturbing fact is that
much of this could have been prevented.
Hurricane Katrina began as a natural disaster, but the government's shameful
response has turned it into a national disaster. Why was there no mass evacuation
plan in place? Why were thousands brought to the stadium and left with no food
or water? Why did it take days before evacuation plans began? And it was no
accident that black people and poor people in general were the hardest hit.
Those who stayed behind did so simply because they had no car or money.
We are deeply concerned about the LGBT youth and families, among the most vulnerable
in our communities, who have been displaced or separated and are in great need
of housing, food, clothing, and support. Tragically, many LGBT youth and families
may face homophobia and transphobia when seeking assistance.
We encourage you to reach deep in your pockets and contribute generously to
relief efforts. But do not let your humanitarian donations relinquish you of
your responsibility to take action -- demanding accountability from our government
for its negligence and racism and demanding justice and equality for all people
affected by Hurricane Katrina.
GSA Network has joined the "Hurricane Katrina LGBT Relief Fund" --
a coalition effort, launched by our partners NYAC, COLAGE, NCLR, and many others
to ensure that LGBT youth and families receive the critical support they need
to regain stability in their lives.
We encourage you to join us.
In Hurricane Katrina, Mother Nature provided an awesome reminder of her power,
and the power of the indomitable spirit of our fellow Americans.
The complete destruction of cities, towns, and neighborhoods in the poorest
states in our union, and the complete loss of everything for so many, is almost
unfathomable. Thousands of families have absolutely nothing to go home to and
hundreds more people are still looking for their families.
We are awed and humbled by the spirit of community that has emerged in our country
in countless ways over the past few days; and we honor the courage and hope
shown by so many who are still suffering.
In the face of their strength - now is the time to act.
The next few days are critical. No amount is too small to make a difference.
Outstanding national partners are working closely with NYAC to support this
effort and are listed below. More groups are joining all the time.
You can invest in this life-saving effort right now at www.nyacyouth.org/.
Contributions to the fund are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed under
law and will support humanitarian relief for LGBTQ youth and families from the
devastated areas. These funds will be distributed directly to local organizations
in the best position to ensure strategic and high-impact disbursement of the
emergency funds.
Find out more about the impact of your gift in the coming weeks on a new blog
on the NYAC website. Thank you for your investment in protecting and restoring
the lives of LGBTQ young people and their families.
We will get through together.
*********************************************
2. Re-Register your GSA today - get new resources & keep informed!!
Before you plan any events for your GSA, remember to register or re-register
your group with the GSA Network. Do it NOW to make sure you receive our student
activism manuals, FREE posters, other resources, and notifications of future
GSA Network or LGBT-related events. (Mailings will go out only to California
GSAs in middle and high schools.)
Register online at http://www.gsanetwork.org/register/index.php
If you have any questions or concerns contact:
Tanya Mayo, Program Director
tanya@gsanetwork.org
415-552-4229
**********************************************
3. Apply for GSA Network Youth Council! It's Cool! (Statewide)
GSA Network is accepting applications for new Youth Council members.
Go to the website and apply www.gsanetwork.org/about/ycapp.html
The Youth Council is responsible for making decisions about and guiding the
program activities of the GSA Network. They set goals and establish priorities
for the work of our organization. Youth Council members also represent the needs
of GSAs and youth activists from the geographic region of California they represent.
The requirements for joining the Youth Council include:
1. Involved in a GSA or LGBTQ-youth related group in your school.
2. Willing to commit to serve on the Youth Council for one year.
3. Interested in developing and suggesting ideas to strengthen GSAs and the
GSA Network.
4. Committed to creating change for LGBTQ youth and fighting homophobia in schools.
Northern California
Sunday, September 18, 1st Youth Council meeting of the year!
When: Sunday, September 18th, 12:00pm
Where: GSA Network office (160 14th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103)
Directions: The office is located on 14th between South Van Ness and Folsom.
If you're taking BART, get off at the 16th & Mission stop. Walk out of the
station, turn right, and walk down 16th towards S. Van Ness (runs parallel with
Mission). Turn right at the corner of 16th and S. Van Ness and walk two blocks
to 14th and S. Van Ness. Turn right. GSA Network will be on the left halfway
down the block. Our name is on the door. Press the buzzer, & we'll let you
in.
To RSVP or get more info: Contact Lai-San Seto, GSA Network Program Coordinator
at 415-552-4229 or lai-san@gsanetwork.org
Southern California
Saturday, September 24, Youth Council orientation and open meeting
When: Saturday, September 24, 2:00 - 4:30pm
Where: GSA Network Office (605 W. Olympic Ave., Suite 650 Los Angeles, CA 90015)
What: All SoCal Youth interested in participating in GSA Network's Youth Council
for the upcoming school year are welcome to attend. We will be making plans
for the school year, deciding on a Youth Council Project, welcoming new members,
and a variety of other things, as well as scheduling a Training for Youth Council
Trainers. There is a lot to do, and we need the participation and input of youth
from across Southern California.
Call Sandy to RSVP.
For more info contact Sandy@gsanetwork.org
or call 213-534-7162
Central Valley
For more info contact Robin@gsanetwork.org
or call 559-453-9040
*********************************************
4. Calling LGBTQ youth to join student speakers panel (Central Valley)
GSA Network is looking for LGBTQ youth in Fresno and the Central Valley that are interested in being a part of a speakers bureau for the 2005-2006 school year. Youth ages 12-21 will be asked to speak about their personal experiences both in school and in their home life to teachers, administrators and fellow students. Some stipends are available. Call today!
For more info contact Robin@gsanetwork.org or call 559-453-9040
*********************************************
5. GSA Leadership Training (San Mateo County)
WHO: GSA Members, potential members, and GSA advisors
WHEN: Saturday, October 1st, 2005, 10:00-4:00 (Free food!)
WHERE: Mills High School---400 Murchison Drive in Millbrae
(East Gym)
COST: Free!
CO-SPONSORS: Mills H.S. GSA & PFLAG-Peninsula Chapter
Directions from BART: Get off at the Millbrae stop. Turn right
(west) and walk down Millbrae Avenue to El Camino. Turn left (south) and walk
one block south to Murchison where you will turn right. Mills High is located
at 400 Murchison about half a block from El Camino.
For more information or to RSVP, please contact: Lai-San Seto, GSA Network Northern
CA Program Coordinator, at 415-552-4229 or email
lai-san@gsanetwork.org
*********************************************
6. Liberation Ink Posters - Free For GSAs (Statewide)
LIBERATION INK POSTERS AVAILABLE
FREE FOR GSAs IN CALIFORNIA!!
Seven poster designs are available for GSAs, organizations, and individuals to make change by building a presence of youth voices for justice, peace, and youth empowerment and against hatred, harassment, and discrimination of all kinds. Every GSA in California can receive 30 FREE posters to use at your school. You can order more than 30 for $1 each. From community organizations and individuals we request a donation of $5 each for 1-10 posters, $4 each for 11-30 posters, and large quantity discounts are available.
You can view the designs and order posters on the Liberation Ink website:
www.gsanetwork.org/freezone/liberation.
HERE ARE SOME WAYS TO USE LIBERATION INK TO MAKE CHANGE AT YOUR SCHOOL!
* Attach information about your GSA to the posters to advertise and recruit
members.
* Encourage teachers to hang the posters in their classrooms.
* Have GSA members lead discussions and activities related to the posters.
* Use the posters as part of an anti-slur campaign.
* Put the posters up in the courtyard with easels and/or use while you're tabling.
* Get the posters printed in your school or community newspaper with an article
or announcement about your GSA.
* Create an agreement for teachers to sign and give them posters to symbolize
their support.
* Display the whole Liberation Ink series in one place or fill a whole wall
with posters in a grid.
* Use the posters in conjunction with Day of Silence (April), Transgender Day
of Remembrance (November), LGBT History Month (October), LGBT Pride Month (June),
Coming Out Day (October 11), or Diversity Day or Week at your school.
Liberation Ink was a collaborative project of GSA Network, LYRIC, and
Mission Grafica at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts in San Francisco.
It was supported by the Youth Initiatives Program of the Open Society Institute,
the San Francisco Arts Commission, and the Walter and Elise Haas Fund.
**********************************************
7. Sign-up for the High Contrast Photo Exhibit at your school (Bay Area)
GSA Network's High Contrast photo exhibit is on the move again!
A photo-narrative exhibit by youth and for youth.
"I think it was powerful and provocative and sparked good conversations."
- GSA Advisor
"There were at least 400 students that interacted with the exhibit. The
whole week while High Contrast was there, the GSA and other groups on campus
did workshops on hate crimes and ways to deal with it-letting students know
that it is an issue that needs to be addressed." - GSA student president
"Many students responded well to the universality of human issues and emotions.
The emotions weren't just linked to being gay, they were feelings we all have."
- GSA Advisor
In this exhibit we bring you our voices with hopes that you will hear us, see
us... and identify. We use art as a means for change -- to show people what
they might not choose to see, to incite dialogue, and to inspire transformation.
We want to make schools free from harassment, discrimination, and violence.
We don't want anyone to leave thinking, "this isn't my issue." Because
all kinds of people are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. Because there
are so many shades to our identities. Because we all deserve to be safe enough
to learn.
High Contrast is available for circulation as of October 1. If you
are a GSA in the Bay Area and are interested in bringing the High Contrast
photo exhibit to your school, email highcontrast@gsanetwork.org.
For more information on, and pictures of, High Contrast go to:
www.gsanetwork.org/highcontrast/index.html
*********************************************
8. Register for GSA Network youth activist conferences this Fall!
For the 2005-2006 school year, kick-off your GSA with a Fall youth activist conference and dance. GSA Network's annual youth conferences are going to be held earlier in the year, so you can use all the skills and resources you get throughout the school year!!
Bay Area - Y.E.S. (Youth Empowerment Summit) December 3rd
2005
Register online at www.gsanetwork.org/yes/
Central Valley - E.N.S. (Expression Not Suppression) October
29th 2005
Register online at www.gsanetwork.org/ens/
*********************************************
9. JOBS: GSA Network - Central Valley Program Associate
Central Valley Program Associate: GSA Network is looking for a part-time (20 hours/week) Program Associate to work in our Fresno office. The Program Associate will assist the Central Valley Program Coordinator with grassroots community organizing and program implementation throughout the region. A demonstrated passion for LGBTQ youth leadership and empowerment, experience in policy advocacy, and a commitment to social justice are required for this position. Visit http://www.gsanetwork.org for the complete job announcement.
*********************************************
10. JOBS: GSA Network - Advocacy Coordinator
Advocacy Coordinator: GSA Network is embarking on an exciting expansion of its policy advocacy and organizing efforts with youth and is looking to hire an Advocacy Coordinator. The Advocacy Coordinator is responsible for engaging LGBTQ and straight ally youth in policy advocacy work at the state level, training youth leaders in public policy and civic engagement, and organizing a Queer Youth Advocacy Day in Sacramento in March 2006 for 500-1000 youth. A demonstrated passion for LGBTQ youth leadership and empowerment, experience in policy advocacy, and a commitment to social justice are required for this position. Visit www.gsanetwork.org for the complete job announcement.
**********************************************
11. JOBS: GSA Network and ACLU of Southern California Seek Applicants
for Legal Fellowship
The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California (ACLU-SC), along with the Gay-Straight Alliance Network, is seeking to sponsor an applicant for the Pride Law Fund fellowship and other public interest fellowships to commence in the Fall of 2006. The fellow would specialize in advocacy on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students, particularly in schools in rural areas. The fellowship would involve both direct advocacy and impact litigation on behalf of LGBT youth and their right to a safe and equal learning environment, their right to form gay straight alliance clubs, and their free expression rights. Visit www.gsanetwork.org for the complete job announcement.
++++++++++++++++ OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS ++++++++++++++++
GSA Network News is a publication of Gay-Straight Alliance Network. Events,
resources, and news items listed under "Other Announcements" are not
sponsored or written by GSA Network, and do not necessarily reflect the views
and opinions of GSA Network.
**********************************************
12. New gay-straight youth chorus (Orange County)
Gay, straight, bisexual, and questioning teens have a new opportunity to make
their voices heard in Orange County. A new youth chorus, launched by Men Alive:
The Orange County Gay Men's Chorus and The Center Orange County, seeks singers
between the ages of 13 and 18 who value the opportunity to join together in pursuit
of musical excellence and in support of equality and harmony.
The new chorus--to be named later by its members--will rehearse on Saturday
mornings at The Center, located in Garden Grove. The ensemble's director, Eliza
Rubenstein, is also the Artistic Director of the Orange County Women's Chorus
and the Long Beach Chorale & Chamber Orchestra.
Nationwide, there are more than 200 adult choruses for gay and lesbian singers
and their straight colleagues, but Orange County becomes one of only a handful
of places in North America with an ensemble specifically dedicated to youth.
The new chorus will be modeled in part after the Gay-Straight Alliances that
have already helped to build bridges and increase understanding among high-school
students throughout the country.
The ensemble will make its debut as featured guests on Men Alive's holiday
concert, to be held on December 4 at the beautiful Irvine Barclay Theater
in Irvine, California.
Interested singers are strongly encouraged to contact Eliza Rubenstein directly
by calling (714) 662-5402 or e-mailing mailto:youthchorus@sbcglobal.net
WHAT: New youth chorus for gay, straight, lesbian, bisexual, and questioning
teens, ages 13 to 18
WHEN AND WHERE: Rehearsals on Saturday mornings at The Center, Garden Grove
CONTACT: Eliza Rubenstein, (714) 662-5402 or <mailto:youthchorus@sbcglobal.net>youthchorus@sbcglobal.net;
see also www.menalivechorus.org>www.menalivechorus.org
back to top
*********************************************
13. GSA Social (San Diego)
Thursday, October 13th
6:00-9:30
4070 Centre St. (in Hillcrest)
For all GSA students and advisors in San Diego County
Organized by GLSEN SD County
Pizza and soft drinks provided
Short discussion forum with movie (TBA) to follow.
Free
Please RSVP to Mick at glsensd@glsensd.org
back to top
*********************************************
14. Scouting For All Rally (San Diego)
Protesting the Boy Scouts of America's policies of exclusion against LGBT and
atheist youth and adults.
This IS a public school issue since the scouts get free use of public school
facilities for their troop and pack meeting places, but proudly exclude LGBT
and atheist youth from becoming scouts. It is unlawful for public school facilities
to continue to subsidize this discrimination by providing this free space, so
part of the rally speaking will address this issue as well as the larger ethical
issue of a youth organization (especially one as extensive and powerful as the
BSA) promoting hateful values.
When: Sunday, October 9
Time: 11:00 AM -12:30 PM
Location: Boy Scouts Desert Pacific Council, 1207 Upas
Street, San Diego, CA 92103. Need directions?
For Directions go to www.mapquest.com/>
Mapquest
RSVP to Mick at comick1@aol.com
More information can be found at our website: www.sdscoutingforall.org
*********************************************
15. Be a star (MTV - PSA) for LGBTQ So CA youth ages 16-25 (Southern
California)
Public Interest in conjunction with MTV is seeking young same sex couples for
a public service announcement. We are looking for high school students in a
same sex relationship for 4 months or more to briefly talk about their relationship
on camera for a very powerful piece to air on MTV and mtvU. This will be a 30-second
spot aired on MTV in October in heavy rotation as well as a 3-minute piece to
air on mtvU-the university arm of the MTV network. This spot is to increase
awareness of and for same sex couples as well as to provide people- gay and
straight alike- positive examples of same sex relationships. This piece will
go a long way towards shattering the stereotypes associated with homosexuality
and also will provide strong role models for people coming out now or those
thinking about it. This is a chance to show your peers and the rest of society
that same sex relationships can be positive, healthy, and fulfilling and that
same sex relationships deserve the same equality as heterosexual relationships.
This is your chance to be a role model for the new generation of young gays
as well as effect change in how society views same sex relationships. We will
be filming in Southern California Sept 19-20 so please contact me immediately
if you are interested. This is an excellent opportunity and a wonderful way
to show your pride. Thanks and I hope to speak to you soon.
Greg Fieser, Casting Director
Public Interest Productions
greg@publicinterest.tv
310.664.4652
*********************************************
16. LGBTQ social and support group (Marin)
Rainbow's End is a facilitated social and support group for lesbian,
gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth ages 14-19; meets weekly on
Wednesday nights from 7-9pm in Marin for fun, discussion, and support.
Contact Cristin Brew for details at 415-457-1115 x203, email cbrew@spectrummarin.org
*********************************************
17. Come see our favorite Tranny Band, the Frootie Flavors (Mountain
View)
When: Thursday, Sept. 15th!
They will be playing for an Outlet Thank You event from 7:30-9pm at the Mountain View Recreation Center on 201 S. Rengstorff in the auditorium.
This is a free event open to all lgbtqq youth 13-20 and allies!
Come enjoy some food and drinks and meet some new people while listening to
a great band! This is a non-alcoholic event.
Directions are below. Hope to see you there!! Any questions, just contact Eileen
at eross@chacmv.org or 650-965-2020 ext. 22.
www.frootieflavors.com/
From 101: take the Rengstorff exit going away from the Bay. Follow that past
the railroad tracks. You'll see a park on your left. The Mountain View Rec Center
is just past that park (actually part of the park) on your left.
From 280 coming from San Jose: take 280 north to 85 north, get off at the El
Camino/Sunnyvale exit going towards El Camino Real. Follow El Camino to Rengstorff
and take a right on Rengstorff, go about a mile or so. After you cross over
California street, look for the Rec on your right, just past an apartment complex
in the park.
*********************************************
18. Volunteer on the Community United Against Violence (CUAV)
crisis line (San Francisco)
You can support queer survivors of hate violence & domestic violence by volunteering on the Community United Against Violence (CUAV) crisis line.
CUAV is currently looking for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, &
questioning folks and their allies who are:
* Compassionate people willing to listen to others
* Folks who are committed to the struggle to end racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism,
and all other oppressions FALL 2005
5 DAY TRAINING DATES:
Saturday November 5 & Sunday November 6;
Saturday November12 & Sunday November 13;
Saturday November 19.
All sessions run from 9:30 AM-6:00 PM
Full attendance at ALL 5 training days is required.
For more information, contact Vanissar at CUAV 415-777-5500, ext 323 / vanissar@cuav.org
Folks of color, transgender folks, women, and survivors of violence strongly
encouraged to volunteer. We offer stipends to bilingual counselors.
Community United Against Violence is a multicultural, multi-lingual anti-oppression
organization that prevents and responds to violence against and within our diverse
LGBTQQ communities.
*********************************************
19. Nominate "Young People For's National Fellowship Program"
It's that time of the year again!
Young People For's National Fellowship Program for the country's top student
leaders and activists. This year we are selecting 165 fellows from 50 campuses
in 10 states; three students will be selected from each campus.
Community organizers, we need your help today to identify outstanding students
and nominate freshmen, sophomores and juniors who have impressed you with their
leadership and activism on campus. We invite you to nominate up to 10 students
for the 2006 Fellowship Program; students who you think will benefit from the
unique opportunity.
The fellowship begins with a free, all-expenses paid national summit for the
Class of 2006 Fellows from January 13-16, 2006 in Washington, D.C. with networking,
receptions, workshops and trainings on how to:
*Develop networks and coalitions
*Learn effective messaging techniques
*Develop your political ideology
*Use the Media to get your message out
*Improve your grassroots organizing and leadership skills
*Run for elected office
Following the January summit, fellows will have the opportunity to organize
with other fellows on their campus and around the country - and receive financial
and organizational support to work toward positive social change on campus and
in the community!
Please go to www.youngpeoplefor.org
and submit your nominations online today! The application deadline is quickly
approaching!
If you have any questions, please feel free to call us at 212.420.0440 x26.
*********************************************
20. NEWS: Two found Guilty, One deadlock in the Gwen Araujo murder trial
SAN FRANCISCO
Transgender community feels joy, anger at Araujo verdict
Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
The Bay Area's transgender community was both heartened and disappointed with
the verdicts in the Gwen Araujo murder trial Monday, praising the jury for delivering
justice but wishing all three defendants had been found guilty of murder and
a hate crime.
Leaders in the community said the jury's rejection of a "transgender panic"
defense -- in which Araujo's gender identity absolved the men of some guilt
in the crime -- represented significant progress.
"It sends a message that you can no longer blame the victim for what happened,"
said Cecilia Chung, deputy director of the Transgender Law Center in San Francisco.
"You can't blame a transgender person for being who she or he is."
The Araujo case has prompted public discourse about the transgender community
and transgender issues.
Several thousand students in Bay Area schools have heard Araujo's mother speak
about her daughter since the 2002 killing, and the case has received coverage
in national and Bay Area media outlets, several of which developed policies
on the use of pronouns and names in describing transgender people. The Chronicle,
for example, now uses pronouns and names that are preferred by transgender individuals
who have the physical attributes of the opposite sex.
Major Spanish-language outlets covered the case more than they had any previous
crime with an LGBT victim, said Monica Taher, people of color media director
for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
"This was a huge story at the local and national level," Taher said.
"Every time there was an update from the court, the (Spanish-language)
media was there covering. I didn't see that with the Matthew Shepard case."
With support from a fund set up in memory of Araujo at the Horizons Foundation,
Araujo's mother, Sylvia Guerrero, spoke to more than 20 schools and shared her
story with students, teachers and school administrators.
"Sylvia changed people's minds," said Carolyn Laub, executive director
of the Gay Straight Alliance Network, which coordinated Guerrero's speaking
tour. "She changed their hearts about transgender and gay, lesbian and
bisexual people. Her pain and her family's pain in this tragedy were able to
spread a message about love and acceptance."
To read the full story, visit: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/09/13/BAGP6EMQBJ1.DTL
********
Two found guilty of 2nd degree murder in Araujo case, jury deadlocks
on third manBy Yomi S. Wronge
Mercury News
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
An Alameda County jury this afternoon convicted two defendants for the killing
of a transgender Newark teenager, but deadlocked on the third defendant.
Capping the second trial in the Gwen Araujo case, the jury found Michael Magidson
and Jose Merel guilty of second degree murder in verdicts unsealed this afternoon
in Hayward. But the four-woman, eight-man jury deadlocked 9-3 in favor of a
second degree murder conviction for Jason Cazares.
Judge Harry Sheppard declared .wa mistrial in Cazares' case. It will be up to
the Alameda County District Attorney to decide whether to pursue a third trial
against him.
Magidson and Merel could received 15 years to life in prison.
This was the second trial for the three men, who grew up in southern Alameda
County. Last year a mistrial was declared after a previous jury deadlocked on
charges against Magidson, Cazares and Merel, who are all 25 years old. The district
attorney's office refiled the charges, and the second trial began June 1.
The jury had been deliberating since Aug. 31. By last week, they had reportedly
reached verdicts on two defendants, but reportedly had reached an impasse on
the third defendant.
Defense lawyers in the first trial seemed to work in tandem, at once attacking
the credibility of the state's star witness -- Jaron Nabors, a fourth man who
was part of the killing and struck a deal with prosecutors to avoid a lengthy
prison sentence -- and asserting that Gwen's killing was manslaughter, a lesser
offense committed in the heat of passion by young men suddenly and violently
confused about their own sexuality.
To read the full story, visit: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/counties/alameda_county/12627209.htm
********
2 guilty of murder in Araujo's death
Mistrial declared for third man accused of killing transgender teen after jury
deadlocks
By Michelle Locke, Associated Press
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
HAYWARD — Two men who had sex with a transgender teen and then discovered
she was biologically male were convicted Monday of her murder but cleared of
hate crime charges.
Fremont resident Michael Magidson and Newark resident Jose Merel, both 25, face
mandatory sentences of 15 years to life in prison for second-degree murder in
the killing of Gwen Araujo, who was beaten, tied up and strangled.
The jury was deadlocked in the case of a third man, Jason Cazares, 25, of Newark,
marking the second time a mistrial was declared in his case. A prosecutor said
the jurors' last vote was 9 to 3 in favor of a murder conviction, but he did
not know if it was on a charge of first-degree or second-degree murder.
There were sobs in the Alameda County courtroom as the verdicts were read, and
Merel held his head in his hands.
Although many people outraged by the slaying had hoped all three men would be
convicted of first-degree murder, the victim's mother, Sylvia Guerrero, said
she was satisfied with the two guilty verdicts.
Defense attorneys had argued the killing was no more than manslaughter committed
in the heat of passion, a claim that infuriated Araujo's family and transgender
advocates, who had been watching the case closely.
"Nothing is going to bring Gwen back. I know that," Guerrero said.
"But this is at least a step toward closure."
To read the full story, visit: www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_3025078
********
S.F. rally honors Araujo
By Jonathan Jones, STAFF WRITER
San Francisco Chronicle
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
SAN FRANCISCO — A group of 40 people held hands and formed a circle around
a pink memorial outside the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community
Center on Monday evening in honor of Gwen Araujo.
The memorial, which was erected at the beginning of the first trial and called
"The Angel of Justice Altar," soon will be taken down. The verdicts
were taped to a mirror on the memorial near a statement that read: "This
is the face of the future for a world without hate crimes."
Many at the 6 p.m. gathering said they were relieved the jury rejected the "gay-panic"
defense strategy and found two defendants guilty of murder. Others clearly were
upset that the verdicts did not include a hate-crime enhancement, and one woman
shouted, "Justice was not done!"
"What this really means to the community is that, for the first time, we
felt like we really have some justice toward the murder of a transgender person,"
said Cecilia Chung, deputy director of the Transgender Law Center. "You
can no longer blame the victim for what happened."
But Thom Lynch, executive director of the community center, said he had mixed
emotions about the verdicts.
"There is still a feeling of disappointment that some lives are not valued
as much as other lives and that there's a great deal of education that needs
to happen," Lynch said. "Because if this was not a crime of hate,
I don't know what was. ... The battle and the fight for equality and for understanding
is far from over."
San Francisco Assemblyman Mark Leno said if Araujo had not been a transgender
person, "No. 1, the crime would not have occurred. And the brutality would
not have been (as bad) as it was. This was a hate crime because she was a transgender
woman."
To read the full story, visit: http://www.insidebayarea.com/argus/localnews/ci_3024745
*********************************************
21. NEWS: Fresno Unified reconsiders bully policy
- District settles legal complaint, will vote on changes.
By Erin Kennedy / The Fresno Bee
September 11, 2005
Regina Martinez agonized as much as her three sons when she'd send them off
to Fremont Elementary in Fresno, even as they complained of stomach aches and
begged to stay home. Often her fourth-grader would throw up once he got to class.
Martinez knew it was all because of the taunts of "gay" and "fag"
that her boys - especially Steven Villanueva, then a fifth-grader - got from
other kids. During recess, Steven says, he was tripped and poked with pencils.
Martinez complained for months to teachers, the principal, one of Fresno Unified's
assistant superintendents, and then, finally, to police. "It took for me
to get a lawyer for them to finally listen to me" and then transfer the
boys to another school, Martinez says.
According to Martinez's complaint, the response from a police officer and from
the school district administrator was: "Kids will be kids."
Fresno Unified's new superintendent, Michael Hanson, hopes to change that traditional
mind-set and make all schools a safe and welcoming place for all students.
On Wednesday, Fresno Unified trustees are set to vote on changes to the district's
anti-bullying policy and on contracts for consultants to train administrators,
school safety coordinators, resource officers and high school staffs in civility
and anti-discrimination issues. The proposed new anti-bullying policy adds the
promise to train school employees to recognize behaviors among students that
would indicate when they are victims of bullying.
"Bullying takes so many different forms that, frankly, it's hard to recognize
all the time," Hanson said. "But it is very important for us to deal
with this."
The proposed revision requires reporting of suspected bullying. It also adds
language covering incidents related to "a student's actual or perceived
sex, gender, color, race, ethnic group identification, religion, national origin,
and physical or developmental disability, age or sexual orientation."
Contracts have been drafted for Tides Center/Gay Straight Alliance Network to
work next year with high schools and help with classroom instruction on anti-bullying,
and for Kanwarpal K. Dhaliwal of Oakland to provide 12 staff training sessions
for administrators districtwide.
Fresno Unified agreed to pay the Martinez/Villanueva family an undisclosed amount
last week to settle its legal complaint on the bullying. In her complaint, Martinez
alleged that she felt Fresno Unified's staff lacked training to recognize bullying
or its impact, that her sons were never provided counseling, and the bullies
were never talked to or encouraged to correct their behavior.
Martinez says Fremont Principal Deborah Schlueter promised to circulate an advisory
to teachers saying: "Steven Villanueva is having a particularly tough time.
He is being called 'gay' and 'fag,' which is sexual harassment. … Please
watch all students for these behaviors."
The warning asks that teachers report incidents to her, keep the information
confidential and then sign it after they'd read it. Martinez says there was
no proof teachers ever saw that request.
Schlueter says she can't talk about what happened. "The district is taking
positive steps and they're giving us a lot of support and training on bullying,"
she says.
Fresno Unified already has been trying to address bullying, even in advance
of the proposed policy change, said district spokeswoman Susan Bedi. "Our
district held a mandatory training for administrators in the month before school
started, on bullying and related topics, and what our responsibilities are.
It has been made very clear that remarks such as 'kids will be kids' are totally
unacceptable."
That's exactly the fix Steven would've asked for. He adds: "They [students]
should have a lesson a week about bullying. They should do it every Friday afternoon."
A beginning-of-the-school-year student assembly on respect isn't enough, he
says.
Steven is a bright-eyed, talkative boy, with spiky black hair and a wide, easy
smile. He squints, then bites his lip and thinks before describing what happened
to him and his little brothers at Fremont.
"It was horrible. … I will get over it someday."
Steven's younger brother, Moses Villanueva, now a fifth-grader, can't talk about
it. He puts his head down and cries.
To read the full story, visit: www.fresnobee.com/local/story/11206677p-11958044c.html
*********************************************
22. NEWS: Veterans invited to share needs - Officials
want to hear from gays and lesbians, too
By Laura Florez
Visalia Times-Delta
September 3, 2005
Veterans aren't always willing to say they need help, especially when it comes
to their mental health.
To fix that, the county's Health and Human Services Agency will this month reach
out to veterans and ask them what the agency can do to help. The meeting is
a way for the county to provide services to unserved and underserved populations
as required by the Mental Health Services Act....
...This month the county will host meetings to address the needs of veterans
and those of the gay and lesbian community.
After gathering input, the county will apply for funding through the Mental
Health Services Act to serve the unserved and underserved populations.
Robin McGehee, an instructor at College of the Sequoias and a program coordinator
for the Gay Straight Alliance Network based in Fresno, said members of the gay
and lesbian community have long needed support in Tulare County.
"They need someone to talk to. They're going into bouts of depression;
they have suicidal tendencies -all sorts of things that are plaguing them,"
she said. "They don't know where to turn; they can't turn to their family.
They need services that they may not feel openly able to ask for because they
are in the closet."
To read the full story, visit: www.visaliatimesdelta.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2005509030332
*********************************************
23. NEWS: Interview with 2 Student Activists: Fighting for Comprehensive
Sex Ed and GSAs
The following interview appeared in a publication of Citizens Project, an organization
based in Colorado Springs that mobilizes people to strengthen the traditional
values of our nation: equal rights, individual freedoms, separation of church
and state, civic engagement, and respect for diversity.
Sara Thomas interned with Citizens Project this summer and is the lead plaintiff
in the current lawsuit against School District 11 for denying access to a Gay
Straight Alliance at Palmer High School in Colorado Springs. She is now a sophomore
at Grinnell College in Iowa.
Shelby Knox is a student who was recently featured on PBS's Point of View
series for her tireless work for comprehensive sexual education at her high
school in Lubbock, Texas. She is now a sophomore at the University of Texas
- Austin.
Citizens Project (CP) asked these two, as leaders of a rising generation of
activists passionate for equal rights and the separation of church and state,
to converse, reflecting on their experiences. We are proud of youth who take
on these issues, and would be pleased to support other such initiatives in Colorado
Springs.
CP: As a young person, how did you feel navigating the policy process
in your local school district? Did you know of another student's attempt to
change a policy?
Shelby: At the time, I didn't see what I was doing as such
an organized movement. I saw a problem and knew that, as a student in the school
district, my voice could be powerful. I thought that once the school board heard
from one of its students that the sex education policy was not working it would
immediately listen and be willing to discuss changes. After their initial rejection
I found myself looking at the work as a movement toward change, now working
against the powers that governed the school board. In a way, that was more empowering
because I felt like I was fighting a dangerous and destructive policy being
perpetrated by adults who knew that it was dangerous. At the time, I did not
know of any other teens working to change a policy. It would have been helpful
to have a model to follow, or a teen who had done the same thing, to talk to.
Sara: I had a very similar experience. I knew that a Gay/Straight
Alliance was needed and that students were being harmed by the lack of open
support. I never really got to the place where I felt like I was in a movement.
I saw what I was doing as something that needed to be done. It wasn't until
the school district started renegotiating the clubs/organizations policy that
I really began to look at policy and what it meant to me and to the other students
in the school. I had some knowledge of other students working for gay friendly
policies, but I didn't have as much knowledge about their experiences as I would
have liked … in fact, it wasn't until I talked to the ACLU that I realized
the school had been faced with a similar situation in 1999. I absolutely know
what you mean about having another teen to talk to. I was lucky in that I got
to talk to the girl responsible for starting a GSA at Lewis-Palmer, a high school
in another Colorado Springs district. It was nice to know I wasn't the first
one.
To read the full interview, visit: www.citizensproject.org/watch/fw0805.htm#article2
*********************************************
24. NEWS: Lesbian claims school failed to halt anti-gay abuse
By JEFFREY GOLD
Newsday
September 7, 2005
NEWARK, N.J. -- A lesbian student claimed that abuse from fellow teenagers at
Holmdel High School was so severe she avoided bathrooms and wore gym gear under
her clothes so she would not have to change in the locker room.
Nancy Wadington said she was forced to leave the school in her junior year because
of persistent assaults, including one in which she was pushed down a stairway
and hurt an ankle, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday against the Holmdel
Board of Education.
"While I was at Holmdel High School, I felt every day I would be attacked
by students, verbally and physically," Wadington, now 18, told reporters
at a news conference in Newark announcing the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, Wadington's backpack and books were stolen several
times, and in one case they were found in a boys' bathroom covered in urine.
Her mother, Barbara Wadington, said at the news conference, "I contacted
the school on many occasions, pleading with them to protect my child, but nothing
worked."
To read the full story, visit: www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newjersey/ny-bc-nj--gaystudent-lawsui0907sep07,0,6169758.story?coll=ny-region-apnewjersey
GSA Network would like to say how saddened we are by the events of the last week as a result of hurricane Katrina and the federal government's inadequate response to this national disaster. Please know the people of the Gulf Coast are in our hearts and minds.
In this issue of GSA Network News, you'll find:
GSA Network Highlight
The fight for safer schools starts with YOU!!
GSA Network Announcements
1. Re-Register your GSA today - get new resources & keep informed!!
2. Apply for GSA Network Youth Council! It's Cool! (Statewide)
3. Calling LGBTQ youth to join student speakers panel (Central Valley)
4. FREE - SF screening of TransGenerations (San Francisco)
5. GSA Leadership Training (San Mateo County)
6. Liberation Ink Posters - Free For GSAs (Statewide)
7. Sign-up for the High Contrast Photo Exhibit at your school (Bay Area)
8. Register for GSA Network youth activist conferences this Fall!
9. JOB:GSA Network - Advocacy Coordinator
10. JOB:GSA Network and ACLU of Southern California Seek Applicants for Legal
Fellowship
Other Announcements
11. LYRIC Internships (San Francisco)
12. National Gay, Bi and Trans Men's Health Summit 2005
13. Love+Politics - listserv for diverse co-housing and group
housing (Bay Area)
14. GSA's subscribe to The Center Orange County youth yahoo group (Orange County)
15. Panel and Discussion: Marriage Equality: How It Helps Our Families And How
Our Families Can Help!
16. JOB: New Connections is hiring!! (Contra Costa County)
17. NEWS: Bakersfield Students Sue to Write About Gays
18. NEWS: Jury to continue deliberations in Gwen Araujo murder trial
+++++++++++++++ GSA NETWORK HIGHLIGHT+++++++++++++++
The fight for safer schools starts with YOU!!
GSA Network wants to welcome you to a great new school year. This is an excellent time to get educated, get organized, and get all the necessary tools you need to create change!
Gender neutral bathrooms, teacher trainings, or LGBTQ literature in the library? What new campaign will you take on this year in school? Administer school climate surveys, participate in the Day of Silence, or work to stop slurs and name calling on your campus. This and so much more is needed and in the words of the late June Jordan "We are the one's we've been waiting for." So let's get started!
Here are some tools from GSA Network that will help you decide on which hot new campaign your school wants to take on this year, what's not hot in 2005, and how you can stay ahead of the game.
WHAT'S HOT
* Take it Back
Back by popular demand, it's GSA Network's anti-slur campaign organizing manual:
Take It Back: A Manual for Fighting Slurs on Campus, which you can
download at www.gsanetwork.org/takeitback/
* Knowing your rights.
-Read the AB 537 Fact Sheet at www.gsanetwork.org/resources/ab537.html
and GSAs Legal Rights at www.gsanetwork.org/resources/legal.html.
- SB 71 fact sheet. Learn the basic facts about the new laws on sexual health
education and how they affect students at www.gsanetwork.org/resources/index.html
* Going beyond the binary of Boy-Girl
GSA Network's "Beyond the Binary: A Tool Kit for Gender Identity Activism
in Schools" This is our new publication to get you ready to fight gender
oppression at your school at www.gsanetwork.org/BeyondtheBinary/toolkit.html
* Arts Activism
GSA Network's traveling art exhibits: High Contrast, and the Liberation
Ink poster series. GSAs in California can order their 30 free posters for
this year at: www.gsanetwork.org/freezone/liberation/index.html
* Fat new GSA Network resource sheets!
Improve your GSA and build your leadership at the same time! COMING SOON: Day
of Truth - Fighting the increased attacks of the Christian Right, Marriage Equality
- Rights for all, How to start a GSA in a faith-based school, and Life after
High School.
WHAT's NOT HOT
* Homophobic Slurs
* Transphobic Policies
* Racist Curriculum
* Not letting people who love each other get married
* Not letting same-sex couples hold hands at school or go to dances together
* Hateful Day of Truth Trucks
* Saying "that's so gay"
HOW DO I STAY UP TO DATE?
*Sign up for the GSA Network weekly e-mail newsletter.
Tell all your friends to sign up and definitely sign your advisor up!
Sign up here: www.gsanetwork.org/news/index.html.
* Look for all of GSA Network publications. These
will be mailed out to GSAs registered in California in September and throughout
the year. Check out www.gsanetwork.org/resources/index.html
for all of our resources.
*Save the date for the GSA Network conferences: October
29th in Fresno and December 3rd in S.F.
*Join the GSA Network Youth Council in your area.
Train other youth, plan conferences and help support GSAs throughout your region.
Join by visiting: www.gsanetwork.org/about/index.html#youthcouncil
BUT YOU MUST BE REGISTERED TO RECEIVE ALL THIS FREE STUFF. (Even
if you are registered please update your info this year.)
If you are a GSA in California and you not registered with GSA Network please
go to:
http://www.gsanetwork.org/register/index.php
Have great year and keep up the amazing activism you do!
+++++++++++++ GSA NETWORK ANNOUNCEMENTS +++++++++++++
*********************************************
1. Re-Register your GSA today - get new resources & keep informed!!
Before you plan any events for your GSA, remember to register or re-register
your group with the GSA Network. Do it NOW to make sure you receive our student
activism manuals, FREE posters, other resources, and notifications of future
GSA Network or LGBT-related events. (Mailings will go out only to California
GSAs in middle and high schools.)
Register online at http://www.gsanetwork.org/register/index.php
If you have any questions or concerns contact:
Tanya Mayo, Program Director
tanya@gsanetwork.org
415-552-4229
**********************************************
2. Apply for GSA Network Youth Council! It's Cool! (Statewide)
GSA Network is accepting applications for new Youth Council members.
Go to the website and apply www.gsanetwork.org/about/ycapp.html
The Youth Council is responsible for making decisions about and guiding the
program activities of the GSA Network. They set goals and establish priorities
for the work of our organization. Youth Council members also represent the needs
of GSAs and youth activists from the geographic region of California they represent.
The requirements for joining the Youth Council include:
1. Involved in a GSA or LGBTQ-youth related group in your school.
2. Willing to commit to serve on the Youth Council for one year.
3. Interested in developing and suggesting ideas to strengthen GSAs and the
GSA Network.
4. Committed to creating change for LGBTQ youth and fighting homophobia in schools.
Northern California
Sunday, September 18, 1st Youth Council meeting of the year!
When: Sunday, September 18th, 12:00pm
Where: GSA Network office (160 14th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103)
Directions: The office is located on 14th between South Van Ness and Folsom.
If you're taking BART, get off at the 16th & Mission stop. Walk out of the
station, turn right, and walk down 16th towards S. Van Ness (runs parallel with
Mission). Turn right at the corner of 16th and S. Van Ness and walk two blocks
to 14th and S. Van Ness. Turn right. GSA Network will be on the left halfway
down the block. Our name is on the door. Press the buzzer, & we'll let you
in.
To RSVP or get more info: Contact Lai-San Seto, GSA Network Program Coordinator
at 415-552-4229 or lai-san@gsanetwork.org
Southern California
Saturday, September 24, Youth Council orientation and open meeting
When: Saturday, September 24, 2:00 - 4:30pm
Where: GSA Network Office (605 W. Olympic Ave., Suite 650 Los Angeles, CA 90015)
What: All SoCal Youth interested in participating in GSA Network's Youth Council
for the upcoming school year are welcome to attend. We will be making plans
for the school year, deciding on a Youth Council Project, welcoming new members,
and a variety of other things, as well as scheduling a Training for Youth Council
Trainers. There is a lot to do, and we need the participation and input of youth
from across Southern California.
Call Sandy to RSVP.
For more info contact Sandy@gsanetwork.org
or call 213-534-7162
Central Valley
For more info contact Robin@gsanetwork.org
or call 559-453-9040
*********************************************
3. Calling LGBTQ youth to join student speakers panel (Central Valley)
GSA Network is looking for LGBTQ youth in Fresno and the Central Valley that are interested in being a part of a speakers bureau for the 2005-2006 school year. Youth ages 12-21 will be asked to speak about their personal experiences both in school and in their home life to teachers, administrators and fellow students. Some stipends are available. Call today!
For more info contact Robin@gsanetwork.org or call 559-453-9040
********************************************
4. FREE - SF screening of TransGenerations (San Francisco)
Date: September 9th
Time: 6-9pm
Location: LGBT Community Center, Rainbow Room / 1800 market
/ S.F. (near the F train stop)
Short Synopsis
Sundance Channel's eight-part original documentary series "TransGeneration"
goes inside the daily lives of four transgender college students at campuses
across the United States. Directed by Jeremy Simmons of the award-winning production
company World of Wonder (Party Monster, The Eyes of Tammy Faye), "TransGeneration"
follows its subjects over the course of a school year, capturing their triumphs
and struggles as they juggle the challenges of academia with their commitment
to transitioning from their birth sex. Like college students everywhere, Gabbie
and Raci (male-to-female) and Lucas and T.J. (female-to-male) are in the process
of defining who they are, and taking control of their gender identity is a fundamental
part of that process. The students are from different parts of the world as
well as different social and economic backgrounds, and each is at a different
stage of transition. As "TransGeneration" joins the students in class
and at play, with their friends and with their families, in private and in their
communities, we come to know Gabbie, Lucas, Raci and T.J. as individuals, with
unique experiences and outlooks.
Co-sponsors
Community United Against Violence
Equality California
Female-to-Male International
Gay-Straight Alliance Network
Horizons Foundation
LYRIC
San Francisco Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, & Transgender Community Center
San Francisco Transgender Empowerment, Advocacy and Mentorship (SF TEAM)
Transgender Law Center
for more info contact: Lai-San at GSA Network (415)552-4229 lai-san@gsanetwork.org
*********************************************
5. GSA Leadership Training (San Mateo County)
WHO: GSA Members, potential members, and GSA advisors
WHEN: Saturday, October 1st, 2005, 10:00-4:00 (Free food!)
WHERE: Mills High School---400 Murchison Drive in Millbrae
(East Gym)
COST: Free!
CO-SPONSORS: Mills H.S. GSA & PFLAG-Peninsula Chapter
Directions from BART: Get off at the Millbrae stop. Turn right
(west) and walk down Millbrae Avenue to El Camino. Turn left (south) and walk
one block south to Murchison where you will turn right. Mills High is located
at 400 Murchison about half a block from El Camino.
For more information or to RSVP, please contact: Lai-San Seto, GSA Network Northern
CA Program Coordinator, at 415-552-4229 or email lai-san@gsanetwork.org
*********************************************
6. Liberation Ink Posters - Free For GSAs (Statewide)
LIBERATION INK POSTERS AVAILABLE
FREE FOR GSAs IN CALIFORNIA!!
Seven poster designs are available for GSAs, organizations, and individuals to make change by building a presence of youth voices for justice, peace, and youth empowerment and against hatred, harassment, and discrimination of all kinds. Every GSA in California can receive 30 FREE posters to use at your school. You can order more than 30 for $1 each. From community organizations and individuals we request a donation of $5 each for 1-10 posters, $4 each for 11-30 posters, and large quantity discounts are available.
You can view the designs and order posters on the Liberation Ink website:
www.gsanetwork.org/freezone/liberation.
HERE ARE SOME WAYS TO USE LIBERATION INK TO MAKE CHANGE AT YOUR SCHOOL!
* Attach information about your GSA to the posters to advertise and recruit
members.
* Encourage teachers to hang the posters in their classrooms.
* Have GSA members lead discussions and activities related to the posters.
* Use the posters as part of an anti-slur campaign.
* Put the posters up in the courtyard with easels and/or use while you're tabling.
* Get the posters printed in your school or community newspaper with an article
or announcement about your GSA.
* Create an agreement for teachers to sign and give them posters to symbolize
their support.
* Display the whole Liberation Ink series in one place or fill a whole wall
with posters in a grid.
* Use the posters in conjunction with Day of Silence (April), Transgender Day
of Remembrance (November), LGBT History Month (October), LGBT Pride Month (June),
Coming Out Day (October 11), or Diversity Day or Week at your school.
Liberation Ink was a collaborative project of GSA Network, LYRIC, and
Mission Grafica at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts in San Francisco.
It was supported by the Youth Initiatives Program of the Open Society Institute,
the San Francisco Arts Commission, and the Walter and Elise Haas Fund.
**********************************************
7. Sign-up for the High Contrast Photo Exhibit at your school
(Bay Area)
GSA Network's High Contrast photo exhibit is on the move again!
A photo-narrative exhibit by youth and for youth.
"I think it was powerful and provocative and sparked good conversations."
- GSA Advisor
"There were at least 400 students that interacted with the exhibit. The
whole week while High Contrast was there, the GSA and other groups on campus
did workshops on hate crimes and ways to deal with it-letting students know
that it is an issue that needs to be addressed." - GSA student president
"Many students responded well to the universality of human issues and emotions.
The emotions weren't just linked to being gay, they were feelings we all have."
- GSA Advisor
In this exhibit we bring you our voices with hopes that you will hear us, see
us... and identify. We use art as a means for change -- to show people what
they might not choose to see, to incite dialogue, and to inspire transformation.
We want to make schools free from harassment, discrimination, and violence.
We don't want anyone to leave thinking, "this isn't my issue." Because
all kinds of people are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. Because there
are so many shades to our identities. Because we all deserve to be safe enough
to learn.
High Contrast is available for circulation as of October 1. If you
are a GSA in the Bay Area and are interested in bringing the High Contrast
photo exhibit to your school, email highcontrast@gsanetwork.org.
For more information on, and pictures of, High Contrast go to:
www.gsanetwork.org/highcontrast/index.html
*********************************************
8. Register for GSA Network youth activist conferences this Fall!
For the 2005-2006 school year, kick-off your GSA with a Fall youth activist conference and dance. GSA Network's annual youth conferences are going to be held earlier in the year, so you can use all the skills and resources you get throughout the school year!!
Bay Area - Y.E.S. (Youth Empowerment Summit) December 3rd
2005
Register online at www.gsanetwork.org/yes/
Central Valley - E.N.S. (Expression Not Suppression) October
29th 2005
Register online at www.gsanetwork.org/ens/
*********************************************
9. JOBS: GSA Network - Advocacy Coordinator
Advocacy Coordinator: GSA Network is embarking on an exciting expansion of its policy advocacy and organizing efforts with youth and is looking to hire an Advocacy Coordinator. The Advocacy Coordinator is responsible for engaging LGBTQ and straight ally youth in policy advocacy work at the state level, training youth leaders in public policy and civic engagement, and organizing a Queer Youth Advocacy Day in Sacramento in March 2006 for 500-1000 youth. A demonstrated passion for LGBTQ youth leadership and empowerment, experience in policy advocacy, and a commitment to social justice are required for this position. Visit www.gsanetwork.org for the complete job announcement.
**********************************************
10. JOBS: GSA Network and ACLU of Southern California Seek Applicants
for Legal Fellowship
The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California (ACLU-SC), along with the Gay-Straight Alliance Network, is seeking to sponsor an applicant for the Pride Law Fund fellowship and other public interest fellowships to commence in the Fall of 2006. The fellow would specialize in advocacy on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students, particularly in schools in rural areas. The fellowship would involve both direct advocacy and impact litigation on behalf of LGBT youth and their right to a safe and equal learning environment, their right to form gay straight alliance clubs, and their free expression rights. Visit www.gsanetwork.org for the complete job announcement.
++++++++++++++++ OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS ++++++++++++++++
GSA Network News is a publication of Gay-Straight Alliance Network. Events,
resources, and news items listed under "Other Announcements" are not
sponsored or written by GSA Network, and do not necessarily reflect the views
and opinions of GSA Network.
*********************************************
11. LYRIC Internships (San Francisco)
Have you been looking for A job That's right for you?
If you're 14-21 years old, then check out LYRIC's Internship Program
What's in it for you?
*Work in a non-profit environment at a community-based organization
*Make friends with a diverse group of young people
*Find out what resources, services and great events are out there for you
*Get real work experience & job training & have fun doing it
*Make a difference in the community & get PAID for it
*Learn more about Lesbian, gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer & Questioning
young folks & the queer youth community
To learn more, come to one of our info sessions!
They will be held at LYRIC, from 4:30pm - 6pm
2 dates to choose from:
Thursday, September 8th & Friday, September 9th
Contact Us At:
415.703.6150 x15
internships@lyric.org
**********************************************
12. National Gay, Bi and Trans Men's Health Summit 2005
National Gay Men's Health Summit 2005
What: Bringing Gay, Bi, and Trans Men Together to Celebrate, Heal, Strengthen,
& Strategize
Where: Salt Lake City, Utah
When: October 19-23, 2005
Who: Register to attend, volunteer, lead a discussion, or present a workshop
For More Info: www.ngmhs2005.org
See you and your friends in Salt Lake City!
back to top
*********************************************
13. Love+Politics - listserv for diverse co-housing and group housing
(Bay Area)
Love+Politics http://www.loveandpolitics.org
is a Bay-area group for people who identify as queer, polyamorous or sex-positive
and who regard that identity as deeply connected to their desire to make the
world a better place through progressive activism.
We have set up a listserv for people who are interested in diverse, activist-friendly,
queer-friendly, poly-friendly, child-friendly co-housing and group housing.
We also expect to have regular meetings for such people, to share resources
and ultimately to actually build or create such communities. All interested
folks are welcome to join - you do not need to be poly or queer.
Join this list at: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LP_LivingTogether
This is currently a low-volume list, though if this project takes off it may
not stay that way.
back to top
*********************************************
14. GSA's subscribe to The Center Orange County youth yahoo group (Orange
County)
You, or others, can subscribe at occenteryouth@yahoogroups.com
Thanks!
Dave
David Hart, MS
Program Manager
The Center Orange County
12800 Garden Grove Blvd. Suite F
Garden Grove, CA 92843
714-534-0862 Ext. 131
*********************************************
15. Panel and Discussion: Marriage Equality: How It Helps Our Families
And How Our Families Can Help!
COLAGE Announcement
Saturday, September 17, 1-4pm
San Francisco
The time is now! A state constitutional amendment -- likely to be before California
voters in 2006-- has been proposed by the conservative right that attempts to
define marriage as between one man and one woman, and strips us of all of our
domestic partnership rights. We need to join forces to defeat this effort. Many
of us question how will marriage help our families. Join Assemblymember Mark
Leno and other speakers to learn why marriage equality is especially important
to LGBT families and brainstorm what our families can do to win the equal right
to marry. Now is the time for families to have a stronger, more visible presence
in fighting for our right to equality. This exciting program will be done in
an interactive discussion format. Speakers include: Assembly member Mark Leno;
Molly McKay (Equality California); NCLR; Alma Soongi Beck and others.
Co-Sponsored by:
Marriage Equality California, National Center for Lesbian Rights, Nia Collective,
and Our Family Coalition.
Location: The SF LGBT Community Center at 1800 Market St. at Octavia.
Take MUNI JKLMN to Van Ness Station or above ground F Line to Octavia.
*********************************************
16. New Connections is hiring!! (Contra Costa County)
LGBTQ Counselor/Trainer
The LGBTQ Counselor/Trainer is generally responsible for providing school- and
community-based counseling, intervention and prevention services to LGBTQ youth,
and to provide training for other professionals working with LGBTQ youth.
The LGBTQ Counselor/Trainer is a part-time (13 hours/week), non-exempt position.
Evening and weekend hours may be required. The position reports directly to
the agency’s Director of School Counseling.
The starting salary range for the position is $35,000 FTE or $11,375 annually
for a position of 13 hours/week. This position will receive clinical supervision
toward licensure, but is not eligible for additional fringe benefits. Positions
of 20 hours or more at New Connections are eligible for a variety of benefits,
including paid time off, medical and dental insurance coverage, professional
development, and clinical supervision towards licensure.
Applications for available positions should include a cover letter and résumé, and may be emailed to Barbara Petterson, MFT at bpetterson@newconnections.org or faxed to her attention at 925.363.5075.
Monument Community Counselor in the Multicultural Community Counseling
Program
The Monument Community Counselor is generally responsible for providing school-
and community-based counseling, intervention, prevention and case management
services to Latino youth and their families in the Monument Corridor community.
The Monument Community Counselor is a part-time (20 to 40 hours per week), non-exempt
position. The position reports directly to the agency’s Director of School
Counseling. Evening and weekend hours may be required. The starting salary range
for the Monument Community Counselor is $34,000 to $42,000 FTE annually. Positions
of 20 hours or more at New Connections are also eligible for a variety of benefits,
including paid time off, medical and dental insurance coverage, professional
development, and clinical supervision towards licensure.
Applications for available positions should include a cover letter and résumé, and may be emailed to Barbara Petterson, MFT at bpetterson@newconnections.org or faxed to her attention at 925.363.5075.
School Counselor
The School Counselor is responsible for providing counseling and related services
to youth and their families in a school-based setting.
The School Counselor is a 15 hour/week, non-exempt position, reporting to the
agency’s Director of School Counseling. Some evening or weekend hours
may be required.
The salary for the School Counselor position is $35,000 FTE or $13,125 annually
for 15 hours per week. A licensed MFT or LCSW, or person bilingual in Spanish,
would receive additional compensation. New Connections provides medical and
other benefits for staff positions of at least 20 hours/week. This position
also receives clinical supervision per BBS requirements.
Applications for available positions should include a cover letter and résumé, and may be emailed to Barbara Petterson, MFT at bpetterson@newconnections.org or faxed to her attention at 925.363.5075.
*********************************************
17. NEWS: Bakersfield Students Sue to Write About Gays
Kern County school administrators block a newspaper's series on homosexual issues.
September 5, 2005
By Veronica Torrejón
LA Times
BAKERSFIELD - Inspired by the increased visibility of openly gay teenagers on
campus, students at a Kern County high school decided to explore the topic in
the school newspaper, the Kernal.
But the night before the series was to go to print in April, the paper's editors
said, East Bakersfield High School Principal John L. Gibson pulled the plug,
citing concerns for the safety of gay students on campus.
"All of a sudden everything comes to a screeching halt," said Travis
Mattias, 17, the paper's features editor. "We talked about certain cases
before and what to do when we have censorship issues…. We just never expected
it would happen to us."
To read the full story, visit:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/state/la-me-newspaper5sep05,1,6176810.story?page=1&ctrack=1&cset=true&coll=la-news-state
*********************************************
18. NEWS: Jury to continue deliberations in Gwen Araujo murder trial
Jury to resume deliberations today
By Ben Aguirre Jr.
The Argus
September 6, 2005
Prosecutor Chris Lamiero must have learned a lot from the first time he tried
three men for the killing of a Newark transgender teenager because he has shifted
his strategy, one attorney said.
But since a jury deadlocked in June 2004 over the fates of Fremont resident
Michael Magidson, and Jose Merel and Jason Cazares of Newark - who are awaiting
a verdict in their retrial - defense attorneys also have altered their game
plans, making this year's court proceedings "more of a standard murder
trial," said attorney Chris Daley, director of the Transgender Law Center
in San Francisco.
To read the full story, visit:
http://www.insidebayarea.com/argus/localnews/ci_3004399