out ▼ octobor 6 . 1099 ▼ 13
BVUNDAKJJCVSCR
f Claudia L. Webster is afraid of contro
versy, she doesn’t show it.
“I’ll be meeting with the Portland Police
Bureau next week,” said Webster in a warm
yet matter-of-fact tone. “It’s always better
to be prepared.” That was a few weeks ago, when
the Oregon Health Division’s HIV education man
ager was putting the final organizational touches on
the Third Regional Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual
Youth Conference set for Oct. 13 and 14 at the
Portland Conference Center.
The regional conference is one of only a few in
the nation that explicitly aims to improve services
for lesbian, gay and bisexual youth.
According to conference materials, the gather
ing, which attracts youth and a multitude of service
providers including teachers, is designed to “pro
mote an open, honest and accurate discussion of
and with sexual minority youth, their issues and
their service needs.”
It is a goal, admits Webster—a certified sexual
ity instructor—that not everyone finds desirable.
“There’s always going to be controversy when
you’re talking about sexuality issues and young
people. That’s just the way it is,” she says.
During the last conference, which was held two
years ago at the Greenwood Inn in Beaverton,
protesters arrived brandishing signs saying “Read
ing, Writing, Homosexuality?” “Stop Government
Promotion of Homosexuality,” and “Don’t Honor
Perversity.” One girl in blue jeans and sneakers
clutched a sign demanding: ‘Teach me to read and
write. Leave the rest to my parents.”
“The Beaverton police and hotel security were
just great,” Webster recounts. “Everything went
beautifully, and I’m certainly hoping for the same
this year.”
And just 10 days ago. Concerned Women for
America, an ultraconservative organization that
claims 600,000 members, launched a very public
attack on the National Education Association’s
adoption of a resolution supporting national Les
bian, Gay and Bisexual History Month.
According to wire reports, CWA founder
Beverly LaHaye says the NEA is “using [its] power
to promote an unhealthy lifestyle that represents
only 1 percent of Americans. They are not a legiti
mate minority group. Our schools have no business
‘celebrating’ diversity. We are fighting to protect
the innocence and purity of our children and grand
children.”
Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., a U.S. House
committee was slated to begin hearings Oct. 13 to
investigate a claim by Traditional Values Coalition
founder Lou Sheldon about the supposed “infiltra
tion of the homosexual agenda within public
schools.” The congressional hearings are the result
of a promise that Sheldon extracted from House
Speaker Newt Gingrich, and are viewed by the
TVC as a “golden opportunity.” Sheldon wants
Congress to deny federal funds to any school dis
trict that tolerates sexual-identity diversity. (As we
went to press, the hearings have been postponed.)
“Some people will say to me, ‘I’m offended by
what you’re doing.’ But I’ve seen too many people
die because they didn’t have proper information or
support when they needed it,” says Webster. “I tell
people who are offended by our education efforts
that I am personally offended by seeing people die
needlessly. That’s offensive."
She adds: “This is a critical health issue. Young
people are having unprotected sex; the teen-suicide
rate for sexual minority youth is way out of propor
tion with other teens. These are issues that must be
addressed.”
ccording to a comprehensive 1991 Oregon
study, there are at least 50,000 sexual minor
ity youth statewide, many of whom face hard
ship and discrimination. The report which included
several interviews with young people, found that
support systems for sexual minority youth were
woefully deficient, primarily due to a lack of relevant
education among service providers.
The study concluded dial many service provid
ers brought their prejudices with them to work, or
simply overlooked the needs of sexual minority
A
but these young people and their families still need
support,” says Anne Bliss, president of Portland P-
FLAG, which has spent the past few months dis
tributing packets containing information about
sexual minority issues to high schools across Or
egon. “This is a golden opportunity for network
ing.”
Allanya Guenther of Phoenix Rising, which pro
vides counseling services to sexual minority youth,
says, "There are so few youth conferences that focus
on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered youth. It
is really wonderful that we have this, and we should
make the most of it.”
The Rev. Roy Cole, pastor of Portland’s Metro
politan Community Church, which serves sexual
minority worshippers, adds: “Young people in par
ticular have been beaten up by the Bible, and that can
fuel a tremendous lack of self-esteem. One of the
U
Youth at the 1993 conference held at Beaverton’s Greenwood Inn
Facing the storm
Officials and service providers demonstrate a strong
commitment to meeting the needs of
sexual minority youth—despite opposition
by Inga Sorensen
as a West Coast retreat for lesbian and gay educa
youth because their professional training never
tors and a summer institute for students and teach
addressed the subject. It also found that many gay,
lesbian and bisexual youth experienced severe os ers.
Jennings, who teaches history part time at Con
tracism and harassment within a school setting.
‘Teachers and school counselors have histori cord Academy, is the author of Becoming Visible:
A Reader in Gay and Lesbian History fo r High
cally been terrified to touch this issue,” says Webster.
School and College Students and One Teacher in
“The push by ultraconservatives across the country
10: Gay and Lesbian Educators Tell Their Stories.
to elect school board members who are anti-HIV
He also spearheaded an effort to get October recog
education, anti-sexuality education, and anti-di
nized as Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual History Month.
versity education, doesn’t help. But we need to be
(Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber has issued a procla
working in the schools to help teachers identify
mation inaugurating the
when harassm ent [of
event in Oregon.)
sexual minority youth] is
The regional conference
Joyce Hunter, director
occurring and what to do
of
the
community liaison
about it.”
is one o f only a few in the
program of the HIV Cen
Admittedly, great gains
have occurred in some nation that explicitly aims to ter forClinical and Behav
places during the past few improve services fo r lesbian, ioral Studies/New York
State Psychiatric Institute,
years. More schools are
gay and bisexual youth.
is also a featured presenter.
sponsoring support groups
Hunter is the board
for sexual minority youth;
president of the National Lesbian and Gay Health
gay and lesbian parents are working with educators
and parent groups to create dialogue and under Association and co-founder of Harvey Milk High
School in New York City. Established in 1985, it is
standing about sexual orientation issues; more lo
the nation’s first high school founded solely to
cal governments are approving legal protections
serve lesbian, gay and bisexual students. Hunter
based on sexual orientation that may prompt gay
has also been an activist, researcher and clinician
and lesbian educators (and their supportive col
for more than 25 years, specializing in issues relat
leagues) to feel more secure about publicly ad
ing to youth, women, HIV/AIDS and the sexual
dressing sexual minority youth issues.
minorities community.
Another symbol of acceptance includes the
Also on hand will be Evan Cutler, author of
Portland School Board’s recent vote to bar recruit
Runaway Me: A Survivor's Story, which tells
ers from school grounds because of the military’s
Cutler’s tale of running away from home when he
ban on openly lesbian and gay servicemembers.
(The Oregonian ran a Sept. 26 editorial chastising
was 15. Cutler, who is now 27, hopes to prevent
other teenagers from encountering the problems
the board’s action and urged it to allow recruiters
that he did during his time on the streets.
back into the schools.)
Numerous workshops, whose titles include
“It’s getting better, particularly in metropolitan
Sexual Minority Youth Come In All Colors, In
areas, but if you’re in a rural area it can be tough,”
says Webster, adding that she received a call to creasing Self-Esteem of Lesbian and Gay Youth,
Homophobia 101, and HI V as a Method of Suicide:
ward the end of the last school year from an educa
Policy Considerations, will be conducted through
tor in Southern Oregon who was scrambling to find
out the two-day event.
help for a suicidal student struggling with sexual
Ten agencies and organizations are sponsoring
identity issues.
the conference. They are: the Department of Hu
That incident, says Webster, reflects the critical
man Resources, Oregon Health Division; the State
needs of both the youth and the educator, and she
Office for Services to Children and Families; Port
hopes the conference will give young people and
land Public Schools/Sexual Diversity Committee;
service providers the support and information they
the Phoenix Rising Foundation; Cascade AIDS
need.
Project; Harry’s Mother; Metropolitan Commu
nity Church; Parents, Families and Friends of Les
his year’s conference features educator Kevin
J
Jennings, executive director of the Gay, Les bians and Gays; the Lesbian Community Project;
bian and Straight Teachers Network, a na and the Multnomah County Health Department.
tional organization which has sponsored confer “There are more role models now for gay and
lesbian young people than there were 10 years ago,
i ences for teachers throughout the country, as well
T
...»o *------- ‘---- t »
KAI
7 •
this conference was to show young people and adults
that not all of Christianity is opposed to homosexu
ality, quite the contrary.”
he conference has already been marked by a
subtle controversy, involving a letter sent to
one of its sponsors. The letter is signed by
Todd Siex, who identifies himself as a parole/proba-
tion officer for the Oregon Youth Authority’s Baker
County office. The Oregon Department of Human
Resources oversees the OYA.
In that missive, which is dated Aug. 21 and is on
official state letterhead, Siex takes issue with the
conference: “As a youth worker with over 15 years
of experience in the field, I am distressed to find that
a cause such as yours can be given enough credibility
to be advertised in our local office.... It is a clear
indication of how complacent our government has
become on this issue,” he writes.
“I must take issue with your conference goal
from the outset. The goal of your conference is not to
promote open, honest discussion, but to establish as
natural behavior which is unnatural. An honest dis
cussion would include differing viewpoints, rather
than an accumulation of like-minded people with an
identical agenda—to legitimize homosexual behav
ior,” he writes. “Homosexuality is one of the few
societal disorders which has been enabled rather
than challenged to provide a remedy.”
Siex concludes, “There is certainly no way that I
would encourage a youth struggling with his or her
identity to [attend] such a biased conference as you
are sponsoring. Your approach merely enables the
disorder, rather than providing youth with hope for
permanent change and normalcy.”
“As an agency we do not support the views
expressed by this individual,” says Gary Lawhead,
assistant administrator for OYA’s community pro
grams. “We are totally supportive of the Department
of Human Resources and of this conference. Cer
tainly this is one of the most controversial topics
today, and in our employee ranks there are people
with many viewpoints, but it’s one thing for some
one to hold a personal opinion and it’s another to
express it on agency letterhead.”
State officials say disciplinary action may be
administered in this case pending the outcome of an
investigation; they would not, however, speculate as
to what specific action— if any—would occur. Siex
did not respond to our phone calls.
Guenther says, “I think this situation does raise
questions about whether sexual minority youth will
receive proper services, but I’m confident the de
partment will do the right thing. I also think this
proves why conferences like these are so important.”
T
Anyone interested in attending the Third
Regional Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Youth
Conference can receive a registration packet by
calling Phoenix Rising at 223-8299. The
registration fee is $125. Registration will take
place at the conference, though preregistration
is encouraged. A limited number o f scholar
ships are available fo r youth. For more
information, call Phoenix Rising's youth
services coordinator at 223-8299. The Portland
Conference Center is located at 300 NE
Multnomah, at Martin Luther King Boulevard,
in Portland.