Tí » r» W H « a* ># «r e V b i Itili 36 ▼ o c t o W 6, 1665 ▼ Juat out Wie are vs Infinity Tattoo everywhere. AMAZON TRAIL Back to school Coming out as adults to the teachers and administrators who helped or hurt us can make a big difference for the queer youth o f today THE LESBIAN COMMUNITY PROJECT U P C O M IN G EVENTS S a tu rd a y , O ct. 7, L C P & B e y o n d T he C lo s e t, Inc. p re s e n ts Letltia Gomez M C C , 2 4 0 0 NE B ro ad w ay &A Ms. G o m i is the t x i a t i v i U n d e r i t LUGO. Matieeal Laliaa/o Lesbian t Gey organ: at ion 1 T u esd ay, O ct. 17, 7 -9 p m T h e L e s b ia n F o ru m p re se n ts: “ Lesbians & Legal Issues” W e stm in ste r C hurch, N E 16th & H an co ck vs Jermiter Kimble, Aim le s s t libers d isn ss Lisbiaa- related l i f t 1 ¡ s m s m d aaswtr yia r g n s t i n s W e d n e s d a y , O c t. 18, 7 p m Lesbians w/HIV/AIDS Support Group Location TBA, FFI: B onnie 7 3 5-1 252 1 1 V A m e m b e r s h i p o r g a n i z a t i o n .. .j o i n t o d a y ! 2138 E Burnside (503)231-4777 (503) 223-0071/TDD Fox 242-1967 f P.O. Box 5931 O - Portland, OR 97228 Call for an appointment Anti-Violence Project 796-1703/1-800-796-1703 LESBIAN HALLOWEEN BASH CODE BLUE P o H lc m d s P ^ em ie^ e R o ta tin g W o m e n s / M ite c lu b p r e s e n t s irs 5 m ^ A rm u a l 'H a llo w e e n H a r f ce °o0 . free Parking $1 Drinks Otes y\orS < % > m - 2;30*the»* Conform ation 2 8 2 -6 9 7 9 ^ P o g ig j^ ^ r g f jj ^ ^ ^ g n g f i ^ m F A ^ A m g n g a r ^ o u n ^ a t i o r ^ o i ^ D ^ e g e a r c h ^ ^ by Lee Lynch School’ this fall and tell the teachers and adminis­ got to talking with an editor on the East Coast recently. We discovered we were trators what it was like.” The brochure went out to 26,000 people, but both from New York, that she’d lived a few blocks from the Queens apartment building Kevin Jennings says the stories were pouring in where l actually came out into this magical before the mailing. One woman wrote a former teacher about the positive experience she’d had, gay family. What really got us excited, though, was how the teacher had been affirming and made Liz that we’d gone to the same junior high school. feel good about herself. The teacher, it turns out, Over 30 years later, two kindred souls stumbled on had been thinking of quitting until reading Liz’s each other. letter. They’ve met since for lunch. The teacher is That coincidence came to mind when I heard, staying, recharged by the contact. over the Internet, about the Back to School Cam­ Jennings wrote to the current principal at his paign. It’s such a simple idea I couldn’t believe no high school. He told her his story, and that he was one had thought of it before. Gay people, writing to writing because “45 percent of adolescent gay teachers and school principals to tell educators that if male youths and 20 per­ we’d been among the stu­ cent of adolescent lesbians dents in their schools, that are physically or verbally they’d contributed to our harassed at school .Twenty- suffering or helped us find eight percent of gay youth ourselves, that we’d sur­ drop out of school (l l per­ vived and prospered, that cent is the national aver­ these educators had made a age). One out of every three difference, for good or bad, gay youth attempts sui­ in gay young lives. cide— meaning that a gay Dear Ms. Barbieri: You youth tries to kill him or were my guidance counse­ herself every 35 minutes in lor at Hetero High. Remem­ this country.” ber how you called me into The idea of these per­ your office all those times to sonal contacts came to tell me what an under­ Jennings when he went into achiever I was? Remember schools to tell his story. you talked to my parents and He’d be told that issues of none o f you could fathom gay youth might be a prob­ what was wrong with me? lem in New York City, but Ms. Barbieri, like a lot o f certainly were not, for ex­ your students, I was gay. All ample, in Louisville, Ky. I really needed was some­ The letters are living testi­ one to say that I was OK. mony that there are gay stu­ Imagine how much I could dents in every classroom. have achieved if I ’d been We need to reconnect able to study instead o f hid­ with our teachers for an­ ing, lying and worrying. other reason. These connections are untapped Laurette Giardino, editor of In the Life, at­ power. It’s a lot harder, Jennings says, to vote tended our junior high about five years after me. I against someone you know, or to listen to the lies graduated with adventurous Suzy, and Pete-Pat, of someone like Jesse Helms, when you find out the androgynous tough. Gentle, smart Richard, I little Laurette Giardino was gay and grew up to heard later, blossomed into one of us, and I’ll bet found and edit a newspaper. you that lovable big sissy Warren, who used to call GLSTN plans to enlighten politicians, too. The me Elvis because l tried act like the singer, is gay. radical right raises funds and pushes its agendas by The Back to School Campaign is trying to claiming homosexuality is being “promoted” in improve conditions for kids like my editor and me schools. “Far from it,” Jennings challenges. GLSTN and our gay classmates. It’s the brainchild of Kevin plans to approach politicians with actual letters to Jennings, the guy who co-chaired the commission say, “Let me tell you what’s really going on in your which brought enlightenment about gay kids to schools.” educators in Massachusetts. Jennings is currently Too many of us know exactly what’s really executive director ofThe Gay, Lesbian and Straight going on. Gentle Richards are still being tortured Teachers Network (GLSTN, pronounced glisten) with anti-gay epithets. Pete-Pats are still living which tries to improve the atmosphere for gay double lives because they don’t know how else to students in American schools. He went through be themselves. Eighth graders are still mincing what Richard and Warren did, and despite it, went down the halls behind Warren with his sissy ways. on to graduate from Harvard and has devoted his Suzys are still dropping out of school because career to educating the educators. being themselves means being in trouble. All of us, struggling toward and against our Dear Ms. Barbieri, I want to thank you fo r sexualities, were locked away from one another in helping me when my parents found out I was gay. frightened, confused silence. Pete-Pat dressed in You noticed that I felt so ill I couldn t study or pay drag and traveled to other neighborhoods to date attention in class. You helped me talk about what girls as a boy. I was sick every morning before was going on at home without treating me like a school, terrified of my peers. Suzy got in trouble a criminal. You gave my parents information that lot. You can imagine what those poor boys went helped them understand me. though. That’s the letter I want today’s students to be “In September,” reads a Back to School Cam­ able to write when they’re editing papers and paign brochure, “millions of school children will writing columns. return to school. Many of them are gay, lesbian or bisexual. For them, school is often a place of terror, Contact GLSTN at 2124 Broadway, Suite 160, where verbal taunts, physical harassment and so­ New York, NY 10023, (212) 387-2098, e-mail: cial ostracism are the norm. That’s why we, as GLSTN @ aol. com. lesbian, gay and bisexual adults, must go ‘Back to I