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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (July 3, 1997)
14 ▼ July 3 . 1 0 9 7 ▼ ju st ou t BE THE BEST YOU CAN BE Committed to providing high- quality products that really do work!! Do you live or work in Washington County? We’re here for you!! KICK ENERGY START 155 North 1st Hillsboro 12550 SW 2nd Beaverton Other services include STD exams and treatment and a Wellness Program for individuals who are HIV positive. Call 648-8851 for an appointment Reading frenzy A plan to distribute gay-positive books in the Seattle schools has so far surmounted boisterous challenges thus far MAXIMUM A safe and effective energy boost without Ma Haung or Ephedra W OMEN’S COMPLETE DAILY VITAMIN SYSTEM The Washington County Health Department offers daily HIV testing and counseling, by appointment and walk-in, in two convenient locations: national news Keep hormones level all month, and get the vitamins and minerals lacking in diets ULTIMATE METABOLIC REGULATOR BURNERS Liver and kidney cleanser assists in breaking down excessive body fat Health Basics 4326 SE W oodstock Blvd., Suite #465 Portland, OR 97206 (503) 771-0990 • (888) 771-0990 F ax:(5 0 3 )7 7 1 -1 7 7 1 E-mail: i_m_fit@nwpacificia.net ▼ by Inga Sorensen T ed Lord thinks everything is back on track. “We met with members of the [Se attle] school board and essentially got a commitment from them on a number of fronts,” says Lord, executive director of the Pride Foundation, a Seattle-based organization that issues grants to Northwest organizations pro moting lesbian and gay equality and dignity. The Pride Foundation awarded a $6,150 grant to the school district earlier this year for a “Di ver- sity Books Project,” designed to create a safer environment for sexual minority students in the public schools. In March, Tracy Flynn, a health curriculum specialist for the Seattle public schools system, told Just Out, “Gay and lesbian families exist in our district and our goal is support all families.” One way Flynn sought to do so was by making books featuring a diversity of families available Discounts on multiple orders Wholesale prices available on request W K jn tN AMU ILLUSTXAJfcl* BY Michael Willhoite - \- Comfortable & Affordable Furniture úh HOMEBODIES Hi HL 2226 NE Broadway «_'/> j D ï O d d i r a u (503) 287-9450 cb VJ.t to public elementary schools throughout the Em erald City. As with school districts nationwide, money is tight, so Flynn (and the Sexual Minority Advisory Council, a district group) turned to the Pride Foundation and Fund for Lesbian & Gay Families with Children—endowed last year by Seattle City Councilwoman Tina Podlodowski and her part ner, Rochelle Mileur—to secure the grant. A critical component of the project was the purchase of books such as Michael Willhoite’s Daddy’s Wedding. Not surprisingly critics emerged, including state Sen. Val Stevens (R-Lake Stevens), who unsuccessfully pushed a bill seeking to prohibit schools from "presenting or promoting” homo sexuality in the schools. In the spring Flynn told us the district had received phone calls both for and against from concerned parents. She said the district intended to follow through in procuring the books, al though she admitted that enough opposition could “lead to a holdup in the process.” That’s basically what happened. Over the past several weeks— and under the orchestration of the anti-gay Washington Family Council—some school board members proposed reviewing the grant, the books and the work of the Sexual Minority Advisory Council. Volatile school board meetings have tran spired, prompting Seattle School Board President Linda Harris to publicly apologize for “a lack of clear direction” regarding the matter. The grant, however, was ultimately accepted, and the 28 titles compiled by the Sexual Minority Advisory Council are poised to be distributed to the schools. (Protocol calls upon the district’s 90 librar ians, teachers and principals to decide which—if any—of the books belong in their respective school libraries.) But the fight continues. During a June 4 school board meeting, the Washington Family Council and a group known as Parents and Teachers for Responsible Schools, continued to blast the plan. Some protesters waved signs saying “Shame is good” and “You need God.” But proponents outnumbered opponents by an estimated 60 to 20. and gay— During a June 4 Lesbian as well as hetero school board sexual— parents testified in favor of meeting, the the project. Washington Among them Family Council was Rabbi Drorah Setel, who said, and a group "Like sexual mi known as norities, Jews are Parents and often invisible to Teachers for the public, and I know the delight Responsible my children [feel] Schools, when their experi continued to ence is reflected in the classroom. I blast the plan. know how heart Some protesters broken and devas waved signs tating it would be to them to have saying “Shame their experience is good ” and denigrated in the “You need way I’ve heard gay God. ” people denigrated here tonight.” One opponent chastised the board and argued the “books plant the seed for children to experi ment with homosexuality, since being gay is portrayed as so fun, natural, better, the best way to be. And no STDs or deadly consequences are ever mentioned. The books paint a very rosy unrealis tic picture of the gay life while making traditional families appear unkind, too busy, angry, grumpy, boring, rejecting and unreliable.” Pride Foundation’s Lord says he’s pleased the school board has held its ground, but just to be safe, he, Podlodowski and some other advocates met with board members to shore up support. "They basically acceded to our conditions,” he tells Just Out. Those points include a confirmation that the district accepted the grant it applied for; an affir mation that the Sexual Minority Advisory Coun cil followed all of the appropriate procedures and is an authorized district group; a vow that the same review and selection process routinely em ployed by librarians to select books will apply to the project’s titles; and a commitment for key players to keep dialogue open over these types of issues during the next year. “We’re pleased,” says Lord, "but I expect opponents to be back out there at the July school board meeting.”