8 ▼ S e p te m b e r 19, 1997 ▼ ju st out
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Internet survey
tallies queer youth
Private school catering
to queers opens doors
The National Coalition for Gay, Lesbian, Bi­
sexual and Transgender Youth—also known as
!OutProud!— and Oasis magazine have an­
nounced the first on-line survey of queer and
questioning youth.
The survey, which can be found on the Web
(www.oasismag.com/survey/) through October,
consists of 150 questions designed to expand
understanding of the myriad issues faced by queer
youth today.
“Queer youth have found the on-line world to
be a supportive environment,” says Christopher
Kryzan, executive director of lOutProud! “The
Internet and America Online have played a cru­
cial role in helping this generation of queer youth
to acknowledge and accept their sexual orienta­
tion. With this survey, we hope to provide them
with a powerful voice.”
The nation’s first private school for gay and
lesbian students is ringing in the new school year
in Dallas, reports The Associated Press.
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Civil Liberties Union, the Gay, Lesbian, Straight
Education Network and XY magazine.
The electronic questionnaire was created with
the assistance of experts from the University of
San Francisco, Pennsylvania State University and
the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. A
report based on the data gathered will be pub- ,
lished in January 1998.
Cemetery must allow
‘life partner’ on headstone
Three years after her partner’s death, Sherry
Barone will at last be allowed to erect a headstone
bearing the words “life partner” in an epitaph for
Cynthia Friedman, whose grave site has been
unmarked since the Har Jehuda Cemetery in Up­
per Darby, Pa., refused to honor its contract with
Barone.
According to a news release from Lambda
Legal Defense and
Education Fund, an
out-of-court settle­
ment was reached af­
ter Lambda brought
suit April 15 in fed­
eral court in Philadel­
phia. In addition to al­
lowing the memorial,
the cemetery will pay
$ 15,000 to Barone for
emotional distress.
Follow ing her
1989 cancer diagno­
sis, Friedman signed
extensive documents Sherry Barone
in an effort to ensure that her 13-year relationship
with Barone would be given legal force.
Prior to her death, Friedman explicitly re­
jected any relatives’ authority to challenge ac­
tions by Barone on her behalf.
After her death, however, the cemetery argued
that because Friedman’s parents disagreed about
her wishes, a court would have to decide who had
a right to determine the epitaph.
Walt Whitman Community School is the brain­
child of Becky Thompson, a lesbian, and Pamala
Stone, a non-lesbian, both veteran educators who
were moved by studies which have concluded
that lesbian and gay youth are at higher risk for
destructive behaviors. The duo were also frus­
trated by their own observations of student ha­
rassment at the suburban preparatory school where
they taught last year.
Though its beginnings are humble—three
teachers, three classrooms and seven students in
one building—the school may eventually serve
up to 30 students.
Thompson and Stone had anticipated attract­
ing dropouts a few credits shy of graduation, but
only two students are seniors this term. In fact,
three of this year’s students are at Whitman not
because they are gay themselves but because a
parent is.
Tuition at Whitman is $7,000 annually. Ac­
cording to Thompson, all of the students are
receiving financial assistance from donors who
want the school to succeed. The school is also
seeking grants from private foundations.
Anti-gay sheriff
slapped on wrist
After three days of a hearing initiated by the
Mitchell County, N.C., district attorney to re­
move Sheriff Vernon Bishop from office for
abuse of power. Bishop apologized for ordering
deputies in 1995 to record the telephone conver
sations of a high school football coach he though
was gay.
The apology, forfeiture of two weeks’ pay—
roughly $1,600— and a stern lecture from the
judge were all part of a deal that allows the sherifl
to keep his job. reports The Associated Press.
“While I have strong personal feelings thai
persons who follow certain lifestyles should noi
be employed in particular areas of the public
school system, I realize that every citizen is en­
titled to recognition of his privacy,” Bishop told
the court.
Bishop maintains the conversations, which
were intercepted via police scanner, were taped
for an investigation into whether the coach was
conspiring to commit sodomy.
According to the Raleigh News and Observer,
school officials testified that Bishop approached
them with the recordings and threatened to go