January 4 .2002 • ÿ a l a r i j 13
nTiïîTTTÏÏTRTïnews
uring the six years Sima Teherani
taught at Hidden Valley High
School in southern Oregon, her
classroom became a haven for the
Lesbian parent determined to protect children
“different" kids. W hen she was their
age, “I guess I always rooted for the underdog.”
in Portland middle schools by Jack Turteltaub
Bom in San Francisco hut raised in Portland,
make the sometimes difficult
Teherani has accomplished a great deal since
transition to middle school,
the late 1980s. She moved to Ashland, where
where “fitting in” and peer
she finished her undergraduate degree in English
at Southern Oregon State College.
pressure become paramount
concerns. Still in the devel
She also married, became the mother of two
opmental stage, the program
daughters and worked as a teacher in Grants
involves working with three
Pass. She later completed a master’s degree at
different middle schools in
W estern O regon University, taking long
the Portland Public Schools
distance summer classes.
district.
It was during her stint as an educator that
She says she is considering
Teherani begin to develop a stronger sense of
a number of ideas. O ne of
herself and of the priorities that now have
these involves having middle
become so integral in her work. She says she
school student mentors who
usually could recognize the gay and lesbian
would form relationships with
youths who came to her classroom to hang out.
third-graders to prepare them
Like kids everywhere, they were trying to
for the transition.
escape the pervasive prejudice and the everyday
She recognizes that this is
hassles they encountered because they didn’t fit
an unusual and ambitious pro
into their peer group. She recognized these stu
gram. She knows only a few
dents often were ostracized simply because they
schools and fewer districts
were perceived as different.
help kids in sexual minority
O n a trip to Florida, Teherani met and fell in
families combat peer preju
love with a woman. She soon decided to quit
dice and stereotypes about what constitutes a
meetings at Love Makes a Family, a Portland-
teaching, separate from her husband and move
“normal” family.
based group that helps sexual minority parents.
hack to Portland, where she hoped to work on
Teherani also has translated her passions into
She later became a member of the board,
her new identity and her new relationship.
then served as president until last summer. Step intense volunteer work on a number of projects
She also wanted to address her health issues.
at Irvington Elementary, where her daughters are
ping down from that post, she now works for the
She had developed multiple sclerosis, and “it got
enrolled. She just finished a term as co-president
organization 30 hours a week through an
worse each year.”
of the school's PTA.
AmeriCorps-funded position.
Teherani worried about how her two young
O ne project involves painting murals in Irv
T eherani’s most recent project at Love
daughters would feel about having a lesbian
ington’s four main bathrooms through the vol
Makes a Family will help elementary school kids
mother. She and the children started attending
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unteer recruitment of Portland artists who she
hopes will work with the kids. She envisions the
adults helping translate the students’ ideas into
something uplifting and inspiring.
Irvington’s new principal says Teherani has a
reputation as a facilitator and an activist. Cyn
thia MacLeod describes her as a “very supportive
parent, eager and willing to help and get any
thing accomplished in the school.”
A nd Teherani’s advocacy doesn’t stop just
with children who come from sexual minority
families. Her concern extends to others in
unconventional living situations: “grandparents
raising children, adopted kids, children with
physical and/or emotionally handicaps, children
of biracial couples.”
Some are sons or daughters who will grow up
to become gay or trans. O thers have two daddies
or a lesbian mother— like herself—at home.
So how do her daughters understand and
deal with their family situation these days?
Teherani says that they are accepting but that it
still can be hard because “sometimes the girls
just want me to be living with a man.”
Does that mean her children want her to
change? “I think they want me to be happy. They
know about me, and when I had a lover, they
accepted having two mommies and a daddy.”
But Teherani would like to see a world in
which her girls could grow up knowing it is OK
to be different. Above all, she wants them to
accept themselves as they grow up.
“I just want my girls to be comfortable in any
situation they’re exposed to,” she says. “I want
them to be free to be who they are. If they can
achieve that, it would be amazing.” J H
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