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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (June 6, 2003)
l^rnrTTTÌTI juna fi, ?nm J— m S |27 n e w s The boys mother is outraged about the attack. “1 feel like no teacher should ever do that to anybody’s child," she said. “If my son would have hit that teacher, they would have dragged him out by his heels.” No state law pro tects students from G am et Coleman such discrimination in Texas schools. State Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, tried to change that during the cur rent legislative session by authoring the Dignity for All Students Act, which would address this type of issue. The hill was referred to the House Commit tee on Public Education, but chainnan Kent Grusendorf refused to give it a hearing. “The states leadership obviously thinks issues such as school vouchers and textbook censorship are more important than assuring the safety of all students,” said Randall Ellis, Lesbian/Gay Rights Lobby of Texas executive director. “It is outrageous that it takes an incident such as this before people realize the importance of protecting LGBT youth.” Students have sought relief from harassment under the Equal Protection Clause o f the 14th Amendment, as well as Title IX of the Educa tion Amendments Act of 1972. However, these laws do not specifically protect them from dis crimination based on sexual orientation. “Homophobia runs rampant in Texas,” Ellis said. “All session, we have seen lawmakers launch attacks against the LG BT community. The leadership of the Legislature has failed a sig nificant portion of the Texas population, and the consequences are frightening incidents such as the one at Westbury High School.” ❖ fter its principal forcibly removed stickers from students’ clothing during a silent protest to raise awareness of anti-gay violence, the Ameri can Civil Liberties Union demanded May 27 that Luther Burbank High Schtxd stop censoring teens A who t(X )k part in the action and promise not to punish others who do so in the future. “We’re appalled at this school’s actions against a group of peaceful, law-abiding stu dents,” attorney Ken Choe said. “The principal told these students that they were being disrup tive, but it’s obvious who was really causing problems at school that day.” The school shut down the Amnesty Interna tional Club because some of its members had led the protest. They were participating in the Day of Silence Project, an annual nationwide action in which students vow not to speak in order to illustrate the silence in which queers often suffer discrimination and violence. “We were really careful to make sure that what we were doing was legal and didn’t inter fere with school,” senior Andrea Adame said. “All we were doing was being quiet and wearing stickers that explained what the day was all about, and we made sure students knew they should speak in classes where they have to, like Spanish class.” Andrew Rodriguez, principal of the down town San Antonio school, previously had warned the club that he would not allow it to sponsor Day of Silence activities, so several stu dents went forward with their plans while acting independently of the group. He spent much of the morning April 9 confronting teens in the hallways and cafeteria, demanding that they remove “I support Day of Silence" stickers from their clothing and removing them himself if they didn’t comply immediately, at one point even tearing one girl’s shirt. By lunchtime, Rodriguez reportedly was entering classrooms and interrupting instructional time to demand that students take the stickers off their clothing. www.hivemodern com cd > óòhive modern design for the home Lowest refinance rates in years! F ir s t tim e b u y e rs O an d low dow n paym ent options C a ll me for a free con sultation Russell Leggroan • 5 0 3 -2 4 9 -0 8 4 3 • northstarmortgage@qwest.net Mortgage Galleria (FKA Northstar Mortgage) • 4320 NE H alsey , Suite 123 Strength Training Classes A BALANCED approach to fitness A unique strength training program. 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