Jan - Feb   (Winter, 2001)

GSL at Cape Cod Tech

Good news! An enthusiastic group of students has formed a Gay-Straight Alliance at the Cape Cod Technical High School, and their numbers are increasing. The aim of the group is to discourage discrimination and harassment, especially at school.

Their first project, a bulletin board entitled "Don’t State Your Hate"with crossed-out words such as "faggot," "queer," "dyke," "bitch," spic," and "nigger," caused a problem among staff who thought the words inappropriate. The display has since been covered over.

An obvious question that should be posed by the GSL group to the staff is, "If these words are inappropriate on the bulletin board, why do you tolerate them in classrooms and halls? Instead of protesting the bulletin board that made a point about these words, why not confront students who use them? [For a success story, see "Hopeful In N. Andover" on p. 2.]

For information about this GSL group which meets weekly, call Valerie Girelli at 432-4500 ext 225.

Vermont House Under Republican Leadership

[Excerpted from Gay.com Network 1/3/01]

For the first time in 14 years, the Vermont House of Representatives has a Republican majority. Gay rights activists are watching closely for signs of how newly-elected Speaker Walter Freed will handle the civil union law that so bitterly divided the body last session.

The judiciary committee, which authored the landmark legislation giving gay and lesbian couples virtually all of the rights and responsibilities of marriage under Vermont law, is responsible for other bills related to the issue. For instance, a bill proposal similar to the Defense of Marriage Act has been allowed to languish in the committee for several years. Under new leadership, a similar bill could easily make it to the floor.

Rep. Bill Lippert, the openly gay vice chair of the committee last session, said, "The Republican majority, combined with a faction of conservative Democrats, will lead on many House bills that won't please the gay community. We will have to rely on the Senate to stop the progress of many measures that pass the House." The Senate remains in Democratic hands, and Vermont Gov. Howard Dean has not backed off his support of the civil union law. Dean has vowed to veto any move to repeal it.

Justice Tree Gathering

Date: January 21

Place: Tilden Art Conter, Cape Cod Community College

Time: 1 - 5 pm

The Justice Tree Project promotes the establishment of a diverse community built on compassion and fairness for all.

The purpose of the conference is to unite Cape Cod and Islands people in support of those who are discriminated against because of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, or disability.

The conference is free of charge, but reservations are required and can be made by leaving a message at 508-778-7744 ext. 16.

Chavez Trouble

[Excerpted from PlanetOut 1/4/01]

Linda Chavez, George W. Bush’s nominee for Labor Secretary, has a record of opposition to gay rights and strong ties to the religious right. Chavez, who served on the U.S. Civil Rights Commission under Reagan, has opposed non-discrimination protections based on sexual orientation, defended the Boy Scouts’ right to bar gay members, and called for passage of the Defense of Marriage Act to prevent same-sex marriage on the grounds that it would harm "children, families, and, finally, civilization itself."

As a syndicated columnist, Chavez condemned the 1987 March on Washington: "There is a compelling argument against extending civil rights protections to sexual orientation on the basis that it would be homosexual activity, not homosexual persons, that would be protected by such laws...." "It has to do with whether society has the right to make judgments about which behaviors it approves or disapproves...."

Chavez also signed a 1996 letter calling on Congress to pass the Defense of Marriage Act, and in a 1998 column, she spoke in favor of the national ad campaign to "cure" homosexuality. "Nothing in the ads encourages hatred or mistreatment of homosexuals, but the ads do express a view of traditional Christian morality and encourage homosexuals to seek help in abiding by the prohibition against sex outside marriage," Chavez wrote. She said that gay critics of the ads should "start demonstrating a little tolerance of their own."

Silence About Violence

[Excerpted from article by John Leland, NYT 11/6/00]

When Benjamin DeLanty's partner started hitting him, Mr. DeLanty did not think of the attacks as domestic abuse. After all, said Mr. DeLanty, 32, he was not a battered woman, but a fit man, slightly larger than his partner.

But for a year as the relationship progressed, so did the violence. Mr. DeLanty twice went to the hospital with bruised or broken ribs. After he was hit with a frying pan and received a cut that required six stitches in his forehead, Mr. DeLanty got an order of protection against his partner and moved to an apartment with better security.

"I felt so stupid," Mr. DeLanty said. "I'm a pretty educated person, and if I didn't realize that it was abuse, how many other people are buying into the myth that it's mutual combat or part of a relationship?"

Although statistical research has been spotty, researchers believe abuse is as prevalent among gay or lesbian couples as among heterosexual ones. But the issue of gay domestic abuse has been shrouded by silence until recently.

"We're just now beginning to take same-sex domestic violence out of the closet," said Jennifer Rakowski, associate director of Community United Against Violence, a group that provides crisis intervention and court advocacy in San Francisco. "We had to get acceptance as individuals first."

For years, gay people have tried to keep quiet about the problem, said Dave Shannon, coordinator of the violence recovery program at Fenway Community Health, a gay and lesbian clinic in Boston.

Mr. Shannon said: "People feel, 'Why should we air our dirty laundry? People feel so negatively about us already, the last thing we should do is contribute to negative stereotypes of us.'"

Victims of abuse sometimes do not want to admit that gay partners can be batterers. Bekki OwCuevas, 40, fled to a women's shelter in Kansas after what she called an abusive marriage to a man in the late 1980's. When she later found herself sexually assailed by a female partner, she was reluctant to recognize the violence as abuse. "There was a piece of me that really wanted to believe that women are safe people," Ms. Ow-Cuevas said.

Abuse also includes emotional cruelty, as documented by Claire Renzetti, professor of sociology at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, who surveyed 100 victims to study the breadth of violence among lesbians.

"One woman was diabetic," Dr. Renzetti said. "Her partner never hit her, but forced her to eat sugar. Two disabled women reported that their abusers took them to isolated, wooded areas and left them without their wheelchairs. Another woman quit her job before her partner could out her at work."

The victims face extraordinary challenges from the courts, the legal system, and often from their friends and families. No shelters exist for battered men. Women's shelters often do not protect victims from their abusers if those abusers are women.

If police are called, it is common for them to arrest both parties; the abused and abuser will commonly be held near each other, even in the same cell, because it is difficult to tell who is the victim and who is the aggressor. This is true in heterosexual cases as well, but moreso in same-sex couples. Stereotypes of meek, overpowered women and rampaging, abusive men are of little help to officers responding to a battle between two men or two women. Often, the abuser is the smaller gay man or the more feminine lesbian. A Seattle abuse worker estimated that 75 percent of the victims in her program were arrested, sometimes with their abusers.

The courts, like police departments, offer inconsistent protections to people who say their abusers are of the same sex. In many states, gay men and lesbians cannot get protective orders in Family Court, even though married couples or heterosexual couples with children can. Instead, gay men and lesbians can only get the orders in the criminal courts, and only after the police have intervened.

Hopeful In N Andover

[Excerpted from article by C. L. Cole, Boston Globe, 12/3/2000]

Brad Silk, an art student at North Andover High School, missed 40 days of school last year after being overwhelmed by harassment pressures over his admitted sexual preference.

Silk said the taunting began in his sixth-period geometry class, but the lack of teacher intervention convinced him his only option was skipping class.

''Here I was having these feelings and I wasn't even sure about myself,'' Silk said, adding that the comments and suggestive actions from other male members of his class were more than he could handle on his own.

When the taunts intensified, Silk began skipping school. A sympathetic English teacher intervened and persuaded him to speak frankly with a guidance counselor. That counselor then sensitized his math teacher to listen for an undercurrent in her classroom.

Now that teacher, Amy Kinney, is one of two advisers to the student Gay-Straight Alliance.

''It was terrible for me to realize this was going on in my classroom, that he was suffering and I didn't realize it,'' Kinney said.

Silk hasn't missed a day of school this year because of sexual harassment, but his experiences last year proved a lightning rod for the school staff.

Members of the Gay-Straight Alliance got permission to address the teaching staff about student homophobia in hopes of making the school safer for gay students.

''We started with the teachers because we know that if a teacher says a certain word or phrase isn't acceptable, kids will listen or at least stop when they are around that teacher."

According to the Massachusetts Department of Education, ''The average gay student hears the word 'fag' or 'homo' 25 times a day while at school."

Mother to Sue Police

[NY, 11/7/00 lambdalegal.org]

A mother whose teen son committed suicide after police in Minersville, Pennsylvania, harassed him and threatened to disclose that he was gay finally can take her wrongful-death case to trial. Sterling’s 18-year-old son, Marcus Wayman, committed suicide in 1977 after officers demanded he disclose his sexual orientation to his grandfather in the rural town of less than 5,000 or they would do it for him.

"No mother should lose her child because of an encounter with a homophobic police officer," said Lambda Deputy Legal Director Ruth Harlow, adding, "The Third Circuit has now agreed that police officers should know that threatening to reveal a teenager’s sexual orientation to his family or the community violates clearly established constitutional rights. It’s important that there be a trial, and we hope there will be some accountability for what happened to Marcus Wayman."

The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court decision allowing Sterling’s case to go forward against Pennsylvania’s Borough of Minersville, the local police department, and two police officers. The lower court had rejected the police officers’ attempt to win qualified immunity from suit, ruling that their conduct violated Wayman's clearly established right to privacy as protected by the Constitution.

Wayman and a friend had been stopped by police officers for trespassing in the parking lot of a recently burglarized store. After Wayman’s friend removed condoms from his pocket to prove he was not concealing marijuana, the officers began questioning the teenagers about their sexual orientation, subjecting them to Biblical admonitions against homosexuality. Confronted with an officer’s ultimatum that Wayman disclose his sexual orientation to his family, Wayman committed suicide.

Sterling’s lawsuit charges the officers, police chief, and city with violating Wayman’s 14th Amendment rights to privacy and equal protection of law as well as state laws.

Lambda is the nation’s oldest legal organization serving lesbians, gays, and people with HIV and AIDS.

Student May ‘Dress’

A single justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court yesterday upheld a Superior Court judge's order that allows a transgender Brockton student who is biologically male to attend school wearing girls' clothing. The ruling is consistent with the guidance of mental health professionals who have said it is medically necessary for the student to be able to express her female gender identity.

The student, who has been attending school for nearly three weeks under the lower court's order, has been embraced by friends and teachers. The case was brought against the Brockton School Department when the school prohibited Pat from attending school wearing what the principal considered to be girls' clothing. This exclusion from school followed nearly two years of disciplinary action against Pat for wearing girls' clothing, beginning when she began to identify as transgender.

School District Settles Suit

[Excerpted from AP Article]

Somerset, KY, school officials have settled a lawsuit filed by a student who claimed they failed to protect him from harassment by students who thought he was gay, attorneys said.

The Somerset Independent School District will pay an estimated $135,000 to Bradley Putman, said his mother, Regina Cooper. The district agreed to the settlement on Tuesday, and on Thursday its board adopted a more stringent harassment policy.

Putman, who is now 19, filed a lawsuit in US District Court in London in March, alleging administrators did nothing to shield him from ridicule and death threats during the 1997-98 school year.

When then-Superintendent Monte Chance met with Mrs. Cooper, he told her the district had no policy against same-sex harassment, the lawsuit said. Chance is now superintendent in Franklin County [the county seat of the state capitol].

The new policy forbids any harassment or discrimination based on "actual or perceived sexual orientation" and outlines schools' responsibilities and the recourse available to victims.

Most school districts use a model harassment policy created by the Kentucky School Boards Association, which includes same-sex harassment, said Dara Bass, a spokeswoman for the association.

Educator Sues for Job

[Excerpted from Boston Globe, 11/28/00]

A Department of Education worker fired last spring for leading a graphic sexual talk with teenagers is suing the agency and the two conservative activists who secretly taped the session.

In the lawsuit, Margot Abels accuses Scott Whiteman and Brian Camenker of violating her civil rights and the state's antiwiretapping law by recording the sex education workshop she led at Tufts University last March.

Abels, who was a sexuality and HIV/AIDS educator with the department, also says Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll violated her civil rights by firing her after the tape became public and generated a storm of controversy.

Abels is asking that she be reinstated and paid back wages. She is also seeking punitive damages from Camenker and Whiteman, saying that she received threats and abusive phone calls after the tape was played on a local talk-radio show. In response to a lawsuit filed by another workshop leader and a teenage participant, a judge last May barred further distribution of the tape.

Louisiana Sodomy

The Louisiana Supreme Court has upheld its state sodomy law. "Simply put, commission of what the Legislature determines as an immoral act, even if consensual and private, is an injury against society itself."

GALE Fund Gala

The First Parish Welcoming Congregation Committee is planning the most fantastic event of the winter season. The GALE Fund Gala will be a formal evening of dance where Cape Cod's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual, Transgender community and Friends will proudly share the dance floor. The evening is scheduled for February 10 at the Sheraton Hyannis Resort near the Melody Tent rotary (snow date February 17), from 8 to midnight.

The Moonlighters big band sound with featured vocalist Linda Delorey and Provincetown's famed trio The Three Marys will entertain an audience that is sure to be one of the most 'fabulous'collection of individuals on Cape Cod. Tickets are $60.

For more information about the Gale Fund Gala or to reserve a ticket, call the Community Foundation at 800-947-2322, 508-790-3040 or E-mail comfndcc@capecod.net.

Boy Scout News

Two Taunton organizations have ended their relationships with the Boy Scouts. The Bennett Elementary School and Union Congregational Church of Christ will not renew their troop sponsorships.

In Providence, Rhode Island, six Scout leaders sent a letter to the Narragansett Council of Boy Scouts saying they will not enforce the national organization’s ban on gays as troop leaders and will ignore the rule that bars those who do not believe in God.

"We will not teach our Scouts to accept a ‘little discrimination’ in order to enjoy all of scouting’s positive benefits," the leaders wrote.

Gay Dutch Weddings

[Reuters 1/ 3/01]

Couples are signing up to celebrate with a communal ceremony the day the Netherlands' historic same-gender marriage law goes into effect.

Dutch homosexuals are planning a mass wedding this spring in Amsterdam to celebrate the introduction of a groundbreaking law allowing same-sex marriage. The ceremony is scheduled for April 1, when new laws come into force permitting gay couples to marry and adopt children.

Kudos to Rona

Rona Robinson, one of our PFLAG/Brewster members and a speaker in our Speakers Bureau, has recently graduated from the Environmental Technology Program at Cape Cod Community College. Congratulations, Rona.

If anyone knows of a possible job, she would appreciate a call at 775-0914.

GLBT Group Info

Dates to Remember

Jan 15, Feb 19, Mar 19, Apr 16: Brewster PFLAG, 7 pm

Jan 18, Feb 15, Mar 15, Apr 19: Straight Spouse, 896-9060

Jan 28, Feb 25, Mar 25, : Transgender Support, 432-8119

Jan 21: "Justice Tree Gathering" at 4C’s, 1 - 5 pm

PFLAG/Cape Cod, Brewster

PO Box 1167 Orleans, MA 02653

MISSION: Promote the health and well-being of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered persons, their families and friends, through Support, to cope with an adverse society; Education, to enlighten an ill-informed public; and Advocacy, to end discrimination and secure equal civil rights.

MEETINGS: 7 pm on the third Monday of each month at First Parish Church, Brewster; everyone is welcome. For information call 240-2737 or 432-8119.

MEMBERSHIP: Dues-paying members support the efforts of PFLAG both locally and nationally. Ten dollars goes to PFLAG National (includes subscription to Pflagpole), and the balance is used for our own Newsletter and the purchase of pamphlets, books, and videos. Our fiscal year begins October 1.

OFFICERS: Co-Leaders, Pem Schultz. & Rob Lewis; Treasurer, Jeanne Chagnon; Corresponding Sec’y, Betsy Cochran; Publicity, Anna Green and Martha Berndt; Newsletter, Doris Scherbak and Joann Figueras; Program, Sandy Bayne; Library, Martha Berndt; Computers, Joann Figueras; other board member Randy Kendall.

NEWSLETTER: Published four times a year. We welcome articles and/or comments. Send to above address or call 240-2737 or 255-7307. E-mail: j.figueras@verizon.net.

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_____$35 Family_____$25 Individual _____$15 Limited income

$________________Additional donation for our local chapter.

Name_______________________________________________

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Checks are payable to PFLAG/Cape Cod, Brewster. Mail to Jeanne Chagnon, Treas., 5 Kate's Path, Yarmouthport MA 02675

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