GLBT News from US Schools

Good news in Minnesota! Gov. Mark Dayton signed a bullying-prevention bill into law to protect students tormented by their classmates. The Safe and Supportive Schools Act, passed almost three years after a large school district, replaced a law of 37 words that many people considered one of the weakest in the country. The new law mandates staff and teacher training in preventing bullying and requires tracking and investigating bullying cases. Despite complaints, especially from rural legislators who say that it isn’t needed for their districts, the law was weakened as if went through the legislative process. Schools are not required to keep and report data or train volunteers. If individual districts create their own policies, they will not have to follow the state’s model policy. In 2009, former GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty vetoed an anti-bullying measure during the reports of suicides in the Anoka-Hennepin district, represented by GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann. The ensuing lawsuits resulted in intervention by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Substitute teacher Laura Jane Klug, a 52-year-old transgender woman, has been reinstated at the small Texas school district in Lumberton after parent complaints led to her suspension from her job. The board said that they could not suspend Klug because the item was not on the agenda, but they did allow 13 speakers on the subject. Texas law does not protect employees based on sexual orientation or gender identity, but EEOC has ruled that discrimination based on gender identity is sex discrimination.

A University of Kentucky survey distributed to students asked self-identified heterosexuals if they agree with these statements:

  • Male homosexuality is a perversion.
  • The idea of gay marriage seems ridiculous to me.
  • A woman who is a lesbian is just as likely to be a good person as anyone else.

Self-identified LGBT students were asked if they agree with the statement, “If it were possible, I would choose to be straight.”

The university defended the survey but has shut it down—at least for the time being. The Kentucky Youth Law Project has launched an independent review of the situation.

The University of South Carolina Upstate was forced to cancel the satiric satirical “How to Become a Lesbian in 10 Days or Less” by humorist Butchy McDyke which was scheduled to be performed during the April 10-11 Bodies of Knowledge Symposium and Conference. State Sen. Mike Fair (R) claimed that the purpose of the program was “recruiting.” State Sen. Kevin Bryant (R) said about the show, “If they’ve got extra money sitting around to promote perversion, obviously they’ve got more money than they really need.” When he was elected, Fair proposed a law mandating sex education classes to teach that homosexual behavior was “unnatural, unhealthy and illegal.” Earlier this year, the state House cut funding to the school because it had chosen an LGBT book for its summer reading program. Rep. Garry Smith also proposed cutting $52,000 to the College of Charleston after it chose Alison Bechdel’s memoir Fun Home as its summer reading.

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