St. Augustine high school students fight to form GSA
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Pedro Menendez High School senior Marissa Burrier and other students at the school sought permission from principal Robert Allten to form a GSA last month. Allten refused to allow the GSA but said he would approve an unofficial “tolerance group” which would not be considered an official school club and would not have the privileges other clubs receive. “We just wanted to start a club where all students could feel safe, regardless of their sexual orientation,” said Burrier. “We need a place on campus where all kids, gay and straight, can come together in a safe place to talk about how they feel.” Burrier and her fellow students sought the help of the National Center for Lesbian Rights and Equality Florida. The NCLR told Allten on Tuesday by letter that if he did not act with ten days to approve the GSA he would be hauled into federal court. “The principal’s denial of the students’ request to start a GSA and his attempt to force the students to change the club’s name and deny it official club status is clearly illegal,” said NCLR Regional Counsel Karen Doering. “Under the federal Equal Access Act, schools that permit students to form other non-curriculum based clubs must allow students to form GSA’s, and must give these GSA’s the same status and privileges as other club."Now, hopefully, the principal of this high school will take very, very careful steps for the next few days. Ultimately, he will need to decide to do the legal and ethical thing: allow the GSA to form. Back when I founded the GSA at Reynolds High (the second such group in my system), I don't think I had near as many problems as this high school. I never had to threaten a lawsuit and the principal of my high school was pretty much willing to work with me and I believe he did as much as he could, given the political atmosphere around Winston at the time, to protect LGBT students. The students who founded the first GSA in my school system though didn't have it so easy. Those students enlisted the help and aid of the local GLSEN chapter (which is no longer in existence, see www.glsen.org for more info). I don't know all of the details, and someone correct me if I'm wrong... the situation with our school board got so bad that it almost came really close to bringing a lawsut against the system. I do not understand at all the reasoning that must go through these people's heads. Principals and school boards must do a whole hell of a lot of rationalizing to get around the fact that not allowing this GSA is breaking a federal law. Some may say its because these people are standing for moraity and do not want homosexuality in the schools. Well guess what? Tough shit. The public school system is run by the government, hence, NO ONE can let their own personal, private religious or moral views dictate policy, laws, or rules for anyone else. That is America. I'm sorry if you don't like it. If you want to live in a theocracy... try an Islamic Arab country... America isn't a theocracy, it never was and it never will be. Get over and if you don't like it move somewhere which will allow you to tell everyone else how to live, based not upon the "law of the land" but rather your own fundamentalist brand of religion which is seeking to grasp control of and kill America's precious democracy and all of our freedoms.
I don't really know how many people are aware that currently there is legilstion sitting in a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee which would repeal the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" gay ban in all branches of the U.S. Military.
For myself, I had heard something or another about it, but not much. I don't think there was ever much attention given to it by anybody, including the government and the media. I found a great 
I thought this would be a good idea: List holiday events related and not related to LGBT folk and groups.
Winston-Salem:
From the Winston-Salem Journal:
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Ruling on ordaining gays brings on doubts
By Stacy Meichtry
RELIGION NEWS SERVICE
From Reuters:
Anglican bishop criticizes Vatican over gays
By Daniel Frykholm
Thu Nov 24, 1:42 PM ET
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Gay U.S. Anglican bishop Gene Robinson said on Thursday a Vatican document barring practicing gay men from becoming Roman Catholic priests showed a profound misunderstanding of homosexuality.
The document, due to be published next week, says men with "deep-seated" gay tendencies cannot become priests and that only those who have overcome their homosexuality at least three years before ordination can do so.
"I think the Vatican, or whoever wrote this statement, should spend a little more time listening to its gay and lesbian members rather than putting out statements," said Robinson, having read media reports on the document.
"This strikes me as language from people who profoundly do not understand gay and lesbian people ... who know next to nothing about being gay or lesbian," Robinson, whose ordination as bishop in 2003 plunged the Anglican Church into crisis.
The document reinforces existing Roman Catholic policy that many in the Church believe has not been properly enforced, but Robinson told Reuters during a visit to Stockholm it would only force people to lie about their sexual orientation.
"It's very clear here that if you want to be a priest in the Roman Catholic Church and you know you're gay, you have to lie about it," he said.
DEEP DIVISIONS
Robinson was the first openly gay man to be ordained as a bishop in the U.S. Episcopal church, sparking deepening divisions among the world's 77 million Anglicans.
Earlier this month, almost half the world's Anglican archbishops demanded action from Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams over "unrepented sexual immorality" in the church. Williams has always been personally tolerant of gay clergy.
Robinson said there were probably many Roman Catholics like himself.
"There are plenty of gay men who have faithfully served the Roman Catholic Church, who know themselves to be gay and who are faithful to their vow of celibacy. To exclude them from the ordained ministry is a real mistake," he said.
"It appears that being celibate is not good enough."
The document, parts of which were read to Reuters by a Vatican prelate on Tuesday, differentiates between "deep-seated" gay tendencies and a "transitory problem," but also says homosexuals cannot relate "correctly to men and women."
"That's offensive to me, and this language just strikes me as profoundly separated from the real lives of gay and lesbian men and women that I know," said Robinson.
During his visit to Stockholm, Robinson met leaders of the Lutheran Church of Sweden, which allows gay clergy and recently decided to hold formal blessing ceremonies for registered same-sex partnerships.
The Vatican says homosexuals who are sexually active or support "gay culture" are unwelcome in the priesthood unless they have overcome their homosexual tendencies for at least three years, according to a church document posted on the Internet by an Italian Catholic news agency.
The long-awaited document is scheduled to be released by the Vatican on Nov. 29. A church official who has read the document confirmed the authenticity of the Internet posting by the Adista news agency. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the document has not yet been officially released by the Vatican.
The document said that "the church, while deeply respecting the people in question, cannot admit to the seminary and the sacred orders those who practice homosexuality, present deeply rooted homosexual tendencies or support so-called gay culture."
"Those people find themselves, in fact, in a situation that presents a grave obstacle to a correct relationship with men and women. One cannot ignore the negative consequences that can stem from the ordination of people with deeply rooted homosexual tendencies," it said.
"If instead it is a case of homosexual tendencies that are merely the expression of a transitory problem, for example as in the case of an unfinished adolescence, they must however have been clearly overcome for at least three years before ordination as a deacon."
Vatican prohibitions on active homosexuals becoming priests are not new.
A key 1961 Vatican document on selecting candidates for the priesthood made clear homosexuals should be barred.
However, the sex abuse scandal among priests in the United States and elsewhere has led some to call for new restrictions.
Estimates of the number of gays in U.S. seminaries and the priesthood range from 25 percent to 50 percent, according to a review of research by Rev. Donald Cozzens, a former seminary rector and author of "The Changing Face of the Priesthood."
The Vatican press office announced in November 2002, at the height of the clergy sex scandal in the United States, that the Congregation for Catholic Education was drawing up guidelines for accepting candidates for the priesthood that would address the question of whether gays should be barred. However, the document reportedly had been in the works well before then.
The document, called an "Instruction" is only five pages, including footnotes. It was signed by the prefect and secretary of the congregation on Nov. 4 and says it was approved by Pope Benedict XVI on Aug. 31.
The sex abuse scandals have forced an unprecedented introspection into the clergy and how to train future priests.
In September, Vatican-directed inspectors started visiting all 229 American seminaries. Part of their mission is to seek any "evidence of homosexuality" at a time when some Catholics have put forward the highly contested premise that gay priests were more likely to be responsible for criminal behavior such as serial, same-sex molestation.
The Vatican has often visited the issue of homosexuality, reflecting an unbending theological opposition but also an acknowledgment that discrimination based on sexual preference is not justified.
In 2003, homosexuality was described as a "troubling moral and social phenomenon" in a document by the powerful Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, then headed by German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict this year.
Vatican teaching also holds that homosexuals are "intrinsically disordered." The church, however, says gays and lesbians should be treated with compassion and dignity.
Equality NC Statement on Chapel Hill School Board Letter
Equality NC Applauds Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools' Stand Against Discrimination
Equality NC applauds the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School System for taking a stand against the State Board of Education's recent decision to remove the list of protected categories, including sexual orientation and gender identity, from the standards for training school counselors and school social workers about diversity and discrimination.
The city school system announced last week that they will be sending a letter to the State School Board asking them to put the list of protected categories back in.
"Students need to know that elected officials are supportive of people with different sexual orientations, and are prepared to support them in our schools," said Superintendent Neil Pedersen told the Herald-Sun. "It's a real issue that we must address in a forthright and positive manner."
"It is critical that our staff understand the issues surrounding sexual orientation," Pedersen said, in a memo to the local school board. "Substituting the word 'human diversity' does not give sufficient direction to our institutions of higher education on how to prepare prospective counselors and social workers."
The district will pay $90,000 in attorney's fees and fully recognize the Gay-Straight Alliance.
Colorado Springs School District 11 has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed on behalf of students by the American Civil Liberties Union after the Gay-Straight Alliance group was denied certain privileges at Palmer High School.
The school board approved the settlement Monday by a 6-1 vote. The district will pay $90,000 in attorney's fees and fully recognize the alliance and other student groups not directly related to curriculum.
Alfred McDonnell, the students' lawyer, said he was pleased with the settlement because it gives the club the same rights as others.
District lawyer Eric Bentley said the district didn't believe it discriminated against the students, but decided to settle because the lawsuit was financially draining.
"The district defended the case all that time because it believed in the policy," he said. "It's simply become extremely expensive."
Palmer High School had created a two-track system for student groups. Groups deemed to be related to the curriculum were allowed to use the public address system and post notices. Organizations deemed to have no direct connection to curriculum — including the Gay-Straight Alliance — could meet at the school but not use the PA system or post notices.
The federal lawsuit was filed in 2003, arguing the policy was discriminatory and other clubs not related to curriculum, such as the Mountain Biking Club, were given more privileges.
WARSAW, November 21, 2005 — An impassioned plea has come from many gays in Poland today in the wake of the heavy-handed action of the riot police in Poznań on Saturday when more than 60 people were arrested during a peaceful demonstration. The message was simple: “Please help us”.
The march was organised by a number of Polish women’s and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights organisations. Earlier last week, the march was ruled illegal by the Mayor of Poznań, Ryszard Grobelny, who is thought to have issued the edict under considerable political pressure from the Polish government.
Despite the ban the march went ahead but was blocked by the police. The participants were arrested and interrogated.
An email today from KPH (Campaign Against Homophobia) in Warsaw pleaded for help from other member states of the European Union.
“Polish LGBT organizations ask all our friends in Belgium and England to organise demonstrations during those days,” wrote Tomasz Szypula, the secretary general of KPH. “It is very important for us because [the] Polish government is totally ignoring our calls.
Please show your solidarity. Last Saturday 68 people taking part in The Equality March in Poznań were arrested. I was one of them.”
They asked for urgent representations to be made to both the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, (the United Kingdom currently holds the presidency of the European Union) at to Jose Barroso, the President of the European Commission.
Both are holding separate talks with the Polish Prime Minster this week.
First to react to the plea from Poland was the Brussels-based IGLA-Europe. The organisation said it was “deeply disappointed and concerned” about the level of continuing and blatant discrimination against gays.
“We are deeply concerned with the development is Poland for the last few months,” commented Patricia Prendiville, Executive Director of ILGA-Europe.
“Such discriminatory acts by the Polish authorities as banning peaceful demonstrations in Warsaw earlier this year and in Poznań last weekend, closing down the Poland’s equality body are sending very worrying messages that Poland completely disregards its obligations it agreed to implement by joining various European organisations.
“It is time for the European organisations and states to send their firm message to the Polish authorities that such behaviour is not tolerable and contradicts European agreement and values,” she insisted.
ILGA-Europe is calling on both European organisations and individual European governments to immediately denounce such intolerable actions by the Polish authorities.
By joining the European Union (EU), the Council of Europe (CoE) and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation of Europe (OSCE), Poland agreed on the principles of non-discrimination, equality and freedom of peaceful assembly.
While there has been little coverage of Saturday’s arrests in the mainstream media outside Poland, the most comprehensive has been from perhaps the least likely place – Aljazerra.
“Sixty-eight activists could face fines of up to 5,000 zlotys (US$1500) or up to one month in prison, said Miroslaw Adamski, spokesman for the district prosecutor's office in Poznan,” the Qatar-based news organisation reported.
The Polish News Agency reported that about a dozen counter-demonstrators threw eggs at the marchers and some shouted: “We are going to do with you what Hitler did with the Jews”.
While Polish hate crime law does not include sexual orientation, it does include anti-Semitic remarks. And a spokesperson for the Poznań police is reported as saying that they would charge those who made the remark for being offensive to an ethnic group.
But Szypula is unconvinced. “A similar statement was made last year in Krakow by the police – but the police did nothing,” he said.
