Date: Fri, 03 Dec 1999 17:47:26 -0800 From: Jean Richter Subject: 12/3/99 P.E.R.S.O.N. Project news 1. More on GLSEN's booklet on gay tolerance 2. Lambda Legal Defense issues AIDS report card 3. CA: Students sue school over denial of GSA =========================================================== Reply-To: listserver@channelq.com Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 09:03:58 -0800 From: "Channel Q" To: Subject: Group Prepares Gay-Tolerance Book Group Prepares Gay-Tolerance Book ..c The Associated Press By EUN-KYUNG KIM WASHINGTON (AP) - A coalition of educators, doctors and counselors is mailing 12-page booklets on gay tolerance to public school superintendents, stating that homosexuality is not unhealthy and doesn't require a `cure.' The booklet was produced in response to concerns that ``school personnel were receiving inaccurate information on the issue of sexual orientation and how to address it best with students,'' according to the coalition that published ``Just the Facts About Sexual Orientation & Youth: A Primer for Principals, Educators and School Personnel.'' [Deleted article. filemanager@qrd.org] =============================================================================== From: LLDEFNY@aol.com Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 15:29:49 EST Subject: Lambda Issues 1999 World AIDS Day Report Card To: jadriano@lambdalegal.org =========================================== LAMBDA LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATION FUND www.lambdalegal.org News Release ============================================ EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE ON: Sunday, November 28, 1999 for World Aids Day on December 1 Contact: Peg Byron 212-809-8585 x 230, 888-987-1984 pager Catherine Hanssens, 212-809-8585 x215, 888-987-1971 pager ============================================ LAMBDA ISSUES 1999 WORLD AIDS DAY REPORT CARD 'Resurgence of Activism' Earns Top Grades Lackluster Gore; Bush Flunks; Coretta Scott King aces making homophobia-AIDS link (NEW YORK, November 28, 1999) - Texas Gov. George W. Bush flunked and Vice President Al Gore did just slightly better on the annual World AIDS Day Report Card that Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund released Sunday. "World AIDS Day is an opportunity to assess efforts against AIDS," said Lambda Executive Director Kevin M. Cathcart, referring to the worldwide observance on December 1. "This year, we find hope in a national resurgence of activism. But people's lives continue to be endangered by callous and compromising public officials," he said. For the last four years, the nation's oldest and largest legal organization serving lesbians, gay men, and people with HIV/AIDS has issued the Lambda World AIDS Day Report Card, grading public policy efforts and highlighting important trends in treatment, prevention, and civil rights. Just weeks after failing a foreign affairs pop quiz during a televised interview, Gov. Bush received an F on the Lambda report card for his push for so-called "abstinence education," an approach based on subjective moralizing rather than effective techniques designed to help young people avoid HIV infection. The leading Republican presidential candidate promises to let religious organizations get federal funds to support such abstinence-only programs. Meanwhile, Vice President Gore received a C for retreating from his strong record on AIDS issues and siding with pharmaceutical companies out to block South Africa from producing affordable, generic versions of HIV treatments for its citizens. The Democratic primary candidate backed down only under pressure from the activist coalition AIDS Drugs for Africa, which earned an A for its efforts and includes consumer advocate Ralph Nader and Doctors Without Borders, winner of the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize. AIDS Drugs for Africa mounted a visible campaign that forced the United States to drop threats of trade sanctions against the African nation with one of the highest infection rates in the world. The United Nations recently reported that 33.6 million people worldwide, including 1.2 million children, are HIV-positive, and that 2.2 million people died of AIDS last year. In total, Lambda handed out 22 grades to a wide range of groups and individuals working on AIDS-related issues, with many of the exemplary marks going to activists and advocacy groups working to reduce infection rates in various communities. Lambda AIDS Project Director Catherine Hanssens said, "In 1999, we witnessed a new wave of street activism; small but well-organized, persistent and very vocal activists had a powerful impact on some very important national issues and policies." Hanssens added, "Advocates in several states have also developed coalitions with local physicians and health officials on syringe exchange projects - demonstrating the importance of local activism in response to government inaction on this critical form of prevention." She noted, however, that exemplary needle exchange programs - like the one administered by the Minnesota Department of Public Health with the Minnesota AIDS Project, which also received an A grade - are hampered by laws in eight states that criminalize the purchase of syringes without a prescription. Among them are California, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York, states with some of the highest rates of HIV infection in the country. Other failures for 1999 included New Jersey Governor Christie Todd Whitman for jailing a needle exchange activist who had received an A in last year's report card, and to the New York City Board of Education for installing Internet filters that block safer-sex information. Founded in 1973, Lambda is headquartered in New York and has regional offices in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Atlanta. + + + LAMBDA LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATION FUND 1999 WORLD AIDS DAY REPORT CARD December 1 marks World AIDS Day around the globe. This year and every year since 1988, we remember loved ones who have passed away, celebrate those still living with HIV or AIDS, and redouble our commitment to fight the disease. Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the nation's oldest and largest legal organization serving lesbians, gay men, and people with HIV/AIDS, commemorates this day with an annual report card ranking high-achievers and failures in this life and death struggle. POLICY, POLITICS & THE LAW Course of Action Gov. George W. Bush Grade: F Reason: Pop quiz for the leading Republican presidential candidate: what do public health officials overwhelmingly say will curb HIV rates among adolescents? Answer: safer-sex education. But Bush sought to cut funding for health clinics in Texas schools, and if elected, promises to promote so-called "abstinence education," funding religious groups to administer those programs. Vice President Al Gore Grade: C Reason: Usually an ally of people with HIV, this Democrat sided with the pharmaceutical industry and bullied South Africa for trying to produce cheap, generic AIDS Drugs. He backed down only after prolonged protests from AIDS activists. PREVENTION Course of Action New York City Board of Education Grade: F Reason: It wants the Information Superhighway to bypass New York City schools. Already failing to provide adequate safer-sex education, these know-nothings are installing Internet filters on school computers that censor many valuable resources including AIDS education websites. KEY TO GRADES A -- achievement and vital results in the fight against HIV and AIDS B -- better than average effort, with room for improvement C -- compromise - a deadly word with 33.6 million people infected with HIV worldwide F - flunkies, who failed to help, prolonging suffering as the epidemic rages --30-- Link directly to Lambda's news release: http://www.lambdalegal.org/cgi-bin/pages/documents/record?record=525 ======================================= Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund www.lambdalegal.org National Headquarters 120 Wall Street, Suite 1500 New York, NY 10005-3904 212-809-8585 phone 212-809-0055 fax lambdalegal@lambdalegal.org ================================================================================= Reply-To: listserver@channelq.com Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 14:46:46 -0800 From: "Channel Q" To: Subject: Gay-Straight Alliance Students Sue Orange County High School PRESS RELEASE -- People For the American Way Foundation http://www.pfaw.org/news/ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 24, 1999 CONTACT: Media Relations Department at 202-467-4999 ______________________________________________________________________ GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANCE STUDENTS SUE ORANGE COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL (Orange, CA, November 24, 1999) - Students who have formed a Gay- Straight Alliance Club at El Modena High School in Orange County and are being denied the right to meet are filing a lawsuit Wednesday against Orange Unified School District officials. The students, who see the club as a way to promote understanding and respect, say the school district's months-long delay in approving the club has effectively denied them the right to meet this semester. [Deleted article. filemanager@qrd.org] ============================================================================== Jean Richter -- richter@eecs.berkeley.edu The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project (Public Education Regarding Sexual Orientation Nationally) These messages are archived by state on our information-loaded free web site: http://www.youth.org/loco/PERSONProject/