from Gay Activism in the Schools

A Captive Audience

by Dick M. Carpenter II, Ph.D.

Over the past decade, the issue of homosexuality has grown to prominence in American culture and politics. Today, homosexuality enjoys remarkable attention and approval, thanks, in part, to the way schools address it. In many communities, schools have become ideological battlegrounds over this issue. Gay activists and conservative groups or Christian organizations routinely clash over the appropriate role of schools in discussing homosexuality, with the gay community making unprecedented headway in affecting change.

Yet, many stakeholders in school communities remain unaware of such changes. What exactly is happening in schools? How are these changes occurring? These are the questions this paper seeks to answer. This examination considers these questions first by reviewing the current state of affairs in schools, including a look at schools in general, the people within the schools, and those in the larger educational community who interact with schools. As this discussion elucidates, an issue once largely confined to California and Massachusetts now exists in communities all over the country, regardless the size. This is followed by a review of how the gay community affects such change. The paper concludes with recommendations.

Those who work in schools regularly receive literature, videos, curriculum, and testimonials from many sources advocating the teaching of homosexuality from a pro-gay perspective. Some of these resources originate from community gay rights groups, and others from national, well-known educational organizations.

Literature

Whether from national or local groups, the literature tends to share a common foundation. The Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network's (GLSEN) Just the Facts (Frankfurt, 1999) summarizes this foundation by saying, "Sexual orientation is one component of a person's identity, which is made up of many other components, such as culture, ethnicity, gender, and personality traits" (p. 3). In other words, such literature instructs teachers, counselors, and principals that homosexuality is a biological or genetic characteristic and removes any alternatives to or chances of overcoming homosexuality.

Built on this foundation, other literature discuss the necessity of creating safe environments (Bochenek, 2001), addressing the psychological needs of GLBT students, (Ungerleider, 2001), stopping prejudice against GLBT youth in schools (See Appendix A), and creating supportive school environments for GLBT children (See Appendix B). The power of such literature grows out of the influence and prominence of the producing organizations, such as Human Rights Watch, The National Association of School Psychologists, the American Psychological Association, and the National Education Association.

Videos

Pro-gay videos sent to schools tend to fall into two general domains, instruction for school personnel and classroom use. In both domains, pro-gay videos, like the literature, rely on the homosexuality-is-genetic foundation. Producers such as The Lesbian and Gay Parents Association, GLSEN, the National Film Board of Canada, The Attainment Company, ESPN, Woman Vision, and Sun & Moon Vision Productions have created numerous videos dedicated to educating teachers on the issue of homosexuality and training viewers on including gay themes in classrooms, making classrooms and schools gay friendly, and inculcating "tolerance" among students (GLSEN, 2001b). Many videos come with resource guides for teachers, and some have multiple versions, one for staff training use and one for classroom use.

Of the producers of pro-gay videos for schools, the Women's Educational Media (WEM) produced two of the best-known and often-used. In 1996, WEM released the award winning film It's Elementary: Talking about gay issues in schools, a "film primer" providing instruction on and examples of classrooms and schools teaching about homosexuality. According to WEM, nearly 2000 educational institutions use the video, more than 100 public television stations aired it, and teacher training programs utilize it throughout the United States (Anonymous, 2001c).

For example, the Chicago public schools use the film for staff development and training. Organizations such as GLSEN, the National Education Association (NEA), and Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) utilize the film in training sessions and school speaking events (Anonymous, 2001f). Finally, many prominent educational organizations screened the film in workshops and in conferences, groups such as American Library Association, American School Counselor Association, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, International School Psychology Colloquium, National Association for Multicultural Education, National Association of School Psychologists, National Association of Social Workers, National Association of Independent Schools, National Middle School Association, National Youth Advocacy Coalition, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and Women in Medicine (Anonymous, 2001a).

Women's Educational Media followed up It's Elementary with That's a Family!, a film designed for children to explore all family types. That's A Family! takes a tour from a child's point of view through a diverse range of family structures. The children who star in the film come from families that include single parent, multiracial, divorced, guardian, adoptive and gay-and lesbian-headed households. (Anonymous, 2001g, paragraph, 2)

That's a Family! was screened in December, 2000 at the White House, with speakers from organizations such as the National Parent Teachers Association (PTA) and the Girl Scouts. In her remarks, PTA president Ginny Markell said, "It's time for us to get out of our silos...and get more vocal about what is important for all children and all families" (Anonymous, 2001g, paragraph 7). In 2001, the National PTA spearheaded a new campaign dealing with homosexuality, and included That's A Family! among the resources provided to PTA members (Anonymous, 2001g).

Curriculum

While literature and videos see frequent use in classrooms, systematic curricula specifically addressing homosexuality is a fast growing phenomenon, particularly after a spate of new pro-gay bills signed into law in California (Capitol Resource Institute, 2001). Some curricula are nothing but suggestions for classroom discussion, such as Addressing the Matthew Shepard Tragedy in the Classroom, Is Everyone Protected by the Bill of Rights?, or Why We Need A Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) History Month. Others are classroom readers, such as Becoming Visible: A Reader in Gay and Lesbian History for High School & College Students (GLSEN, 2001a).

Some creative curricula take advantage of seasons or holidays, such as For Valentine's Day: Talking About Love and Marriage and LGBT History Month Resources Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights: A Human Rights Perspective. Others build on current events, such as A Lesson Exploring Gays in the Military. Curricula written for various disciplines include McCarthyism and the Witch-Hunt Mentality, What Can Biology Teachers Do To Help?, and a Language Arts/Health Education Unit entitled The Same Sex Marriage Debate. While many curricula are written for middle or high school, one curriculum is billed as "Age appropriate responses for Kindergarten and Elementary School: Advice to Teachers: Tinky Winky in the Classroom" (GLSEN, 2001a).

Historically, such curricula have met with opposition from parents and conservative groups. For example, when Santa Fe, New Mexico public schools implemented an "anti-homophobia" curriculum in which homosexuality, transexuality, and transgenderism are normalized, parents and local religious leaders strongly criticized the district (Heil, 2001). Likewise, conservative groups in California vociferously denounced the curriculum, Healthy Relationships: A Violence-Prevention Curriculum (Anonymous, 1994), because of erroneous or vague information contained therein, such as "a significant percentage of the population is gay..." or "One out of four families have a lesbian or gay in their immediate family" (p. 94).

Testimonials.

Student testimonials represent some of the most powerful change agents in schools. Whether spoken before an audience of teachers, written in assignments or notebooks, or shared individually with a staff member, student testimonials are emotional stories of gay students contemplating suicide or dropping-out of school due to "homophobic" harassment. Such testimonials seek to motivate school leaders to address homosexuality in schools through new programs, policies, or curricula.

While the experiences and feelings of these students cannot be dismissed outright, the fact that activists groups like GLSEN compel students to deliver such testimonials (Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network, 2001f) casts a shadow over the motivation and intent of said declarations.

Nevertheless, school leaders do respond to these stories. For example, the Madison, Wisconsin school board appointed a full-time counselor for gay and lesbian students (Jones, 2001). The board made the decision after hearing from "a half-dozen gay teenagers who described harassment they had suffered at school" (paragraph 4). School officials further stated the counselor would "help gay and lesbian students with their studies and problems in coping with harassment and ignorance from other students" (paragraph 2). Predictably, Erickson (2001) reports the individual who filled that role is far more active in her district than acting as a counselor or resource.

She is helping schools plan anti-harassment curriculum, gearing up for 10 hours of staff training at a middle school, and aiding the five student gay-straight alliances in the district, among other things. (p. A1)

Other cities with school counselors for gay students include San Francisco, Minneapolis, Boston, and Seattle (Jones, 2001).

The Role of Teachers

To implement such curricula and other gay-advocacy material, teachers play a critical role. Many do so willingly, out of personal interest (they are gay themselves or have gay family or friends), out of a belief that homosexuality is a civil rights issue, out of concerns for school and student safety, or out of a general belief that it is the "right thing to do." For example, a gay elementary teacher in Hayward, California took advantage of a "teachable moment" to tell his students about his own homosexuality (Johnson, 2001). In another example, teacher Alan Horowitz (2001) recently penned a commentary calling on teachers to respond to harassing behavior in schools with the method--"name it, claim it, stop it." On the surface this advice is sound, except Horowitz turns such advice into gay advocacy by instructing teachers to say, "Name it: That is homophobic harassment..." (paragraph 20, emphasis added). Horowitz concludes,

Since my teaching career began, times have changed. Students mirror a society that is becoming increasingly more comfortable discussing gay issues. The media are portraying more and more positive gay role models. Gay men and lesbians are raising children at unprecedented rates. As teachers, we need to match our students' level of awareness in this area. In this way, we can add appropriate interventions to our teaching "bag of tricks." (paragraph 23)

Students

Ultimately, the goal of curricula and teacher advocacy is to change the attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs of students, often without parents' knowledge. Curricular approaches serve as one of the most effective means, but school officials or gay activists use other avenues as well. Orleans County, Vermont, schools required students to complete surveys containing questions such as, "What causes heterosexuality?" or "When did you choose your sexual orientation?" (Anonymous, 2001e, p. 4). School assemblies also act as popular vehicles, many times without parental knowledge. In the name of diversity or tolerance, schools host community homosexual groups to speak on the issue to the student body, often without representation from opposing viewpoints. This practice most recently came to public light after a San Francisco area high school teacher complained to the local press about leftward leaning school assemblies (Anonymous, 2001d). The teacher told of gatherings that commonly featured presentations by leftist women's rights groups and gay activists.

However, as with teachers, students frequently act as catalysts for change in schools on this issue. Through the structure of Gay Straight Alliances and other student clubs, students seek to advocate for gay and lesbian causes among their peers and faculty. Often, such activism takes the form of schoolwide events, such as the Day of Silence Project (Hudson, 2001). On a given school day, students vow to remain silent in their schools for the entire day to "lend their support to the cause and respect for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals in schools" (Batz, 2001, p. D1). Activist students also utilize student newspapers to highlight gay causes. At Upper Arlington High School, in a wealthy Columbus, Ohio suburb, the student paper instructed readers that "being gay is just a question of who you are, not something you do" (Anonymous, 2001b, p. 1). The paper included highlights of same-sex commitment ceremonies, gay student social clubs, coming out day observances, and gay web sites.

School Policies

Perhaps the most effective change agent in schools lies in the effort to make school policies pro-gay. Typically, policies targeted for change include discrimination and harassment, hate-crimes/hate speech, bullying, and character education. Districts adopting such policies do so citing the need to protect homosexual students and teachers, such as a policy adopted by the Charlottesville, Virginia school board (DeLancey, 2000). However, the policies are actually designed to quell all opposition to homosexuality. Under such policies, even asking another student or a teacher about his or her sexuality could be considered sexual harassment. Moreover, students holding religious objections to homosexuality may not express their religious convictions.

The Cincinnati public schools recently passed such a policy (Mrozowski, 2001a). As written for K-8 students and slight changes for 9-12, the policy states:

Students must not use words, statements (written or verbal) or actions that intimidate or express inflicting harm or loss toward students, district staff, visitors, district vehicles or property. This includes any negative comments or statements about a person's race, nationality, religion or sexual orientation. (Mrozowski, 2001b, paragraph 7)

Certainly the first part of the policy is laudable, but the latter half clearly proves troublesome.

Another policy example comes from Brockton, Massachusetts, where the parents of a 15-year-old boy sued the school district in an effort to allow the boy to attend school dressed as a girl (Anonymous, 2000). According to the family's spokesperson, "It would be very painful and very difficult for her to attend school if she cannot express her core female gender identity" (p. B3). Likewise, in the 2000 GLSEN conference, one workshop leader told the participants that other schools had passed similar "gender nonconforming" policies.

Other policies appear somewhat innocuous but provide momentum to homosexual activism in schools. In 1996, the Hollywood, California school district passed a resolution recognizing June of each year as gay and lesbian pride month. According to a student bulletin, "The Board encourages schools and offices to find appropriate ways to fulfill this resolution." One of the ways of doing so was to highlight in the student bulletin famous homosexuals throughout history, a common technique in many pro-gay school curricula.

Beyond Schools

As with many changes occurring in classrooms, education-related organizations significantly affect the work in schools and none more so than the National Education Association (NEA). Considered by many to be the single most powerful force in education (Bennett, 1992), the NEA is the nation's largest teachers union, boasting 2.6 million members (Glanzer & Pardo, 2001). In the past, the NEA wielded its enormous influence to accomplish such goals as the creation of the U.S. Department of Education and the election of presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton (Carpenter, 2001b).

In 2000, NEA president Bob Chase delivered the keynote speech to the annual GLSEN conference, an action that generated much criticism within the union (Dell'Angela, 2000). During the speech he committed the resources and efforts of the NEA behind the causes of homosexuals (Carpenter, 2000). Calling homosexuality a "civil rights issue," Chase called for schools to be "sanctuaries where intolerance is not tolerated" (p. 28). He insisted, "This is not about promoting and recruiting" (p. 28). Yet, he outlined how the NEA promotes gay issues in teacher training in all 50 states and encourages use of resources such as Just the Facts.

The NEA met Chase's promise with the introduction of a series of pro-gay resolutions, entitled "New B," at the 2001 NEA Representative Assembly. Like any NEA resolutions, had they passed, they would have been foundational statements and guiding principles for the organization and its 2.6 million members. The resolutions stated:

The National Education Association recognizes that the complex and diverse needs of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning students; and gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender families and their children require the development of programs that promote a safe and inclusive environment.
(a) Development of curriculum and instructional materials and programs designed to meet the needs of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students.
(b) Involvement of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender educators in developing educational material used in classroom instructions.
(c) Dissemination of programs that support gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning students and address the high dropout rate, suicide rate, and health risk behaviors.
(d) Recognition of the importance of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender education employees as role models.
(e) Accurate portrayal of the roles and contributions of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people throughout history.
(f) Dissemination of programs and information that include the contributions, heritage, culture and history of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
(g) Coordination with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender organizations and concerned agencies that promote the contributions, heritage, culture, history, health and care of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people. (National Education Association, 2001, p. 8)

After considerable pressure, both inside and out, the NEA resolutions committee eventually pulled the resolutions from consideration. However, Chase made clear to the NEA assembly that he and the organization were not abandoning their advocacy. According to one NEA delegate in the audience, the NEA president "pounded on the podium and said he wanted all of the picketers outside and all of the press to know that we will not back away from this issue" (Carpenter, 2001a, paragraph 4).

Meanwhile, as pressure mounted against the resolution, Chase, joined by Sandra Feldman, president of the American Federation of Teachers, and Kevin Jennings, executive director of GLSEN, sent an open letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige. In the letter, Chase, et al., asked the Secretary to bring the weight of the Department of Education behind the causes of gays and lesbians (Chase, Feldman, & Jennings, 2001).

While the NEA maintains its high profile on this issue, other education related organizations join them in homosexual advocacy in schools. Among them are some of the most recognized and leading associations in the field, including the American Federation of Teachers (1996), the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development (2001), the American Library Association (2001), the National School Boards Association (2001), the American School Health Association (1998), the National Association of School Psychologists (1999), the American Psychological Association (2001), and the American School Counselor Association (2000). Typically, these organizations couch their support in terms of school safety, harassment, and discrimination. Official documents reveal their positions, and most include progay workshops in annual conferences and teacher or counselor training.

Strategies to Affect Change

While the notion of homosexual activists employing careful strategy to affect change in schools sounds like conspiracy theory, speeches and publications by gay leaders indeed demonstrate thoughtful, systematic deliberation behind changing how homosexuality is addressed, perceived, and taught in schools. One example comes from a 1995 speech made by GLSEN executive director, Kevin Jennings, who revealed how he used "safety" to delude the Massachusetts governor and the state legislature into adopting the homosexual agenda for the state's schools (Massachusetts News, 2000). In the speech, "Winning the Culture War," Jennings said:

If the Radical Right can succeed in portraying us as preying on children, we will lose. Their language--'promoting homosexuality' is one example--is laced with subtle and notsosubtle innuendo that we are 'after their kids.' We must learn from the abortion struggle, where the clever claiming of the term 'pro-life' allowed those who opposed abortion on demand to frame the issue to their advantage, to make sure that we do not allow ourselves to be painted into a corner before the debate even begins.

In Massachusetts the effective reframing of this issue was the key to the success of the Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth. We immediately seized upon the opponent's calling card--safety--and explained how homophobia represents a threat to students' safety by creating a climate where violence, name-calling, health problems, and suicide are common. Titling our report 'Making Schools Safe for Gay and Lesbian Youth,' we automatically threw our opponents onto the defensive and stole their best line of attack. This framing shortcircuited their arguments and left them backpedaling from day one.

Finding the effective frame for your community is the key to victory. It must be linked to universal values that everyone in the community has in common. In Massachusetts, no one could speak up against our frame and say, 'Why, yes, I do think students should kill themselves.' This allowed us to set the terms for the debate.

In Massachusetts, we made creating an environment where youth could speak out our number one priority. We know that, confronted with real-live stories of youth who had suffered from homophobia, our opponents would have to attack people who had been victimized once, which put them in a bully position from which it would be hard to emerge looking good. More importantly, we made sure these youth met with elected officials so that, the next time these officials had to vote on something, there would be a specific face and story attached to the issue. We wanted them to have an actual kid in mind when they had to cast their votes. We won the vote in the Senate 33-7 as a result. (paragraphs 3-6)

Jennings was certainly not the first to articulate such strategies. Kirk and Pill (1987) and later Kirk and Madsen (1989) outlined in some detail similar strategies, and those who attend annual GLSEN conferences hear many of the same techniques taught in workshops. What follows are the common strategies articulated and implemented by gay activists.

Safety

The primary tactic in introducing homosexuality into schools is equating safety with acceptance. In other words, to make schools safe places, the school environment needs to foster a spirit of acceptance of student and faculty homosexuality, bisexuality, and transgenderism (Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network, 2001d). Moreover, by using hate crimes, safe schools, and bully bill language, groups like GLSEN, the Parents and Friend of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), and the Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League (SMYAL) attempt to silence all opposition to homosexuality on the grounds that they are freeing students from alienation and ostracization by peers.

In so doing, this actually creates a system in which some students receive more protection than others. Meanwhile, other student populations receive less protection in the school environment. For example, the American Association of University Women (Pleming, 2001) finds 80% of students of all kinds, males and females, complain of harassment in school. Asian students living in Brooklyn made the news after highlighting the harassment they regularly receive at school (Campanile & Sockwell-Mason, 2001). Finally, Peyton (2001) reports the use of the "n-word" is substantially on the rise in schools.

Yet, gay activists persist in the face of such data, even to the point of reverse discrimination. In a story released to Focus on the Family, a Vermont high school student named Jonathan wrote of the harassment he received by his teacher after Jonathan questioned the inclusion of a homosexual lesson in a genealogy class.

When we started our unit on genealogy is when the problems began. For no clear reason, Mrs. Wilson began talking about homosexuality being directly related to genealogy. She explained to us that being gay was an inherited trait, which I believe has not been proven, thus, she was more or less teaching us her opinion. She then went on and began explaining how two men or women could be sexually attracted to each other, still struggling to relate it to science.

It's obvious the purpose of sexual intercourse is the natural or scientific method of reproduction, so trying to tell me homosexuality is inherited was more than obviously false. (How can homosexuality be genetic when two men or two women can't procreate?)

I proceeded to ask Mrs. Wilson what all the talk about homosexuality had to do with genealogy because it was actually rather disgusting to me and I asked her to get to the point. Without answering my question she said, "What's wrong, Jon, are you homophobic? Did you know that a lot of the people who are afraid of gay people are actually gay themselves?"

In addition, in a well-known case, two Pennsylvania high school students sued their school district, claiming a district pro-gay anti-harassment policy violated their freedom of speech (Kroeker, 2001). On February 14, 2001, the U. S. Third District Court of Appeals in Philadelphia found in favor of the students and struck down the district's policy.

Resources

Through local chapters and community groups, organizations like GLSEN and PFLAG volunteer to educate school officials about the need to pass non-discrimination policies in schools, train teachers to prevent anti-gay name calling, and serve as community resources for teachers, parents, and students struggling with GLBT issues (Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network, 2001e, 2001; Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, 2001).

For example, in 1997 the Provincetown, Massachusetts school board voted to begin teaching preschoolers and kindergartners about homosexual lifestyles and backed hiring preferences for "sexual minorities" (Innerst, 1997). Included in this effort was inviting PFLAG to speak to kindergarten classes. According to Susan Fleming, Provincetown superintendent, "We are on a trailblazing path" (paragraph 17).

In Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina, a gay advocacy organization, Time Out Youth, works with students beginning as young as 13 (Vineyard, 2001). While the organization does not counsel in the schools, students are referred to Time Out Youth by school counselors, and one of the city's middle school principals serves on the organization's board.

Mainstreaming Myths

Another popular and widely used tactic in the school change process is to proclaim homosexual myths or misinformation as fact. For example, for decades the most influential of these has been the Kinsey (1948) study. Although repeatedly discredited, the "10% of the population is gay" finding continues to surface in school curricula. Equally influential has been Gibson's (1989) finding that 30% of all teen suicides involve homosexuals responding to "homophobia." However, like Kinsey, Gibson's work suffers from serious flaws and has also been discredited. Nevertheless, popular media and the resources of gay activist groups (Jennings, 1996) popularize the flawed 30% figure among young people. Finally, today's prevalent myth is schools are "homophobic climates" in which "at-risk" students need additional protection (Jennings, 1999). As discussed earlier, students of all persuasions complain of harassment at school, necessitating a safe school environment for all students, not new policies for a minority of students.

Language

In a postmodern culture, the power of language is paramount, and such power potential is not lost in the strategies of the gay activist community. Such is demonstrated in the P.E.R.S.O.N. Project Organizing Handbook:

First off, language is everything. We know that silence=death. We know that our young people do not feel included in nonspecific language; they know that, unless explicitly affirmed, they are not respected or understood. Go for obtaining inclusive language in every possible policy and document. By inclusive languge [sic], we mean language which specifically uses the words lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, same-sex partners, and sexual orientation.

You may very well have to start by finding generically inclusive language and leveraging that. Many existing state (and federal and local, for that matter) educational policies and documents are rife with phrases such as "All children must feel safe to learn in schools" or "We hold as a goal that the dignity and worth of all individuals be respected" or "Students and educators alike are expected to understand and respect diversity," etc. If you are faced with existing language which is only generic, USE IT nonetheless! (Marshall, Kaplan, & Greenman, 1995, paragraphs 2-3)

The P.E.R.S.O.N. handbook is a publication of Youth.org as a part of the P.E.R.S.O.N. Project and serves to "utilize proactive strategies to improve the treatment of LGBT persons in K-12 educational systems" (Richter, 1998, paragraph 2).

By using existing language and vernacular of all types, gay activists seek to normalize and mainstream homosexuality. Typically, words related to race, such as diversity and multicultural, are popular words of choice. In so doing, homosexuality can be associated with and inferred to be a biological characteristic in the minds of students. A related strategy is to vilify those opposed to homosexuality through the use of language. Practically, activists commonly do so with words like intolerant, bigotry, hatred, prejudice, oppression, and hate-monger.

Coming Out

For students struggling with their sexual identities, role models are critical. Realizing this, activists encourage homosexual teachers to "come out" to their classes and school communities (Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network, 1999). Gay teachers who come out to their students and communities can take advantage of the opportunity by stating they are better teachers due to their homosexuality. However, to encourage or to ensure such disclosures, activists push for "safe school" environments in which teachers and students feel comfortable coming out. In such environments, dissenting voices about homosexuality are perceived as harassment or violence requiring censure (Henderson, 2001; Orloff, 2000).

Gay/Straight Alliances

If "safe school" initiatives are successful strategies for activists to change policies and advocate in states and school districts, Gay/Straight Alliances (GSA) have proven one of the most effective avenues of activism in the school buildings themselves. Gay activists sell GSAs as student organized and led clubs in which students of all sexual persuasions can meet and discuss issues of sexuality, including homosexuality (Hopgood, 2000). In fact, GSAs commonly operate with tremendous support and organization from external community and national organizations, including GLSEN, a national organization with more than 85 local chapters in 35 states (Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network, 2001e; Kabbany, 2000), the Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League (Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League, 2001), the Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, also a national organization with local chapters (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, 2001), and numerous other state and local organizations.

Moreover, despite claims that GSA's are not seeking to affect change in schools (Hopgood, 2000), they are more than simply safe student clubs in which students meet and talk. GSAs actually act as springboards for activism. For example, Higgins (2000) reports on an Arizona school in which weekly GSA meetings focused on "com[ing] up with an idea where we're going to take this," according to the student leader. "Where we're going to take this" turned into a student produced video about homosexuality shown schoolwide and the GSA student leader attending a faculty meeting to discuss gay issues with teachers. Mike Pollack, coordinator for Queer Voice, a local gay rights organization, also attended and distributed handouts on dealing with discrimination. After the faculty meeting, teachers asked the student and Pollack to make presentations in their classrooms.

Other examples of GSA activism come from GLSEN's how-to manual on "jump starting" GSAs (Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network, 2001c), 20 ways GSAs can "rock the world" (Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network, 2001b), and tips for recruiting new members (Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network, 2001a). These documents provide students ideas for advocacy within schools, including organizing, performing a "school climate" survey, and creating an action plan. Students are given advertising and promotional tips and instructed on how to queer the curriculum and organize large school events, such as marches and movie nights.

While measuring the success of GSAs proves difficult, their growth may provide one indicator. In 1990, Massachusetts had the only two GSAs in the country. At the 2000 GSLEN conference, workshop leaders estimated more than 800 now operate nationwide.

Recommendations

Inevitably, after such a review of the current state of affairs in schools, one question begs an answer: How should the school address this issue? The answers to this question can be considered in two separate domains: school discipline and curricular content.

School Discipline

As discussed previously, gay activists use school safety as a point of entrance for advocacy. They highlight harassing behavior and language as reasons for designated policies protecting gay and lesbian students. Some tend to dismiss the need for such policies by denying or minimizing the aforementioned behavior and language. However, such an approach is simplistic and disingenuous. Students do, in fact, act cruelly toward one another, often taunting those who are different or who hail from different backgrounds. Homosexual or questioning students or children of gays or lesbians certainly fall under that category. Thus, harassing behavior and language toward these students cannot be dismissed or minimized.

Yet, "special protection" is clearly problematic, as addressed earlier. Instead, schools must commit to creating safe environments for all students by establishing and maintaining high standards of student and faculty conduct. While this, too, sounds somewhat simplistic, anyone familiar with the school environment knows the inconsistent and often unclear expectations and maintenance of appropriate conduct. From classroom to classroom, teachers differ in what they allow in speech and behavior. Principals fail to discipline consistently or appropriately. Parents remain disenfranchised from the process, or they enable their students by denying their child would act in an inappropriate manner. In such an environment, students see and take opportunities to bully or harass others.

While on paper establishing high standards is relatively easy, establishing the behavior in students takes concentrated effort. Students must know what language is expected and which is not acceptable. Appropriate physical interaction must be defined and inappropriate interaction censured. Such standards must be explicitly taught to students at the beginning of each school year and reinforced repeatedly in the first several months. Commonly, inexperienced or lax teachers believe simply telling students the expectations once or a few times at the beginning of the year is sufficient; yet this is simply not so. To maintain expected behavior, as the year progresses, student behavior must be monitored diligently and addressed positively and negatively when necessary. To do so requires as much attention as maintaining academic performance.

The adults working in schools contribute to these expectations by their own behavior. Teachers and others model appropriate behavior and interaction. Students watch carefully and mimic how teachers interact with other people in the school. A teacher showing kindness and love to a student who looks or acts differently not only affirms that student but also models to other students that individual's worth. Further, in an era of pedagogical constructivism, increasing numbers of teachers or adults in schools interact with students in an informal or peer-like fashion, often using sarcasm and irony in communication patterns. Inevitably, this results in a loss of respect and effectiveness in classroom management and students who mimic the teacher's sarcasm and irony in their own communication with peers and adults.

The role of the principal cannot be minimized. As the designated leader, a principal must lead teachers and others in setting and maintaining expectations. All of the aforementioned tenets of consistency and modeling behavior likewise apply to principals. However, they have the additional responsibility of holding teachers accountable for their behavior. Often, in an attempt to establish a collegial atmosphere, principals shrink away from such responsibility.

In addition, principals who occupy their offices more than circulating throughout the school minimize their effectiveness and contribute little to maintaining conduct standards. Rather, principals need to practice MBWA, management by walking around. For example, at the beginning of the school day and during transition times, principals are wise to occupy the hallway. Unstructured time is frequently when students verbally or physically harass each other. Principals can reinforce appropriate behavior in these times by calling students on inappropriate interactions.

Perhaps one of the most significant losses in American education has been the disenfranchisement of parents. Explicitly and implicitly, schools have conveyed the message that teaching students is for the "professionals," and parents are not welcome. While schools are now exploring ways to increase authentic parental involvement, much remains to be accomplished. Typically, this disenfranchisement has meant parental unawareness about the school's expectations and the maintenance of appropriate behavior. This has also led to parents who enable students in their inappropriate behavior. Reestablishing authentic parental involvement can contribute much to diminishing harassing speech and behavior.

Curricular Content

Homosexual activists believe integrating gay themes into curricula contribute to school safety by raising awareness and appreciation of people's differences, specifically related to sexuality. Such a belief is built on the civil rights model beginning in the middle of the last century. However, therein lies the most striking difference and point of contention. To state the obvious: ethnicity is genetic, homosexuality is not.

To teach homosexuality in the same vein as civil rights erroneously perpetuates the genetic idea of homosexuality. However, this does not mean integrating homosexuality cannot foster tolerance. Rather than approaching it as a civil rights issue, secondary schools could discuss the realities contributing to someone's homosexuality, namely psycho-sociological factors. In so doing, students could come to understand homosexuals do not choose their sexuality as they choose what to eat for breakfast. If students understand the severe conditions contributing to homosexuality, some will see the need for compassion and tolerance. I say some, recognizing that eradicating all teasing, bullying, and harassment is unequivocally impossible.

Yet, this approach still holds a fundamental unanswered assumption. To teach explicitly the differences among students and the factors contributing to those differences carries the potential to separate rather than integrate, as does emphasizing differences in any domain. Instead, to foster a safe environment and a standard of civil behavior could not the emphasis of sameness be more effective? In other words, we ought to teach students that all persons are deserving of respect due to our common humanity. Students should be taught to recognize that at our essence we differ not. With young children, this lesson can be as simple as the Golden Rule, while older children hold the capacity of discussing it philosophically and sociologically.

Finally, the question begging to be asked in this is: Should we teach about homosexuality at all? For many people of faith, issues related to sexuality, including homosexuality, have no place in school. Yet, ignoring the issue denies the reality around us. Given the dramatic cultural changes related to homosexuality, schools find themselves almost compelled to address it.

While activists believe kindergartners should learn about homosexuality (Kitlowski, 2001), integrating gay themes into elementary curricula serves no purpose other than advocacy. However, if the issue is to be addressed in school, middle and high school teachers can do so by addressing the psycho-sociological contributing factors, the physiological, psychological, and emotional implications of homosexuality, and the alternative--heterosexuality. At the very least, if schools desire to teach about homosexuality and include pro-gay teaching, a balanced perspective ought to be addressed.

Dick Carpenter is the Education Policy Analyst for Focus on the Family. From his years as an award-winning public high school teacher and principal to his faculty role at Colorado Christian University, Dr. Carpenter draws on the wisdom and skills developed in these positions as he speaks, writes, and researches education policies for Focus on the Family. He may be reached at 719-548-5826.

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Updated: 2 September 2008

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