Posted on 12/31/2004 7:23:19 AM PST by Ellesu
First it was the rainbow flag, now it is a pink triangle that bothers some parents of school children.
At the Dec. 14 School Committee meeting, 30 parents voiced their opposition to the committee about a pink triangle sticker that appears on windows of some classrooms. The upside-down pink triangle marks a "safe zone" for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth (GLBT) and their adult allies. A place where GLBT students can seek support and advice from someone willing to offer assistance.
The stickers have been targeted by parents for a variety of reasons including what they say are health and moral concerns and what they claim is the age inappropriateness of the sticker for middle school students.
"It's not a new program, it's not a new initiative in the Bedford Public Schools," said Superintendent of Schools Maureen LaCroix. She said this was the first time someone had complained since the stickers first appeared six years ago.
The triangle
Youth and Family Services Director Sue Baldauf said the initiative was a collaborative effort between the schools and her department and a response to state law.
The Department of Education's Safe Schools Program was part of the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act of 1994. It acknowledged the provision of a range of services to public and private schools to provide a safe environment for all students.
Additional state law prohibits discrimination based on "race, color, sex, religion, national origin or sexual orientation."
The sticker, which is provided by the National Youth Advocacy Coalition, an alternative lifestyle advocacy and lobbying group based in Washington, D.C., through their Bridges Project contains the triangle with a paragraph about the symbol's meaning. The group's contact information appears at the bottom of the sticker.
In a Nov. 10 letter from School Committee Chairman Linda Vanaria to "Families for Truth" head Pamela Clare, Vanaria states the stickers are "...a symbol which alerts all individuals entering our schools that the person displaying this symbol is a caring adult that any student can turn to when he/she wishes to discuss any issue regarding sexual identity."
Various visual representations of the safe zone sticker are available from several advocacy groups, and a variety of safe zone stickers appear in the high school.
The pink triangle was originally used to mark gay men during the Holocaust and the black triangle which sometimes appears with it was used to mark lesbians, gypsies and "deviant" women. They have since been adopted by the community as a representation of its people.
Face to face
At the Dec. 14 meeting, the School Committee heard Clare publicly for the first time on the issue during the public comments section of the meeting.
She began her campaign to have the stickers removed in John Glenn Middle School when her daughter reported that a sticker had appeared on the window of her Spanish teacher's classroom.
Clare stood before the committee with a poster displaying the triangle and explained her concerns.
Initially, Clare had inquired of school officials about the sticker and its age appropriateness, and was shocked when she later found more stickers in classroom windows.
"What happened after my original complaint is that three more stickers went up," Clare said reached later by telephone. "They're like in your face with this stuff."
"When we talk about sexuality, people assume we're talking about sex. We're talking about relationships, friendships, how people relate to one another, how people treat one another," said Marisa Howard, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth Support (GLYS) Project Coordinator at Brockton-based Health Care of Southeastern Massachusetts.
Clare said she has no problem with the stickers being displayed in the high school, but that they should be removed from the middle school.
"You as a committee have not used common sense or decency in your policy making," said Clare. She argued that parents were not notified of the stickers.
The group of parents who attended the meeting applauded when Clare finished her statement, which attracted criticism from Vanaria. She urged the parents to cease clapping and reminded them that the stickers were not an official agenda item and that the meeting was not an open hearing.
As part of meeting policy, members of the public are given three minutes to speak on a single issue. The remaining parents became angry when they were not allowed to speak on the issue, resulting in outbursts from the crowd.
Parents were allowed to speak on other topics.
One man inquired what it would take for the sticker to be made an official agenda item and was granted time to speak in the public comments portion of a January School Committee meeting.
Following the public comments section, the parents proceeded out of the multi-purpose room at the middle school and discussed concerns and the next step in having the stickers removed.
Age inappropriateness, health and moral concerns cited
Jeri Cammarano sees her children's health as a top priority.
"I look at a lot of the health issues that are a problem in our community," she said "and sort of the agenda the gay, bisexual group kind of convey things that aren't healthful."
She said there was a myriad of behaviors that contribute to an unhealthy lifestyle.
"Certainly promiscuity, which is relatively high in that community, is a problem from the standpoint that sexually transmitted diseases are contracted and we have so many things these days antibiotics can't take care of," she said. "It's just the whole lifestyle, particularly children of this age group haven't formed all their ideas, feelings...and are not at the age where they can make mature judgments."
"[Safe zone stickers] do impact children's health," said Howard, "and the way they do impact is very positively."
"Kids who feel respected who feel safe, who have an adult they can confide in, they are kids that are more likely to graduate from high school, to stay in school, grow up to be healthy, respectful adults," she said. "When schools put up things like safe zone stickers, the kids that need that safe space respond positively."
Cammarano said she knows many parents who are concerned for the mental and physical health of their children, and that the schools overstep their roles in teaching children healthy living.
"I cannot believe that they have approved this for K through 8, but that's what they are saying," Clare said. "What are you going to do when a first-grader says 'teacher what is a bisexual?'?"
Job Lane Elementary Principal Tom Nolan said the stickers do not appear in any of his teacher's windows, and Davis Elementary Principal Ethel Furst said the only sticker that appears in her school is on her door.
Clare rallied against what she said is an exclusivity that is not extended to all students.
"They are providing a special area, VIP zone for one minority group," she said. "Who decided that they are more important than Irish people, or Latinos or Blacks?"
"I don't see why one group has to be in the limelight, I haven't seen one group being ostracized for being gay," said Timothy Barry.
"If you do it for one group, then you have to do it for all groups, and they're not willing to do that," Clare said. "They are not willing to put up anything that they're not willing to put up."
"It was a message to children to say you were safe in our schools regardless of your identity," said LaCroix. The initiative was based on interviews with high school students that felt targeted and were high risk she said.
"It's clear from the literature that these children need support in our schools and they need to understand that they are appreciated and part of our community," said LaCroix. "It all comes back to children, how they feel about themselves and the schools they attend."
Howard echoed LaCroix's sentiments, and stressed the stickers aren't meant to symbolize exclusivity. "I think that one of the traps we fall into... is we start thinking that this has to do with sex," she said. The stickers are supposed to be "creating safety for every young person that walks into that school and their families."
Clare said she doesn't understand why there is a need for a safe zone, because she believes there isn't much bullying that happens at the middle school age.
"A lot of people have said where's the safe zone for the fat kid or the kid that's parents don't speak English?" she said. "I think any gay parent in town, I think they know that the teachers are caring, that the principals are caring and that they have the support of the administration."
The Department of Education's 2003 Youth Risk Behavior Study states that of youth surveyed, sexual minority youth "were also significantly more likely to have skipped school because they felt unsafe (15 percent vs. 4 percent), been bullied (42 percent to 21 percent), been threatened or injured with a weapon at school (22 percent vs. 5 percent), and to have experienced dating violence (30 percent vs. 9 percent) or sexual contact against their will (41 percent vs. 8 percent)."
GLBT youth were also more likely to carry a weapon, been in a physical fight and to have been in a gang than other youth.
Howard said schools that are equipped to handle harassment and bullying of GLBT youth were better equipped to handle harassment and bullying of all students.
John Twomey was prompted to write a letter to the School Committee after seeing a letter to the editor in this newspaper.
"The issue needs to be discussed in public," he said, "and I think that some parents may be surprised to hear about it for the first time."
"I felt that there possibly was a political, or personal agenda in putting these signs up," he said. He noted that the Department of Education's name does not appear on the sign. "I'm not sure if the School Committee is aware of that, or if it agrees with the agenda they are setting forth."
"The stickers have never been displayed within the Bedford Public Schools as a symbol of a political or personal agenda," Vanaria wrote in a letter to Clare.
Timothy and Mary-Anna Barry were concerned the impact of seeing the triangle and learning about its meaning would have on younger children.
"Why is gender an issue when you are in third grade?" he said. "Why are we rushing these kids to grow up?"
"Why am I forced to discuss this issue when they are seven years old?," she said. It just does not have a place K through 8. I have four children that it affects in the K through 8, and no child should be wondering at this point in their life what sexuality they are going to be...."
The Barrys expressed concern over the training, psychological background and accreditation teachers and other school officials have in talking to youth.
"We went into a lot of legal aspects as well as social ramifications," he said.
John Glenn Middle School Principal Tom Campbell declined to comment for this story and the Department of Education did not return calls by deadline.
They can't reproduce so they've got to recruit.
Didn't Hitler use the same symbol? I don't think it meant a "safe zone" back then.
Pink triangle replacing the bio hazard symbol? LOL.
Lets see them set up smoking areas for those over 18 and legally allowed to smoke! They had these when I went to H.S. - the outdoor "smoking court." You'll hear a LOT of shrieking from the liberal administrators about how smoking kills but homosexuality kills DECADES sooner. They are heartless, encouraging people to become homosexuals.
You put up with her for 45 minutes?
OK. Let's do it.
Yeah, they mean sex.
How about a fish sticker to symbolize tolerance/acceptance of Christianity?
I'd love it if some teacher were gutsy enough to do it.
What's upside-down about that pink triangle? Or is it one of those "depends on whose perspective" type things. I guess if they consider themselves normal, "Upside-down" could mean just about anything, huh?
Where's the sticker on the window that designates a "safe zone" for straight, heterosexual, and biologically normal youth and their adult allies??? You know, a place where those students can seek support and advice from someone willing to offer assistance rooted in their moral backgroung, not the moral background of those opposed to them, and usually violently and maliciously opposed!
HMMM!!
Where are those "safe zones"???
Yes, let's all run from the public schools and surrender to the 2%.
No thanks, I'd rather fight to get them back. Would you have moved to Canada if Kerry won?
Your screename is certainly appropriate. Thanks for standing up with the rest of us to fight the good fight.
...and their "adult allies".
But she said it with a straight face.
</DOUBLE ENTENDRE>
We were told it was "national public school policy " when they encouraged my only son to "try it" homosexual behavior
and decide for himself. The encouraged my son to be homosexual --and did NOTHING to protect my daughters.My
daughters quit school with my Blessing. My sons so called
friends -who acted Gay-- were always welcome and always heard that their lifestyle choice is unnatural, and WRONG,
and even dangerous--and one day they will regret what they CHOSE to do.
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