Newsletter Volume I Winter
Beth Bergen, Editor
Newsletter Volume I Winter
Beth Bergen, Editor
In this issue:
PRYDE at GLSEN SF-EB
GLSEN SF-EB is proud to announce the generous financial support we have recently received from the John Muir/Mt. Diablo Community Health Benefit Corporation and the Y & H Soda Foundation to further develop our Peers Reaching Youth thru Diversity Education (PRYDE) Program addressing anti-gay bias issues in Contra Costa County schools.
This generous support will enable the peer education component of our programming to transition from a pilot model to a more fully funded, staffed program. Historically, the peer education outreach evolved out of collaborative efforts with the Safe Schools Project of Catholic Charities of the East Bay over the past two years. In June, GLSEN SF-EB took the sole lead of the program when the Safe Schools Project came to a close at Catholic Charities. GLSEN SF-EB volunteers have continued with program development efforts over the last five months.
The P.R.Y.D.E. Peer Education Program provides workshops and trainings to educate Contra Costa County youth on the effects and dangers of homophobia and heterosexism, and to empower youth to create change in their own communities, in order to eradicate anti-LGBTQ bias and make schools safe for all students, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. We envision a school community free of harassment and discrimination, where each student is respected for his/her differences and is dedicated to challenging the larger systems of oppression that affect us all.
One distinctive part of the PRYDE program is the Awareness Leadership Team, or ALT for short. This team is made up of a diverse group of 12 youth from Contra Costa County. ALT is the decision making body of the PRYDE program and is the core group of youth who go out into the community and do peer-led workshops on homophobia and heterosexism. This motivated group of youth is trained in many areas such as queer statistics and history, HIV/AIDS awareness, gender identity and expression, legal issues, intersections with other bias issues, and many other areas that help make their workshops more effective. The youth meet twice a month and receive a stipend for these meetings as well as for the workshops they do in the schools. Currently, the Awareness Leadership Team is working on developing a solid base of curriculum that can be used as a basis for the program. In the past year, this program has reached out to hundreds of youth in the Contra Costa County area and the youth in this program are extremely excited to continue with their training so they can get out into the community and reach even more of their peers.
The PRYDE program also has a new Coordinator! Shanda Young has moved up through the ranks of GLSEN SF-EB’s Peer Education programming over the past two years, and will now be taking the lead in moving this exciting work forward. Shanda grew up in Contra Costa County, and currently attends Diablo Valley College. If you want to know more about Shanda, check out the following sections.
In addition to hiring a part-time Program Coordinator, the funding from John Muir/Mt. Diablo Community Health Benefit Corporation and Y & H Soda Foundation has also enabled us to hire part-time Program Director, Julie Lienert. Julie brings extensive experience working with educators, administrators, parents, youth and other organizations in Contra Costa County to create safer, more inclusive school communities for all. She has offered professional development, other educational and consultation services to school communities all across Contra Costa County and beyond. We are grateful to have her on board.
GLSEN SF-EB and specifically the members of the PRYDE Program would like to thank the John Muir/Mt. Diablo Community Health Benefit Corporation, the Y & H Soda Foundation, and all those who are helping to make our vision a reality: ending anti-gay bias and creating safe spaces for all in our local school communities.
If you are interested in volunteering or lending other forms of support, please join us as the PRYDE Program moves to the forefront of creating safer school communities for all students.
For further information on the PRYDE program, please contact Shanda Young, PYRDE Program Coordinator at 925. 457.5791 or prydeteam@glsen-sfeb.org, or contact Julie Lienert, Program Director at 510.207.4512 or julie@glsen-sfeb.org
PRYDE Program Wish List:
More PRYDE peer educator bureau members, computer, CD player, tables and chairs, couch, refrigerator, and volunteers (administrative assistant to help with data entry in our new office.) Your continued donations will help us to make real differences in real young people’s lives!
Who’s the new kid on the block? Here’s a little background on the new leader of the pack, Shanda Young.
I've been a part of Awareness Leadership Team for over a year. It's been an amazing and crazy year for me, and I wouldn't trade one minute of it! I got started with ALT through a friend of mine who was already involved. She kept saying that I needed to join, that this program is exactly what we used to look for when we were in high school (an oh so long 4 years ago). At the time, I had so much going on in my life I seriously doubted I would be able to make the kind of commitment that was necessary to be involved with this program, but I was definitely curious about it. So, on a week that I happened to have available, I went to a meeting. I was hooked.
The work that this program does with the youth in Contra Costa County is amazing. We get to go into classrooms and talk to kids about how homophobia hurts everyone, gay or straight. I new I had to be a part of this. When I was in high school, I wasn't out because my school didn't feel like a safe place for LGBTQ youth. There was no way you could even get me to really talk about the subject of homosexuality while I was in school. If you brought it up, that meant you were gay. I wasn't ready to be completely out until almost the end of my high school days, but I wanted to be. I wanted so badly to be able to walk down the hallways and hold my head up high, knowing that no one could do anything to me without getting in trouble. As it was, students got away with physically and verbally harassing people daily about their sexuality, and it didn't matter if they even knew what that person's real sexuality was.
I don't want other kids in this area to feel afraid to be who they are in their school. I don't want kids to have to feel the way I did. That is why I joined this program, and that is why I am so excited to take on the role of coordinator for this awesome program. If I can reach out and help other youth reach out to at least one kid in each classroom and somehow make a difference in their lives by sharing something of ourselves with them, then we have made a difference in the lives of everyone that one kid will ever be in contact with. I'm extremely grateful to my friend for talking me into going to that first meeting. It changed my life; I'm a better person for having gone. This program is as much a part of me as I am of it. I can't wait to see where it goes in the future.
Putting a face to PRYDE:
I’d like to introduce you to three of our Awareness Leadership Team members who will help bring this program into the new year and help it continue to grow. In each newsletter, different team members will be introduced so you can get a chance to get to know the youth who are out there, making a difference in their community.
Brandon Giordano 
I'm a 16 year old at Las Lomas High School. I was raised in Chico and moved into the Alcalanes Union High School District in August of 2001. Being a gay student in the Bay Area is much different then in Ohio and I hope to use my origin in my facilitations. Through ALT I educate students around the Bay Area about homophobia and how it has affected my life. So far, I have been to many meetings and workshops learning how to be a better faciltator, and I hope to do facilitation for ALT soon.
Ben Zumwalt 
I’m Ben and my main job at ALT is going to various high schools to raise awareness. Having grown up in Contra Costa schools, I know what homophobia looks like. Right now I’m attending Diablo Valley College, while being active in the PRYDE Program.My activism since fourth grade has given me a lot of education and experience and I look forward to this year.
Stay tuned till our next Newsletter to meet more of our PRYDE members!
Leadership Diversity Project
GLSEN SF-EB has hired a consultant, Sauda Burch, to partner with us on our Leadership Diversity Project with the goal of developing and implement a strategic plan to culturally broaden the leadership and program base of our organization. We hope to increase board and membership diversity, which will translate into a positive impact on program design and implementation. Our work has always been connected to the broader issues of diversity, including race, class, age and ethnicity. And although this larger cultural context is fundamentally important to us, we have had minimal success in increasing the diversity of the board and membership of the organization. We feel that changing the culture of the organization is critical to fully implementing our mission of inclusivity and more effectively meeting the needs of the Bay Area community.
Sauda is helping us to assess the structural and cultural barriers that impede full and diverse participation in our organization. To date, interviews have been conducted with Board and staff to assess their understanding of the current state of GLSEN SF-EB’s culture. A summary of these findings was presented at our August Board Meeting. Three recommendations were made as a result of the data collected: 1) Create a business case for increased diversity; 2) Create a shared vision for diversity within the larger context of our mission; and 3) Agree upon strategies for moving from the current state to the future state. Barriers to this work and supports for diversity within the organization were also identified. The next step is to develop a specific action plan.
eQuality Scholarships to be awarded again in 2003
For the fourteenth year the eQuality Scholarship Collaborative will again award scholarships to graduating seniors who made a contribution to equality for the lgbt community while in high school. If you are interested in applying for a scholarship please visit our website at www.glsen-sfeb.org
The member organizations of the eQuality Collaborative are the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network of San Francisco-East Bay, KP Pride (Kaiser Permanente’s LGBT Employee Association), Out and Equal Workplace Advocates, PG&E Pride Network and the University of California, San Francisco LGBT. Sponsoring organizations are Kaiser Permanente, California State Automobile Association and GLOBES at Charles Schwab.
The students who received scholarships last year were: Derek Brocklehurst of Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, Matthew Ferreira of Hayward High School in Hayward, Rebecca Fureigh of Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco, Newman Howell of Berkeley High School in Berkeley, Amber Jolly of San Rafael High School in San Rafael, Ashley Kelly of Berkeley High School in Berkeley, Jed Levine of Novato High School in Novato and Will Trichon, San Francisco University High School in San Francisco.
The Rob Birle Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Chelsea Collonge of Los Gatos High School in Los Gatos. Jennifer Shaw, of College Park High School of Pleasant Hill received the Bobby Griffith memorial Scholarship. The Kaiser Permanente Scholarship was received by Richard Culley of the Marin Academy of San Rafael and the George Kronenberger memorial Scholarship was awarded to King Choi of Thurgood Marshall Academic High School of San Francisco.
Congratulations to all the winners. We hope they continue their awesome work for equality as they pursue their education.
2002 Writing Contest Winners
“What are you?” Everyone asked. I resented the question. I had to answer, to end their confusion and my embarrassment. I hated it most because of the answer, “girl”. I dressed like a little boy, talked like a little boy, and had a hair cut like a little boy, but was not a little boy. This bothered me. I wanted to be a boy, yet I was constantly told that I was a girl. To this very day, I hate to say, “I’m a girl.” I don’t feel like a girl, I feel like a male, but I’m not a male, I’m not transgender, and I’m not a lesbian but I am gay.
I always knew I was gay but could not tell anyone; I felt oppressed. It was lonely. There was no one like me. How could I go on living this way, unhappy? At age seven, I contemplated suicide, why live if I can’t be happy, if I can’t have a wife and kids? In a world that I am clearly all alone and not wanted.
In sixth grade my classmates constantly harassed me. I would bite my lower lip, fighting to hold back tears. As I walked home from school I left trails of teardrops from the hurt I felt. I would go into my room and crawl into bed, where I could sleep and forget I was alive. Every night I prayed for death and cried myself to sleep. I would wake up depressed and disappointed; I was still alive, not a boy, and had to go to school.
I began growing my hair long and tried not to dress like a boy, to avoid drawing attention to myself. Students still harassed me and teachers did nothing in my defense. The summer I began high school I was fed up with the way I looked. I was still asked, ”What are you?” Which defeated the purpose of my long hair. I thought, I might as well look how I want. I wanted to be a pretty boy. I cut my hair to the boyish hairstyle I loved. I began wearing slacks, dress shoes, and sweater vests. My confidence accumulated. I don’t know why and I don’t know how, but it did. I guess it was all written in my walk. Today, my peers greet me with high fives and, “What up, playa!”
No rhyme or reason to racist 'satirical' poem
Annie Nakao at The San Francisco Chronicle
IT'S TITLED "ILLEGAL" and it's a doozy:
"I come for visit, get treated regal/ So I stay, who care I illegal?/ I cross border, poor and broke/ Take bus, see employment folk./ Nice man treat me good in there./ Say I need to see welfare./ Welfare say 'You come no more,/ We send cash right to your door.'/ Welfare checks, they make you wealthy,/ Medicaid it keep you healthy!/ By and by, I got plenty money,/ Thanks to you, American dummy./ We have hobby -- it's called breeding,/ Welfare pay for baby feeding./ Kids need dentist? Wife need pills?/ We get free! We got no bills!/ American crazy! He pay all year,/ To keep welfare running here./ We think America darn good place!/ Too darn good for the white man race./ If they no like us, they can go./ Got lots of room in Mexico!"
The "poem" ran in this month's Valley Citizen, a self-described monthly news magazine distributed free to homes in Alamo, Blackhawk, Danville and surrounding areas.
OK, this was former Republican Assemblyman Bill Baker's stamping ground, and the conservative Valley Citizen's home page reflects exactly what the monthly professes to be: a clear voice that focuses on family values, business, free enterprise and constitutional government.
Still, Danville architect Steve Wynn was stunned when he spotted the verse while leafing through the magazine out of curiosity.
"I just couldn't believe that anybody would actually print that," said Wynn, a Dublin resident. "I'm a white guy. I'm no activist. But if nobody says anything, it would say to the world that that's exactly how it is here. So, for once in my life, I told myself I wasn't going to walk away from something like this. People should know."
Wynn got on the Internet and found LULAC, the League of United Latin American Citizens, and the rest, as they say, is history. The poem's been blitzing around the Web, and Latino groups have demanded an apology.
Despite the "e-mail blasts" he says he's been getting, co-publisher Terry Thompson hasn't apologized to anybody, except, in an editor's note to the poem, "to all those legal immigrants who came in search of freedom and followed the rules. That's how my ancestors got here too!"
Thompson said the "satirical poem" didn't make fun of anybody except Uncle Sam for "being soft on welfare" and illegal immigration.
Immigration is indeed a heated subject that cries for public discourse, but Terry, is a race-baiting poem filled with reprehensible stereotypes the way to do it?
For the record, under federal law, illegal immigrants are ineligible for welfare. Thompson brushed that aside, citing forged IDs as one way to get around that. It's a good thing the hundreds of day laborers who wait 8 to 10 hours a day for work on streets in your neighborhood and mine don't know this. They come for jobs, any jobs. That work ethic also applies to Mexican Americans, who make up much of the nation's working poor -- because they have among the highest labor force participation rates but work in low-paying jobs.
By the way, Thompson didn't pen the poem -- he got it from an e-mail. In fact, it is the same doggerel that got then-Assemblyman Pete Knight (R- Palmdale) into deep doo-doo when he passed out copies of the poem, which he got in the mail, at an Assembly Republican caucus in 1993. Knight, now a state senator from Palmdale, was widely condemned and forced to apologize.
But Thompson is unrepentant. In fact, the paper has rallied support, like the e-mail sent to the Latino online magazine, Hispanicvista.com, by Thompson's own pastor, the Rev. David Brown, who defended free speech and the Valley Citizen "as an outreach to Christians who have been under the influence of communism, liberalism and/or humanism."
Lord, our burden is heavy . . .
If you are interested in helping out in the San Ramon area where the offending article was published, give us a call at 510-339-8055.
Fundraising
We want to thank the following people for their ongoing support and commitment to making schools safe for all youth and staff regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression: Jacque Bowman and Patty Lin, Jim and Jenny Spinello, Gregory Kaplan, Jennifer Wilson, Andrea and Russ Stewart, Robert Rosen, Clare E. Gallagher, Grant Peterson, Ann Acrey, Christine Monsen, Roger Freeman, Richard and Marni Barendsen, LeAnne Miller, and Robert J. Wilde.
And we want to thank and welcome our new board member and supporter David Marshall.
We also want to thank our generous donors who pledge money through their company campaigns: Brent K. Lok at Chevron, Robert B. Mison at Clorox Combined Campaign, Kasey C. Waite at United Way Bay Area State Campaign, Ann R. Bauman at United Way Bay Area Campaign, Amy C. Fischer at United Way Bay Area Campaign, Dr. & Mrs. Philip G. Strauss at United Way Bay Area Campaign, Leslie Wozniak at United Way Bay Area Campaign, and Donnie M. Wrights at United Way Bay Area Campaign.
A special thank you to PFLAG Oakland whose donation will send two youth to the GLSEN National Conference.
Grants Awarded
We are pleased to announce that GLSEN SF-EB has received a grant from the John Muir/Mt Diablo Community Health Benefit Corporation and the Y & H Soda Foundation to support its PRYDE Program in Contra Costa County.