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		NW Classen principal bans mention of homosexualityxx

The following is an e-mail from Joe Quigley
(Posted 4-14-01)

On April 11, 2001 after having submitted my memo concerning my posters for National Poetry Month I received this memo from the principal.

"I received your handwritten letter of April 10, 2001 regarding my offer to let you explain the rationale for including the male and female poets under the rainbow designation. This designation, which you told me were simply "colors" is considered an emblem regarding sexual orientation. In your letter you attempted to rationalize your refusal to provide me with the information I requested. Therefore, I am directing you to remove the posters by 2:30 PM today and meet with me in my office at that time with the posters. You may bring representation of your choice. Thank you for complying with this directive"

   I will avoid pointing out how the principal rewrote the actual events by stating that the letter was an attempt to rationalize my refusal thereby implying I had refused to do something prior to writing my April 10, 2001 memo, and that as a member of AFT it is my contractual right to bring representation of my choice and not something granted through the largesse of the principal.

   If I were to point these things out it would only be for the purpose of illustrating how freely things can be misrepresentated so as to build a false case against a teacher, as was done in previous actions.

At any rate, at the meeting held at 2:30PM I was told that I was never again to point out that anyone on any list was Gay or Lesbian as we do not emphasize heterosexuality. This to me is yet more proof of the insensitivity I have been attempting to get the district to address. I am not to teach, or give the impression I am "promoting" homosexuality.

   The objection was also voiced to my celebrating the various months by putting up lists relative to that month that only contained Gay and Lesbian people.

   I tried to explain that as with the institution of months like Black History, this is done as ancillary information to offset the void in the text books. And, in answer to the question as to whether I believed that students would take the time to read such a long list, I in agreeing that most students wouldn't in all probability, pointed out that the shear number of people on a list would have the effect of impressing on the student body that there were a lot of G/L people involved in our world, and would let the G/L students see at a glance that they are not alone.

    As far as not teaching heterosexuality, i argued that the love stories contained in the literary texts are heterosexual as are the love poems (in actuality, in the freshman literature book from which I teach of 21 short stories, 7 are specifically heterosexual, the rest being neutral with none addressing Gay and Lesbian people. In the area of drama, of the four plays 2 are specifaically heterosexual, 2 neutral and none relevant to G/L students. In poetry, of the many poems contained, 2 are specifically heterosexual, the rest generic with none expressing G/L sentiment- not even those of Gay and Lesbian poets).

     This would mean that if I am not to teach anything that emphasizes sexual orientation, i am extremely limited in my use of the text, and as the Shakespeare sample is Romeo and Juliet, my students would not be exposed to the Bard.

     I had to explain the purpose of the District's Diversity Committee and how it had been decided that G/L students must be included. I also explained that in answer to the question that if the year the Committee had been meeting ended before we had a formal policy to present to the Board, the expressed intent was that as we were not writing a new policy, but only fine-tuning the existing one to be more expressly inclusive, and that to include G/L material would certainly be in the spirit of the policy.

     I was quite shocked when the principal informed me that I had been exaggerating the importance of the committee as he had been told by a friend that we had only met ONCE. This is a fine illustration of how either the principal is out of touch, or how those he counts among his friends are less than honest with him, as the committee had met3 times in 1997 before its implosion and the subsequent article in the Daily Oklahoman, and reconvened beginning in November of 1998 meeting once each month until May of 1999. He was not even aware that we had met at the NWClassen library on more than one occaision, nor, obviously, cognizant of my appearances before the board and the letters that were exchanged between myself and Drs. Sconzo, Crawford, Joyce Henderson and Sandy Garrett.

     I used his own examples of "neutrality" which he presented to me in March to show you could post biographies of women without mentioning sexual orientation as examples of how the constant barrage of heterosexual material is taken for granted as these contained references to the marriage of the two women to men.

     He did not grasp this concept.

    He insisted that when I hang anything for Black History Month, Or Hispanic Month or Asian, Native American or Women's month I do so keeping only to those groups without reference to their sexual orientation, not realizing , or wanting to that everyone, especially at NWClassen assumes everyone is heterosexual so those kids have an advantage.

      When I asked him if keeping to the theme of the month and including only those people to whom the month is dedicated would make it permissible to hang Gay and Lesbian History Month posters in October he was very hesitant.

     The principal also insisted that if the students want to get any stories or information about things Gay and Lesbian they could always go to the library or a community center, something the straight kids do not have to do as they can open their district supplied texts, or go to the school's library.

      So the following things are banned at NWClassen:
references to Gay and Lesbian people;
pointing out that some of the contributions to society were made be G/L people;
pink triangles and rainbows.
(ooh, and before I forget, the principal also does not want anyone bringing anyone of the same sex to the prom, even if it is your brother or sister.....there go the State Standards for the performance and Conduct of Teachers again)

      The following things are allowed
stories about heterosexual love
various celebrations of heterosexuality, i.e. King and Queen of the Prom, Homecoming King and Queen, valentines day Best Couple Contest, pictures of people living, dead or presently employed with their opposite sex spouses and partners, and indiscrete actions that have students as well as faculty laboring under the impression that certain people are having too obvious affairs.

the principal also voiced his opinion that my hanging the original poster in 1999 was done to blind side him as if he were the motivation for what I had been doing within the district, or was that important.

Slam shut the closet door, and promote censorship. These kids are in our schools, but we don't want to deal with them. But we will want the GLBT community and its friends to vote for a bond issue. After all, all the meetings of the Kids Committee and the Key Communicator meetings (the meetings held so that the community could have input into the revamping of the district) were to be inclusive of the needs of the whole community. NOT US apparently.

Not to take up your lives--I obviously am lacking one--I will write an e-mail tomorow that will include the memo about the crosses that I had included in my last e-mail. this one is a hoot

joe quigley

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