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Support GayOKC.com! Donate here!		 Anti-GLBT vandalism at NW Classen investigated

The following is an email from Joe Quigley, received on Friday the 25th
(Posted 1-26-02)

Today as I entered NWClassen the principal approached me to explain that he
had received my complaint the evening before, and as he was involved closely
with the "Issue" (my word to save time), he did not feel he was in a position
to do any investigating, so he called the Area Administrator to have a third
party investigate.
    The Area Administrator arrived at my classroom around 8:30 a.m. and
inspected the poster, and questioned me on the events. I explained the prior
event with the article  from the Advocate, and my intent to be inclusive
during BROTHERHOOD WEEK.
She expressed her need to know specifically whose picture had been cut out,
and her feeling that had it been general vandalism a person would probably
have just slit the poster or removed someone closer to the edge as that was a
whole lot easier than the effort and time it would take to cut a picture out
from the center. The picture removed could indicate the thinking of the
person responsible.
   The following is her report. (NOTE: I have the original e-mail on file. I
took the liberty to make one or two minor (cosmetic) changes as she wrote
her report in the form of an e-mail before she left the building, and I am
only too well aware that sometimes our mind sees what we may have forgotten
to type fully, or thought in our haste we had correctly spelled. These
changes are only to spelling, the common error made by many thinking my name
is spelled the same as in my e-mail address, and her use of "February" where
I know she meant to type "January".  If anyone wishes, I will forward the
original, warts and all.)

[Principal}

Please consider this memorandum as a formal statement of investigation.  I
visited with Mr. Quigley at 8:30 AM this morning (1/25/02).  It appears that
the vandalism to Mr Quigley's diversity display took place between the hours
of 3PM January 23 and 7AM on the morning of January 24. Mr. Quigley assures
me that he locks the door when he leaves for the evening.  Because the
picture was of a religious figure, (King David) and it was cut out in a
circle and in the middle of the display, I am led to believe it was an inside
job.  Whoever did it seemed to be making a statement that they did not want a
religious figure on the display.  This is clearly an act of vandalism. 
Please advise your entire staff, both certified and support, that vandalism
will not be tolerated at NWC. I have asked Mr. Quigley to contact me if there
are other incidences. 

     The principal spoke to me at the end of the day.
He will bring up the admonition about vandalism at this coming Tuesday's
Faculty meeting, and will speak to the custodian's supervisor about the
incident requesting proper action be taken. The district does not have its
own custodians at the secondary schools, but, rather, contracts this out to a
private firm.

     I am hoping that the principal does right at the faculty meeting by
stating specifically that among the more general kinds anti-Gay vandalism
will not be tolerated, and avoids the more generic admonition against
vandalism, as everyone on campus, including the custodial firm, will in all
likelihood already be aware that vandalism is not acceptable, but NEEDS to
know that this is also included.
Of course, this may never have happened had the district not so strenuously
resisted doing the proper thing of writing inclusive and clearly stated
policies as have been repeatedly sought for the last 5 years.
    We expect students to understand that Gay and Lesbian students are
implicitly included in the general non-discrimination policies of the
district which list among others religion, race, origin etc., yet here we
have something done obviously by an adult.
If the adults do not know Gays and Lesbians are included, how can we hold the
students to knowing it.

The principal's other expressed concern was the difficulty of dealing with
such incidents as over-reaction could entice someone to commit these
behaviors as a means of getting under a person's skin, while under-reaction
could lead to the belief that such incidents are permissible.

Let's review, shall we?
OVER-REACTIONS:
1) removal of the poster in October 1999, along with anything with a rainbow
from my room because of a single complaint, complete with the calling of the
parent, my finding out about an impending reprimand from the FOX 25 NEWS, and
an interview with the district's spokesperson misrepresenting the poster, and
lying about a meeting never held and an agreement never made.
2) the overly stated reprimand that had resulted.
3) the purposeful misrepresentation by an assistant principal of an essay
entitled "WHO ARE GAY, LESBIAN, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDERED AND QUESTIONING
YOUTH" as a "poem" on homosexuality, and the subsequent directive to remove
it.
4) The tearing down of the biography of Bayard Rustin by an assistant
principal (an action supported after the fact by the principal) during BLACK
HISTORY MONTH because it mentioned he was homosexual.
5) the removal of a student from my room because of a parental complaint
concerning a non-existent book display
6) the issuing of a censoring memo concerning the need for approval of all
posters intended to be hung in any classroom by any teacher that was given
only to me, and to which for one year, inspite of its being addressed to all
faculty and staff, but given only to me, had me the only teacher in the
district so censored, the same going for the content.
7) The removal and disposal of personal papers from the rear window of my
classroom by the principal
8) The removal of my copy of the GAYLY from the bottom of a drawer in my desk
because a substitute while rifling through my desk found its content
offensive to her religious beliefs, and the principal's suggestion that
before bringing the GAYLY to school for my personal reading on my own time I
a) remove any part that someone might object to, or b) I bring it to him for
his personal approval
9) The principal's going to my classroom the weekend before students were to
return for the current academic year and removing a rainbow plaque given as a
gift by another teacher, the sign from the AFL-CIO that my room was an
"EQUALITY ZONE to which students including GLBT ones could go to for support,
and the GLBT Student Bill Of Rights that was not going to be hung, but which
I merely had leaned against a file cabinet out of sight of any student, and
which I intended to store away along with some other things before the
students reported to class. All of which, by the way, have yet to be returned
to me.
And stopping at 10) so as not to belabor the point, the very transparent ruse
of referring my request for a GAY AND LESBIAN HISTORY MONTH display to a
social studies department that has never put up any designated month
displays, and which expressed no interest whatsoever in a GAY AND LESBIAN
HISTORY MONTH display, while ignoring my own department that had at least one
member who would have gladly done so, me.
    All of this goes without listing all the documented incidence of
harassment that took place from October 1999 until the present.

UNDER-REACTION:
1) nothing being said or done when a custodian removed the article from the
ADVOCATE giving the biographies of the Gay and Lesbian Heroes and Victims of
September 11, 2001, inspite of the principal's being aware of who had taken
it,  choosing to say nothing until he hoped to use my perceived suspicions
against me in the meeting held a month later with the mediator.
 
  I think all of this is proof enough that the District needs to do the
proper thing. As  now individual bias and prejudice, one way or the other,
are being allowed to determine the treatment of all things Gay and Lesbian.
     AMONG THIS THE NEEDS OF OUR GAY AND LESBIAN STUDENTS.
It is time for the district to rewrite its policies to include Gays and
Lesbians, to include the words "SEXUAL ORIENTATION" in its non-discrimination
policies and statements in order to take the guess work out of who is
included and whose educational needs the district will address.
The guessing has obviously been a failure, and to hang faculty, staff and
administration out to dry is a betrayal.
Clearly from this most recent event WE NEED DIRECTION. Otherwise, someone,
somewhere when relying on personal prejudice or bias will make the mistake
that will put the district, or the person him or herself in a litigious
position.
     HOW MORE CLEAR DOES IT HAVE TO BE?

 

Previous postings from Joe Quigley:

 

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