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December 15, 2004

Teachers' Lounge Kickoff - January 7 |
The goal of the Teachers' Lounge is to bring together LGBT persons and their allies who work in K-12 schools in the greater Phoenix area, within a social setting, to provide networking & opportunities to discuss challenges and issues they face in the workplace.

The Teachers’ Lounge will be open between 5-7pm on the First Friday of the month, at Fair Trade Café, 1020 North First Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85003, located at the corner of Central & Roosevelt at Roosevelt Square (a couple of doors down from Portlands Restaurant), (602) 354-8150. Free parking is available in the garage behind the café.

When the Teachers’ Lounge closes, enjoy the arts scene downtown

GLSEN Concerned by Local School Board Action |


New York, NY (Dec. 8, 2004) – The Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, or GLSEN, expresses its deep concern over Harrisonburg School Board’s policy revisions, which would restrict student’s participation in all of Harrison High School’s curricular and non-curricular activities.

Click here for the full story!

MLK Organizing Weekend: Students Getting Involved |
In the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., GLSEN is launching its third Day of Action, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Organizing Weekend, January 14-17, 2005. We want this weekend to highlight the importance of building relationships with other social justice movements, understanding the roots of organizing in social justice and working outside of our schools. GLSEN is encouraging students and student clubs to co-organize activities such as trainings on networking and organizing, presenting speakers on social justice movements, and building coalitions. This action will be a powerful one, bringing the experiences and work of young people together to learn and support each other within different social justice movements.

The following are resources for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Organizing Weekend.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Organizing Weekend, Using the Civil Rights Movement as a Model for Safe Schools Organizing

Check out this extremely helpful resource created by a GLSEN Student Organizing alum that includes the purpose, activities, and tips for planning and having a successful Dr. MLK, Jr. Organizing Weekend. It can be found by going to www.dayofsilence.org/mlk.

Jump Start 6: Understanding Power, Privilege, and Oppression
This resource will help interested individuals develop a greater understanding of how to create 'less oppressive' and 'more inclusive' student clubs. Jump-Start 6 is meant to be used as a planning and activity tool within already existing student clubs. Student organizers can also use these activities to get ready for Dr. MLK Organizing Weekend or as their Dr. MLK, Jr. Organizing Weekend event!

Click here for the resource!

Organizers and allies can support Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Organizing Weekend by:

  • Sharing GLSEN's Dr. MLK, Jr. Organizing Weekend link, (http://www.dayofsilence.org/mlk/), with your contacts
  • Supporting students and student clubs with their Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Organizing Weekend events
  • Encouraging student clubs in your area to register online with GLSEN at www.dayofsilence.org/mlk
  • Planning a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. event in your community
  • Using Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. resources to inform your community on coalition building and working within an anti-oppression framework
Don’t forget! For more information and FREE resources and products register at www.dayofsilence.org/mlk. The first 50 student clubs to register with GLSEN online will receive new Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Organizing Weekend resources to support your event!

OutFar Film Festival - February 5 - Free Youth Tickets |
GLSEN Phoenix partners with PFLAG and 1N10 to sponsor OutFar Films for LGBTQ youth, Saturday afternoon, February 5th. Free tickets will be distributed to high school students – contact info@glsenphoenix.org for more information.

The 9th Annual Out Far! Lesbian and Gay Film Festival returns from February 4 through February 6, 2005 at the Harkins Fashion Square 7 Theatre inside the Scottsdale Fashion Square.

Film lovers will be dazzled by an intriguing slate of GLBTQ, full-length, feature films, feature videos and video short subjects and an unprecedented number of titles. Even more impressive is the exceptional diversity of the 2005 Out Far! Festival's program. Stay tuned for the schedule and of all of the film descriptions soon to come.

Ticket Information

Tickets: All TICKETS may be purchased online at www.OutFar.org or at the HARKINS FASHION SQUARE 7 THEATRE box office starting Friday, January 14, 2005. Please note that Harkins does not sell passes.

Passes: All PASSES may be purchased online at www.OutFar.org or at MOVIES ON CENTRAL located at 4700 N. Central starting Friday, January 14, 2005. Please note that Movies on Central only sells the Opening Night tickets and VIP/Day passes.

PRICES:
Opening Night Film AND Party: (sold only as a combination)$20 in advance*; $25 at the Harkins Fashion Square Theatre door. Ticket includes the opening night film and party in the auditorium. Start time is 7:45 PM and the evening lasts until 11:00 PM.
Full-Festival Pass: $100 in advance only Saturday or Sunday Day Pass: $45 in advance only

Single Ticket Price: (except for Opening Night Film/Party)
All shows: $10 in advance; $12 at-the-door
Student/Senior Discounts w/current ID: $8 at-the-door

*Discounted, advance priced tickets and all passes are not available after Thursday, February 3, 2005 at 5:00 PM

Out Far! thanks its Sponsors: Echo Magazine, IONAZ/'N Touch, Heatstroke News, Clarendon Suites + Hotel, InteractiveMale, Movies on Central, New Times, Ibiza Wine Bar and Cafe, Ayetech.com, and Harkins Theatres

Phoenix PRIDE Youth Zone - April 2 |
GLSEN-PFLAG-1N10 partner to co-sponsor YOUTHZONE at the 25th anniversary Phoenix PRIDE celebration, Saturday, April 2, 2005.

YOUTHZONE will be a space set aside for young people to hang out and celebrate PRIDE. To contribute your ideas for YOUTH ZONE activities (e.g. music) or volunteer, contact info@glsenphoenix .org

Some Abstinence Programs Mislead Teens, Report Says |


Some Abstinence Programs Mislead Teens, Report Says
December 6, 2004

By CECI CONNOLLY
Staff Writer
Washington Post

Many American youngsters participating in federally funded abstinence-only programs have been taught over the past three years that abortion can lead to sterility and suicide, that half the gay male teenagers in the United States have tested positive for the AIDS virus, and that touching a person's genitals "can result in pregnancy," a congressional staff analysis has found.

Those and other assertions are examples of the "false, misleading, or distorted information" in the programs' teaching materials, said the analysis, released yesterday, which reviewed the curricula of more than a dozen projects aimed at preventing teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease.

In providing nearly $170 million next year to fund groups that teach abstinence only, the Bush administration, with backing from the Republican Congress, is investing heavily in a just-say-no strategy for teenagers and sex. But youngsters taking the courses frequently receive medically inaccurate or misleading information, often in direct contradiction to the findings of government scientists, said the report, by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), a critic of the administration who has long argued for comprehensive sex education.

Several million children ages 9 to 18 have participated in the more than 100 federal abstinence programs since the efforts began in 1999. Waxman's staff reviewed the 13 most commonly used curricula -- those used by at least five programs apiece.

The report concluded that two of the curricula were accurate but the 11 others, used by 69 organizations in 25 states, contain unproved claims, subjective conclusions or outright falsehoods regarding reproductive health, gender traits and when life begins. In some cases, Waxman said in an interview, the factual issues were limited to occasional misinterpretations of publicly available data; in others, the materials pervasively presented subjective opinions as scientific fact.

Among the misconceptions cited by Waxman's investigators:


  • A 43-day-old fetus is a "thinking person."

  • HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, can be spread via sweat and tears.

  • Condoms fail to prevent HIV transmission as often as 31 percent of the time in heterosexual intercourse.

One curriculum, called "Me, My World, My Future," teaches that women who have an abortion "are more prone to suicide" and that as many as 10 percent of them become sterile. This contradicts the 2001 edition of a standard obstetrics textbook that says fertility is not affected by elective abortion, the Waxman report said.

"I have no objection talking about abstinence as a surefire way to prevent unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases," Waxman said. "I don't think we ought to lie to our children about science. Something is seriously wrong when federal tax dollars are being used to mislead kids about basic health facts."

When used properly and consistently, condoms fail to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) less than 3 percent of the time, federal researchers say, and it is not known how many gay teenagers are HIV-positive. The assertion regarding gay teenagers may be a misinterpretation of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that found that 59 percent of HIV-infected males ages 13 to 19 contracted the virus through homosexual relations.

Joe. S. McIlhaney Jr., who runs the Medical Institute for Sexual Health, which developed much of the material that was surveyed, said he is "saddened" that Waxman chose to "blast" well-intentioned abstinence educators when there is much the two sides could agree on.

McIlhaney acknowledged that his group, which publishes "Sexual Health Today" instruction manuals, made a mistake in describing the relationship between a rare type of infection caused by chlamydia bacteria and heart failure. Chlamydia also causes a common type of sexually transmitted infection, but that is not linked to heart disease. But McIlhaney said Waxman misinterpreted a slide that warns young people about the possibility of pregnancy without intercourse. McIlhaney said the slide accurately describes a real, though small, risk of pregnancy in mutual masturbation.

Congress first allocated money for abstinence-only programs in 1999, setting aside $80 million in grants, which go to a variety of religious, civic and medical organizations. To be eligible, groups must limit discussion of contraception to failure rates.

President Bush has enthusiastically backed the movement, proposing to spend $270 million on abstinence projects in 2005. Congress reduced that to about $168 million, bringing total abstinence funding to nearly $900 million over five years. It does not appear that the abstinence-only curricula are being taught in the Washington area.

Waxman and other liberal sex-education proponents argue that adolescents who take abstinence-only programs are ill-equipped to protect themselves if they become sexually active. According to the latest CDC data, 61 percent of graduating high school seniors have had sex.

Supporters of the abstinence approach, also called abstinence until marriage, counter that teaching young people about "safer sex" is an invitation to have sex.

Alma Golden, deputy assistant secretary for population affairs in the Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement that Waxman's report is a political document that does a "disservice to our children." Speaking as a pediatrician, Golden said, she knows "abstaining from sex is the most effective means of preventing the sexual transmission of HIV, STDs and preventing pregnancy."

Nonpartisan researchers have been unable to document measurable benefits of the abstinence-only model. Columbia University researchers found that although teenagers who take "virginity pledges" may wait longer to initiate sexual activity, 88 percent eventually have premarital sex.

Bill Smith, vice president of public policy at the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, a comprehensive sex education group that also receives federal funding, said the Waxman report underscored the need for closer monitoring of what he called the "shame-based, fear-based, medically inaccurate messages" being disseminated with tax money. He said the danger of abstinence education lies in the omission of useful medical information.

Some course materials cited in Waxman's report present as scientific fact notions about a man's need for "admiration" and "sexual fulfillment" compared with a woman's need for "financial support." One book in the "Choosing Best" series tells the story of a knight who married a village maiden instead of the princess because the princess offered so many tips on slaying the local dragon. "Moral of the story," notes the popular text: "Occasional suggestions and assistance may be alright, but too much of it will lessen a man's confidence or even turn him away from his princess."