Gay Students Having Problems at Job Corps

I have become increasingly concerned about reports I have been receiving from Gay and Lesbian students out at Boxelder Job Corps. Several incidents are of special concern.

One report concerned a gay student who was part of the Culinary Arts program. He had expressed concerns about the sanitary and food safety conditions of the kitchen. On several occasions he and other students had observed the Food Service Supervisor taking food out of the garbage and serving it. He reported it to the administration and nothing was done. When he could get no satisfaction from the administration he called the Health department.

The Department of Health did an inspection, not a surprise inspection but announced in advance. Of course they found nothing as the staff denied everything. At no time were any of the students who observed the infractions ever interviewed.

Several weeks went by and nothing changed in the kitchen. Food safety procedures continued to be ignored. Feeling frustrated, the student again reported it to the Health Department and to the regional office for Job Corps. Rather than investigate and try to get to the bottom of the problem the student was made a target.

The new Center Director was told by the Head Counselor that this was just a problem between the Food Service Supervisor and the Culinary Arts instructor and had no merit. This same Head Counselor has long been the subject of rumors and gossip about his not so hidden relationship with the Food Service Director and also inappropriate behavior with female students and other staff members. He also had been the subject of harassment complaints by other female staff members. Of course nothing ever came of these complaints. A usual procedure for handling complaints at this facility.

The student's complaints were dismissed. Suddenly, this student could do nothing right. Within three weeks after the complaints were dismissed this student suddenly found himself the subject of disciplinary actions and isolation. He was terminated for infractions of "the rules" no less than three weeks after his complaints and attempts to correct what he saw as a serious problem at the Center. He hadn't been a problem before this time. So much for protecting whistle blowers from retaliation.

There seems to be a preference to protect certain staff members even at the cost of public safety and the welfare of the students. The fact that this student was gay also follows a trend that has targeted GLBT students by certain staff members with the tacit approval of the Administration.

The latest incident involved an openly gay student and a teacher at the high school. It seems that this student was pulled aside by his teacher on no less than four occasions and told that he needed to stop being Gay because he was going hell. That teacher informed him that she was a born again Christian and didn't want to have him be gay in her class. As if he had a choice! He reported it and was told by the administration to "suck it up" because if he was going to be gay he needed to get used to it.

This teacher then told him points on his evaluation were docked because he was "too gay." She used this as a justification for the low score. He was usually a high scoring student. The administration allowed this to stand and have done nothing to this teacher.

I seem to recall that both Presidents Clinton and Bush signed executive orders outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation in any federally funded educational facility meaning Job Corps.

Job Corps is a great program designed to help at risk youth to get an education and job training. Unfortunately, bullying and harassment by staff at Boxelder Job Corps has made this much more difficult for GLBT and other students. The administration's willingness to overlook transgressions by incompetent, self righteous and abusive staff members even to the point of throwing students "under the bus" is intolerable and shouldn't be allowed to continue.

Friends,

The Soul force Equality Riders arrived later
than they had hoped in  

Ellendale due to an unplanned bus problem,
which left them disabled in  

Billings, Montana.  They traveled nearly all
night sleeping through  

much of Montana and North Dakota.

Undaunted in their journey and mission
they will vigil at Trinity Bible College
beginning at 9am.  Other activities include
a press conference,networking with some
students from USD in Vermillion
who will be in Ellendale and the donation
of books to the public library.

These few pictures show just a few of the
bus riders.  The last photo I'm sending shows
Emily Van Klev standing with her mother
who traveled from Custer, South Dakota to be
with her daughter.

Go to http://www.soulforce.org/equalityride and
read some of the biographical information about
many people on this bus.

Please come to the Red Rooster at 6 pm on Monday
and forward this message to any interested allies
as well as some people who need to attend and will
gracefully listen or speak with
them.  Thank you very much.

David

Soul Force in Ellendale ND

This was as close as we were admitted to the campus of Trinity Bible
College.  Behind a fence made of cow panels and steel stakes.  These
prayer shawls were made by members of a Vermillion church that was
fully welcoming and accepting of LGBT people.  The morning was one of
the most moving and spiritual experiences of my life which I will
never forget.  Praying, weeping and singing with outstretched hands
across the fence no students, faculty or administration members would
reach out to us.

A cross above the tower in the background is obscured by the budding
trees of a chilly Spring morning.  An even colder reception would
await 3 members of our group that attempted to deliver the shawls to
the school in a gesture hoping to begin a discussion to end the
schools policy of labeling people like us immoral; born just as we are.

Soul Force Riders in Ellendale ND and Aberdeen

On April 23rd and 24th Soul force riders who are traveling th country by bus attempting to communicate with Fundamentalist leaders and students at colleges that openly discriminate against GLBT students were in Ellendale North Dakota and later in Aberdeen. Below are the accounts of what happened as told by David Fisher from Aberdeen a long time member and activist with Soul Force and reported by The Robinsdale Radical Blog.

ELLENDALE, N.D. - As singing rang out across the Trinity Bible College
campus Monday, three women began their walk, bypassing the fence meant to
keep them off private property.

Carrying prayer shawls in their arms, the women marched steadily toward the
campus buildings, as about 25 others - many of them representing the
Soulforce Equality Ride, a group rallying against religion-based
discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people at
Christian colleges across the nation - continued to sing: "Go now in peace.
Go now in peace. May the love of God surround you."

http://www.aberdeen news.com/ apps/pbcs. dll/article? AID=/20070424/ FRONTPAGE/ 704240315

more here too:
http://rr57701. blogspot. com/2007/ 04/soulforce- in-south- dakota-tonight. html

and here's a fascinating eyewitness account from the person who did a lot to
get them here:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: David Fischer
Date: Apr 24, 2007 7:37 PM
Subject: Riders to Ellendale & Aberdeen

Sunday & Monday were amazing days for me; now exhausted yet empowered to
continue to work for justice and fairness. I spent many hours with the
group on both days and we had a fantastic evening at the Red Rooster Coffee
Shop. The Equality Riders weren't even scheduled to come to Aberdeen.
Ellendale with Trinity Bible College was the only stop planned in this area.

Working for nearly 5 weeks, I spent countless hours writing, talking and
walking the streets to get them here. Getting them here was the easy part,
they were thrilled to be invited anywhere an audience of listeners was
available. Finding a venue for their presentation and group discussion was
nearly impossible until I spoke with Dan and his sister Kileen who owns the
Rooster. I was ready to throw in the towel but their web site says
something such as "building community" and they lived up to that.

I have tons of photos to go through and I'll send some your way as soon as I
can but this is one shot of the bus stopped on Main Street with a few of the
Riders heading to the Rooster. Imagine this big thoroughly conspicuous bus
parked on one of the busiest streets in town for all to see and ponder. The
next day the following story appeared in the paper.
David

Rochell Rogers: Thank you for a great letter

Thank you Rochelle Rogers for a great letter to the editor about Bob Ellis’ ill informed and biased column concerning The Day of Silence. I’m not sure if the Gay Straight Alliance is still in existence. I’ve heard reports that it is. Whether or not it still exists, I know that there are a large number of GLBT students at Stevens.

Mr. Ellis or the family policy council has never been too concerned with factual accuracy or reality for that matter. Their purpose is to exploit prejudice, fear and hatred to gain political and financial advantage. Nothing keeps the collection plates full like a good rant against other people’s horrible sex lives.

Rochelle is right. Not that many people would have known about the Day of Silence if he hadn’t opened his big mouth. But then again his purpose was only to rally the “horrors of other people’s sex” crowd.

I hope a lot of students do take part in the Day of Silence. It will speak loudly to those who need to know they have support in the hallways of the school.

It brings to mind the aftermath of the Anita Bryant anti-gay crusade in Florida many years ago. We were all wearing t-shirts that said “Thank you Anita. You brought us all together.” That seemed to be a major catalyst for the creation of many of the national GLBT organizations. I’ve always said that the more we can keep the Bob Ellises and the Joe Buds of this world talking the better we all look. The best cure for prejudice and intolerance is exposure to the sunlight. The more we allow bigotry to exist unnoticed in the shadows the more deadly it becomes. We need to shout away the clouds, darkness and hate and expose their bigotry to the bright sunshine of truth.

Article from Harvey Fierstein on don Imus and America

By HARVEY FIERSTEIN
Published: April 13, 2007 NYTimes
AMERICA is watching Don Imus’s self-immolation in a state of shock and awe. And I’m watching America with wry amusement.

Since I’m a second-class citizen, a gay man, my seats for the ballgame of American discourse are way back in the bleachers. I don’t have to wait long for a shock jock or stand-up comedian to slip up with hateful epithets aimed at me and mine. Hate speak against homosexuals is as commonplace as spam. It's daily traffic for those who profess themselves to be regular Joes, men of God, public servants who live off my tax dollars, as well as any number of celebrities.

In fact, I get a good chuckle whenever someone refers to "the media" as an agent of "the gay agenda." There are entire channels, like Spike TV, that couldn't fill an hour of programming if required to remove their sexist and homophobic content. We've got a president and a large part of Congress willing to change the Constitution so they can deprive of us our rights because they feel we are not "normal."

So I'm used to catching foul balls up here in the cheap seats. What I am really enjoying is watching the rest of you act as if you had no idea that prejudice was alive and well in your hearts and minds.

For the past two decades political correctness has been derided as a surrender to thin-skinned, humorless, uptight oversensitive sissies. Well, you anti-politically correct people have won the battle, and we're all now feasting on the spoils of your victory. During the last few months alone we've had a few comedians spout racism, a basketball coach put forth anti-Semitism and several high-profile spoutings of anti-gay epithets.

What surprises me, I guess, is how choosy the anti-P.C. crowd is about which hate speech it will not tolerate. Sure, there were voices of protest when the TV actor Isaiah Washington called a gay colleague a "faggot." But corporate America didn't pull its advertising from "Grey's Anatomy," as it did with Mr. Imus, did it? And when Ann Coulter likewise tagged a presidential candidate last month, she paid no real price.

In fact, when Bill Maher discussed Ms. Coulter's remarks on his HBO show, he repeated the slur no fewer than four times himself; each mention, I must note, solicited a laugh from his audience. No one called for any sort of apology from him. (Well, actually, I did, so the following week he only used it once.)

Face it, if a Pentagon general, his salary paid with my tax dollars, can label homosexual acts as "immoral" without a call for his dismissal, who are the moral high and mighty kidding?

Our nation, historically bursting with generosity toward strangers, remains remarkably unkind toward its own. Just under our gleaming patina of inclusiveness, we harbor corroding guts. America, I tell you that it doesn't matter how many times you brush your teeth. If your insides are rotting your breath will stink. So, how do you people choose which hate to embrace, which to forgive with a wink and a week in rehab, and which to protest? Where's my copy of that rule book?

Let me cite a non-volatile example of how prejudice can cohabit unchecked with good intentions. I am a huge fan of David Letterman's. I watch the opening of his show a couple of times a week and have done so for decades. Without fail, in his opening monologue or skit Mr. Letterman makes a joke about someone being fat. I kid you not. Will that destroy our nation? Should he be fired or lose his sponsors? Obviously not.

But I think that there is something deeper going on at the Letterman studio than coincidence. And, as I've said, I cite this example simply to illustrate that all kinds of prejudice exist in the human heart. Some are harmless. Some not so harmless. But we need to understand who we are if we wish to change. (In the interest of full disclosure, I should confess to not only being a gay American, but also a fat one. Yes, I'm a double winner.)

I urge you to look around, or better yet, listen around and become aware of the prejudice in everyday life. We are so surrounded by expressions of intolerance that I am in shock and awe that anyone noticed all these recent high-profile instances. Still, I'm gladdened because our no longer being deaf to them may signal their eventual eradication.

The real point is that you cannot harbor malice toward others and then cry foul when someone displays intolerance against you. Prejudice tolerated is intolerance encouraged. Rise up in righteousness when you witness the words and deeds of hate, but only if you are willing to rise up against them all, including your own. Otherwise suffer the slings and arrows of disrespect silently.

Harvey Fierstein is an actor and playwright.

Heidi Bell Gease Great article But Missing Something

Heidi Belle Gease is a great journalist and wrote a great article about suicide problems on the Rosebud Reservation. Unfortunately, as with most discussions of suicide one major factor is ignored. Suicide rates among gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth are much higher than the national average.

Nearly one third of teen suicide victims are gay. 10% of the population is gay. That means the suicide rate is 300% higher for gay teens. Source: http://www.youth-suicide.com/gay-bisexual/. A local school counselor indicated nearly 60% of suicide survivors she’s encountered had gender or sexual orientation issues.

At The Center West I communicate daily with GLBT Native Americans, mostly teens, from throughout South Dakota. Most tell me they feel lost. Their traditional place of honor within Native Culture has been purged because of white religious taboos. They’re rejected at home and discriminated against in the white community. They’re much more prone to poor self-esteem and the resulting risky behaviors than their straight counterparts. A beautiful group of people is being lost.

The Two Spirit support group at The Center West helps GLBT Native Americans understand, appreciate and begin to restore their traditional place within Native Spiritual Culture. For more info call: 348-3244. E-mail: info@thecenterwest.org.

Teaching Abstinence Only Doesn't Work

Today’s Rapid City Journal reported that recent studies of those programs advocating sexual abstinence only to prevent sexually transmitted disease are ineffective. Most people with a sense of reality have known that for a long time. The study found that kids who were taught abstinence only were just as likely to have engaged in sexual activity at the same age and to have had as many sexual partners as those who were not taught abstinence only.

Sexual activity among teens is going to happen no matter what we old folks want to happen. It has been going on from time immemorial. I grew up in the 50’s and 60’s and it was happening then even though no one talked about it.

The entire push to teach abstinence only has been about promoting a religious agenda and had little or no concern about HIV or AIDS. After all it was a just punishment for not following the religious mores of the day. Do we really want sexual indiscretion to have a death penalty? That has been the result of the abstinence only movement.

If Churches and religious organizations wish to teach abstinence only, that is their right to do so. However, we should not be spending public funds to promote a religious agenda. Especially spending money on ones that don’t work.

It’s time to teach reasonable and realistic sex education. If we want to stop HIV, AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases then we have to be honest about the information we give and to understand the nature of the people with whom we are dealing.

Those parents and educators who don’t want to deal with the issue need to ask themselves if they would rather be dealing with sick and dieing kids.

Response to Bob Ellis column criticizing Day of Silence

Bob Ellis column Tuesday April 10^th expressed concern about the “National Day of Silence” sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN).

He claimed sexual orientation is irrelevant in bullying. Home schooling his children to protect them from other points of view, makes questionable his credibility to speak to conditions for GLBT students in our schools. Anyone listening to bullies’ language or paying attention to who get targeted will know Ellis isn’t credible. He gets his information filtered by a “theocratic house of money” in Colorado. Seldom does an hour go by that school students don’t hear a derogatory comment or a negative slang word about GLBT people. That doesn’t even include the harassment from judgmental, self-righteous religious zealots.

The National Day of Silence is about more than bullying. It’s about saving lives. The suicide rate for GLBT teens and young adults is ten times the national average. Most of these kids suffer in silence. They don’t know whom to trust. Religious leaders are too busy condemning them. School officials are afraid to bring up the subject because of negative backlash. Parents are unaware, in denial or afraid. There is no support system.

These young people are realizing what the bullies and the religious fanatics are saying is about them and they internalize the hatred. They hate themselves for being different. Too many see suicide as the only way out. Ironically, GLBT kids from fundamentalist families are at greatest risk because they live in an hostile environment. Be careful whom you hate. It may be someone you love.

National Day of Silence symbolizes the silence that victimizes GLBT kids. It uses that silence to identify supportive people in whom these kids can confide including teachers, staff and other students.

Sexual orientation isn’t something that’s chosen. It isn’t sexual behavior. Most of the kids who commit suicide aren’t sexually active. No one is advocating irresponsible sexual behavior. We don’t advocate for sexual behavior. We advocate for people and their right to be the person the creator intended.

Ellis called it a promotion of “sexual ideology”. Forcing members of society into rigid, restrictive sexual and gender roles to the detriment of those who don’t fit those roles is sexual ideology. Using fear, ignorance and prejudice justified by religious dogma for financial and political gain is sexual ideology.

Trying to help people come to terms with who they are and how the creator made them isn’t an ideology. It’s human, Christian compassion and love.

Information being distributed by the Family Policy Council for their “Day of Truth” has been condemned and discredited by every reputable medical, psychiatric, psychological, pediatric and social work organization. It should more properly be labeled “The Day of Lies”. It’s not only false it’s harmful. More information at: www.truthwinsout.org.

Ellis claims our kids are being caught in the cross fire of the culture wars. He’s right. However, it’s his politically motivated religious sexual ideology that’s pulling the trigger. Their blood is on his hands. Love is God!!