Awesome! The Ramona Unified School District apologized to student Natalie Jones for censoring her report on Harvey Milk. Natalie was allowed to give her full presentation to her entire class last Thursday. The letter to Natalie and her family reads, in part:

As we discussed with you and your mother in mid-April, we were exercising an abundance of caution in examining the facts at hand and were attempting to prevent what we thought might be an awkward situation for your classmates who may or may not have been prepared to participate appropriately as an audience for your research project," the letter stated.<

"When examining our school district's policies and procedures at that time, it appeared to us that the content of your report might have ventured into an instructional area which is often viewed as extremely sensitive and challenging for students, parents and teachers alike."

A letter was also sent to the parents of students in Natalie's class.

The fact that Harvey Milk was the first openly gay person elected to office is part of history, not an agenda.

The idea that the mention of someone's homosexuality is sexual education is ridiculous. Is it sex education to state that someone is married? Or that they have a boyfriend or girlfriend? Sixth graders are dealing just fine with these concepts, and are able to understand what attraction to the same sex means just as well as an attraction to the opposite sex. Presenting it as a fact does not encourage or discourage children one way or another.

Insisting that kids in school avoid mention of homosexuality is unrealistic and archaic. There are responsible and unbiased ways to present homosexuality in the classroom. Discussion of a topic allows for ideas to flourish and thinking to occur. Would we remove all gays in history from the classroom? Is it better to “white wash” history and the truth of their lives?

Parents have every right to be involved in what their kids learn. Take this opportunity to discuss your values with your kids. And to teach them that what they learn in the classroom is a jumping off point for further thought and learning. Not indoctrination into a way - any way - of thinking.

Please take the time to send a positive note of thanks to the Ramona Unified School District Superintendent Robert Graeff at bgraeff@ramonausd.net.

Posted by: Ensie at 12:17 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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It’s a proud day for me. The Ramona Unified School District – my district from 3rd grade until I graduated from high school and the town my family still lives in – has censored 6th grade student Natalie Jones’ report on Harvey Milk. Apparently even talking about someone who was gay is “sexual” in nature, and requires special permission from parents. The ACLU is pissed, understandably.

From the ACLU press release:

In todayÂ’s letter, the ACLU is demanding that the school:

• Apologize in writing to Natalie Jones and send a letter about that apology to all the parents who were sent the principal’s letter about the presentation

• Give Natalie Jones an opportunity to give her presentation to all the other members of her independent research project class

• Clarify in writing that the parental notification and permission portion of the “Family Life/Sex Education” policy only applies to the curricula identified as “course content” for “Family Life/Sex Education instruction”

Ramona Unified says they were following their own policy:

“(P)arents/guardians shall be notified in writing about any instruction in which human reproductive organs and their functions, processes, or sexually transmitted diseases are described, illustrated, or discussed. In addition, before any instruction on family life, human sexuality, AIDS or sexually transmitted diseases is given, the parent/guardian shall be provided with written notice explaining that the instruction will be given…”

The idea that a 6th grade presentation (one that received 49 out of 50 possible points, BTW) on a historical figure who happened to be gay does not equate to talking about sex. Natalie was not given the opportunity to give her Harvey Milk presentation during class. She called into the principal's office, told that permission slips would need to be signed for all students viewing her presentation, which was moved to lunch recess. If we are going to start cutting gays and lesbians out of the classroom history (and English) class is going to be a lot shorter.

Just a few gay historical figures include Alexander the Great, Aristotle, Walt Whitman, Lord Byron, Oscar Wilde, Virginia Woolf, Heman Melville, Julius Ceasar, Langston Hughes, Hans Christian Anderson, J. Edgar Hoover.

You can view Natalie's 12-page presentation here.

UPDATE: Interestingly, today is the anniversary of the White Night Riots in San Francisco.

Posted by: Ensie at 02:52 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Frinkling brought a really great interview with Alison Bechdel to my attention. She discusses her bestselling work Fun Home, the experiences following that publication, as well as the upcoming graphic novel she is working on.

Posted by: Ensie at 09:46 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Braved the rain yesterday with Frinklin, Kevin, and Sarah to see Inlaws & Outlaws at The Grand during the Tacoma Film Festival.

We arrived with plenty of time at 3:50. The movie was scheduled to start at 4:15, however, we were told that it would not start until 4:30 because an earlier movie was running late. We headed over to One Heart Cafe next door and enjoyed some coffee in their comfy back room. When we returned at 4:25, the film was already underway. I HATE being late to movies, so this was really annoying. I felt like asking them to restart the film, "Hey - you told us to wait, so we did, and now you screwed me out of the first 5 minutes!" So irritating.

I really enjoyed the film, a documentary interviewing people about their love stories in a way that you didn't know if they were gay or straight until later in the movie. You just knew that they were telling their story about falling in love, sometimes talking about their childhood and various teen crushes, eventually getting to the love of their life (or in one case, a marriage that ended in divorce). Their narratives were so similar, you couldn't separate the gay stories from the straight, which showed exactly how similar gay and straight love stories are. By the end of the movie I was in tears listening to an elderly lesbian couple talk about their love for each other. There is also a heartbreaking story of an older gay man who describes the death of his partner of 50 years and subsequent struggle with heartbreak, desire to kill himself, and redemption at a North Everett church that welcomes him into their fold.

There is plenty to laugh as well. An odd, divorced woman keeps attempting to name her "life philosophy" and comes up with "all of life is grieving" and then states that "you should try to be happy." The elderly lesbian couple shares a little too much about their sex life in a G-rated way, "I lifted my pajama top and..." A few people come off as idiotically homophobic, "Can we get off this 'gay' topic please?" begs a single straight guy who doesn't think gays should be able to get married. There is a creepy, bald, unnecessary piano player to shows up a few times who stares unnervingly into the camera who gave me the giggles.

Overall it was very enjoyable, save for the odd musical cut-aways that did nothing for the movie. The music was good, but the singer was distracting. The film is offered for public viewings to communities and the like. A good starting point for people looking for a way to spark discussion about gay relationships. I think that this would be a fantastic film for high school gay/straight alliances (or possibly all high school students) to view.

Posted by: Ensie at 01:23 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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