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The board formally filed the charges against Knox in late December, a step that begins the lengthy and costly process to fire Knox, school board president Ray Perkins said. He could not comment on the findings of the district's three-month investigation of Knox's conduct.What I remember from this mess was her silent interview and this statement below:
"Every student, no matter what race, creed color or sexual orientation ought to be able to come to school and feel comfortable in a learning environment that's welcoming and nurturing," Perkins said.
District Superintendent Patrick Martin could not immediately be reached for comment.
"I DO NOT HAVE TO TOLERATE ANYTHING OTHERS WISH TO DO. I DO HAVE TO LOVE AND SPEAK AND DO WHAT'S RIGHT!"Well, guess what, heifer! We don't have to tolerate your foolishness either. So you might want to get your resume together.
"You know I've been losing weight. As I shed that weight, I've been taking pictures. I don't remember taking this particular picture but I'm not gonna say I didn't take it. I'd tell you if I remembered taking the picture but I don't."
On Friday morning, Superior Court Judge Jeffrey B. Barton will listen to arguments from both sides after Minnesota-based Target Corp. sued the San Diego-based Canvass For A Cause (CFAC) to prevent the grass-roots activist group from gathering petition signatures in front of its stores in California.Really, Target? Do they think folks will really think that? Silly company.
The fundamental American right to free speech is at the heart of this case, said Tres Watson, executive director of CFAC who is a San Diego resident.
In an earlier court date on March 8, Judge Barton denied a motion by Target’s attorneys seeking a temporary restraining order against CFAC. Barton ruled that the right of free speech trumps over the business interest of Target in refusing the request.
In a court document, a Target official at the Poway store complained that CFAC volunteers were talking to customers about gay marriage, among other issues, and contended that they had received complaints from some customers who were upset by the topic.
Court documents also show that Target Corp. is worried that the company may be viewed as being for gay marriage if activist groups like CFAC are allowed to speak to their customers.
Each night when Nick's mother, Jacqueline, left the University of Akron, where she worked in the political science department, she would call her son and chat on her way home. When she came through the door, he routinely welcomed her with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and carrots. But something was terribly wrong Feb. 23.
''I called at 6:30 and there was no answer,'' said the grieving mother, her voice fading. ''And I kept calling. There was no answer.''
When she arrived home, she found Nick near death from a gunshot wound, lying on the living room floor.
''Deep down in our hearts, this was not a child who would have planned to take his life,'' said the boy's father, Nicholas Sr. ''He may have been bullied to the point that he felt like he needed to protect himself.''
Sitting in the dining room of her Rittman home recently, Jacqueline Kelo dropped her head into the palms of her hands. Deep cleansing breaths escaped her. Her only child was dead. The pain was deep.
Across the table, her ex-husband struggled to keep his tears at bay.
''It had been going on for years,'' Jacqueline Kelo said. ''We would talk and he would say [of the bullies] that they were not worth his time.''
Nick played football in middle school but gave up the sport this year to participate in high school band. The switch, Jacqueline Kelo reasoned, resulted in swelling rumors. Some, she said, wrongly assumed that a kid who would prefer to play the tenor sax rather than tossing a pigskin must be gay.''After that, it [the bullying] spiraled out of control,'' she said.One such incident allegedly happened on a school bus following a football game, explained the mother of another Rittman teenager who said her son is also a victim of bullying. During the incident, Nick allegedly became the victim of an older student who was ''glicking'' — forcibly spitting on him. Jacqueline Kelo knew something was bothering her son when he came home, but the eighth-grader refused to share the details — telling her that he would handle it himself. The parents became aware of it only after their son's death.
Two Tennessee lawmakers, State Sen. Stacey Campfield and Rep. Bill Dunn, have introduced a bill in the state’s legislature that would ban schools from discussing any sexual orientation other than heterosexuality.You can read this bill here
The “Don’t Say Gay” bill presents serious problems for students whose family members may be gay, or who may be gay themselves:“The Don’t Say Gay bill raises all kinds of issues about anti-gay bias, free speech and government overreach,” said Ben Byers with the Tennessee Equality Project. …”It limits what teachers and students are able to discuss in the classroom,” Byers said. “It means they can’t talk about gay issues or sexuality even with students who may be gay or have gay family.”
The stickers were distributed around the Whitechapel, Shoreditch and Poplar areas over the weekend. Specifically, they were targeted at schools and pubs, including the gay-friendly George and Dragon.
The professionally produced, anonymous stickers say: “Arise and Warn. Gay free zone. Verily Allah is severe in punishment.”
The 'Gay free zone' slogan is within a diagonal bar across a rainbow flag.
Equality campaigner Peter Tatchell – who has been attacked by Muslim groups three times in the capital – condemned the behaviour.
He said: "These stickers are part of a trend by Islamists and fundamentalists to target LGBT people. It is happening at universities and in communities. The main victims of this hate-mongering are LGBT Muslims.
"A venue attached to the East London mosque hosted a speaker who invited his audience to: 'Spot the fag.' There have been a series of homophobic threats and assaults by Asian youths on LGBT people in the East End over recent years.
"I’ve been attacked by Muslim youths three times in and around Brick Lane. In all three attacks, the assailants shouted religious slogans. My LGBT Muslim friends who live in the area are nervous and anxious. They fear attack and dare not reveal their sexuality.
The Muslim Council of Britain said it “[stands] firm against discrimination and violence against any people”.Again, very interesting.
It added: “These stickers are wrong and not in keeping with our Islamic teaching to respect our neighbours.”
However, Jack Gilbert, the co-chair of LGBT forum Rainbow Hamlets, suggested that the stickers could be the work of the groups such as the English Defence League.
“We have evidence that they were very likely to have been produced by far-right sources in order to forment community tension,” he said.
He added that police were aware of the stickers and urged people to report them if they come across them.
A neighbor found David Kato dead and notified authorities, according to his lawyer.This is horrible! I can't imagine what the other gays are feeling at this point. My heart goes out to the family and friends of David. He did so much for the gay community over there.
Kato's money and some clothes were missing after the attack, said John Onyango, his attorney.
It was unclear whether his killing was linked to a front-page story in a Ugandan tabloid that reignited anti-gay sentiments late last year.
The story included a list of "top 100 homosexuals" with their photos, addresses and a banner with the words "Hang Them." Kato's name and picture were on the list.
Arrest warrants have been issued for two suspects: A taxi driver found near the victim's house and an ex-convict who was staying with the victim prior to the killing, Onyango said.
Kato told CNN last year that that he feared for his life after the list was released. His lawyer said he had informed authorities in Mukono town, where he lived, of his fears.
"The villagers want to set my house ablaze," he told CNN at the time. "They want to burn my house ... (they say) can you go away before my house is burned."
Authorities in the Mukono criminal investigations department declined to comment pending further investigations.
House Bill 74 now heads to the Senate, where its chances for passage appear good.
State Rep. Owen Petersen, R-Mountain View, the bill's sponsor, said the legislation is needed to resolve a conflict in Wyoming law, which defines marriage as a contract "between a male and a female person" but also recognizes any valid marriage performed outside the state. Other supporters have said the bill will help to hold back government intrusion into Wyoming traditions and culture.
Opponents said the bill is unnecessary, violates the rights of gays and lesbians to marry, and would create havoc for legally married out-of-state gay couples traveling in Wyoming.
The Wyoming House has voted down similar legislation twice in recent years. But with many past opponents retiring or voted out of office in November, the bill passed the House 32-27. State Rep. Patrick Goggles, D-Ethete, was excused from voting.
The growing tide of homophobia comes at a time when gays in Africa are expressing themselves more openly, prompting greater media attention and debates about homosexuality. The rapid growth of Islam and evangelical forms of Christianity, both espousing conservative views on family values and marriage, have persuaded many Africans that homosexuality should not be tolerated in their societies.
"It has never been harder for gays and lesbians on the continent," said Monica Mbaru, Africa coordinator for the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, based in Cape Town. "Homophobia is on the rise."
Fearing for their lives, many activists are in hiding or have fled their countries.
In Uganda, a bill introduced in parliament last year would impose the death penalty for repeated same-sex relations and life imprisonment for other homosexual acts. Local newspapers are outing gays, potentially inciting the public to attack them, activists say.A day after a newspaper article said that gays should be hanged, Sheila Hope Mugisha became a target. As the prominent gay rights activist neared her home, she said, boys from the neighborhood threw stones at the gate and chanted, "You are a homo." Mugisha ran inside and locked the door. She didn't leave for several days.
The SPLC’s analysis of 14 years of hate crime data found that homosexuals, or those perceived to be gay, are more than twice as likely to be attacked in a violent hate crime as Jews or blacks; more than four times as likely as Muslims; and 14 times as likely as Latinos. The findings are based on FBI hate crime statistics from 1995 to 2008, the period for which there is complete data. The basic pattern also holds true in individual years.Interesting,... This shows that we are truly fighting for our rights. Also, this is bigger than DADT, Dan Choi or GetEQUAL. This is big picture stuff. So hopefully, we are really to continue the fight.
The analysis is being released to coincide with the scheduled release of the FBI’s hate crime statistics for 2009.
These findings come as a wave of anti-gay attacks have washed across the country. In New York, for example, 10 suspects were arrested for brutally torturing three gay victims. And in Covington, Ky., a neighborhood was hit by a series of violent anti-gay attacks. Most dramatically, four teenagers committed suicide in September after being bullied, taunted or outed as homosexuals.
This analysis of hate crime data can be found in the Winter 2010 issue of the Intelligence Report, which also explores how the hard-core anti-gay movement in America is becoming more extreme in the face of gay rights advances.
“As Americans become more accepting of homosexuals, the most extreme elements of the anti-gay movement are digging in their heels and continuing to defame gays and lesbians with falsehoods that grow more incendiary by the day,” said Mark Potok, editor of the Intelligence Report. “The leaders of this movement may deny it, but it seems clear that their demonization of homosexuals plays a role in fomenting the violence, hatred and bullying we’re seeing.”
1. Abiding Truth Ministries [Scott Lively]
2. American Family Association
3. Americans for Truth About Homosexuality [Peter LaBarbera]
4. American Vision
5. Chalcedon Foundation
6. Dove World Outreach Center [Terry Jones]
7. Faithful Word Baptist Church [Steven Anderson]
8. Family Research Council [Tony Perkins]
9. Family Research Institute [Paul Cameron]
10. Heterosexuals Organized for a Moral Environment
11. Illinois Family Institute
12. MassResistance
13. Traditional Values Coalition
The vandalism follows last week's controversy of three students wearing "Straight Pride" shirts that quoted a Bible verse that referenced death as the punishment for homosexual behavior.
Other students came to school later in the week wearing similar shirts that omitted the Bible reference.
Blaney said it is not evident whether there is a correlation between the vandalism and shirts.
More than 150 Facebook users – presumably mostly North students – have said they will attend next month's Board of Education meeting to address the shirts and how the administration handled the situation. The student who created the event has said students want better plans in action for how to deal with such situations.
Coincidentally, the school board's Policy Committee on Thursday night discussed an amendment to its bullying policy that would forbid district employees and students from harassing or intimidating students based on their "gender-related identity or expression."
The proposed changes also prohibit harassment based on a student's "association with a person or group with one or more of the aforementioned actual or perceived characteristics or any other distinguishing characteristics."
Blaney said the changes would have been discussed regardless of the recent activities at North because the board is trying to more closely align its policies with the Illinois Association of School Boards.
The Arkansas Department of Education has prepared a statement regarding the Facebook posting of Midland School Board member Clint McCance:Also MSNBC reported on this foolishness
The Arkansas Department of Education strongly condemns remarks or attitudes of this kind and is dismayed to see that a school board official would post something of this insensitive nature on a public forum like Facebook. Because Mr. McCance is an elected official, the department has no means of dealing with him directly. However, the department does have staff who investigate matters of bullying in schools and we will monitor and quickly respond to any bullying of students that may occur because of this, as we have with other civil rights issues in the past.
