V. THE FOUR STREAMS

B. Safety and the Prevention of Violence towards Queer Youth in the BC Education System

The education workshop was well attended. Approximately equal numbers (8/8) of youth and youth advocates met to participate in a variety of interactive workshops. On Saturday, youth and adult presenters led discussions on gay/straight alliances and other types of ways to counter homophobia in schools, including effective strategies to take action to mobilize youth to combat discrimination and homophobia. On Sunday, participants discussed the rights of queer youth in schools and what can queer youth do when they are harassed or are victims of violence. In addition, stream participants made recommendations on keeping queer youth safe in schools throughout BC. (See Appendices Two, and Four, for stories written by two queer youth about school and society.)

1. Queer/Straight Alliances 101

Two queer youth led Saturdays' morning workshop, "Queer/Straight Alliances 101," which focused on gay/straight alliances (GSA's) in local schools. The workshop was based on a successful model developed for the Massachusetts Board of Education. The participants of this workshop discussed what are gay/straight alliances and who do they serve? They examined the possibilities, problems, solutions and stepping-stones in the public school system.

This very intense discussion generated strong interest and numerous comments and questions among the participants, who were very interested in exactly how to set up these alliances in schools. Several comments are of interest:

• "This would have helped me a lot."
• "I had to leave school because it wasn't safe for me, I wish I could have had access to a club like this."
• "If you were to try this at my school, you would have to address things like posters being ripped down and trying to get time during regular school hours to meet since they would probably try to make us meet in the evening."

The two youth facilitators, one of whom had helped found the only GSA in BC, answered questions and suggested successful strategies they had used.

They suggested to youth:

• Record absolutely everything you do.
• Keep copies of school announcements and newsletters and all posters that have been put up around school.
• Make a map of where all the posters have been posted and the dates, check them regularly and replace any that are defaced or torn down. Keep a record of this so that you can go back to the administration to report problems.
• Make sure that you have a teacher sponsor, possible candidates are school counsellors or librarians or popular teachers that you connect with.
• Consider offering a Pride Speak (having a student talk about their experience of being queer in a positive manner) at the school and ask for all staff to take part.
• Never let the rules change just because you are asking for a queer/straight alliance club. Instead think about it as a multi-cultural support group; if they wouldn't make another group meet at night they can't make you meet at night; if they have other clubs at school they have to allow GSA clubs; other clubs are not required to get parents' permission to attend and are not required to keep a list of names of attendees so it is not OK for them to make your GSA club do things like this either.
• Call someone at the BCTF and the School District and ask for a copy of any policies that are in effect for your school such as personal discriminatory and sexual harassment policies or policies around implementation requirements (the District Office usually has those type of policies).
• If there are no policies, then maybe you could set as your first task or project to work toward getting your school/district to adopt supportive policies, if you need help, call the BCTF or GAB and ask for their help.
• Never ask participants if they are queer or not, you don't want to 'out' anyone or make anyone feel unwelcome. In fact it is helpful to ask participants at the beginning of the meeting to not say things like: 'I'm straight but I really like gays and I support them.' or 'I'm queer and proud of it and I hate 'hets' who just pretend to like queers' and then glare around the room at those who you think are straight. Statements like these aren't helpful and may in fact ruin your clubs chances for success. The idea is to provide a supportive atmosphere for all youth who need support and to build bridges between queer and straight youths.

The following is a brief description of the steps that are helpful in starting a gay/straight alliance in a local school. (Adapted from the Massachusetts State Board of Education - See Appendix One for a full workshop description)

10 Easy Steps to Starting a Gay/Straight Alliance in Your School

Here is a step-by-step plan for starting a Gay/Straight Alliance in your school. This is not a rigid schedule. Some of these steps can happen at the same time. Be flexible but be sure you plan carefully and thoroughly. (Call GALE BC for more information.)

1. Follow guidelines for your school.
2. Enlist the support of your administration; you may need to offer them supportive resources.
3. Find a Faculty Adviser who can be supportive to your group.
4. Inform guidance counsellors and school social workers about the group so they can refer others.
5. Pick a meeting place that is off the beaten track.
6. Advertise through posters. Don't be discouraged if the posters are defaced or torn down. Use language on the posters that is encouraging and supportive.
7. Get snacks, providing food will encourage people to come to share, it can be a good icebreaker and can bring the group together.
8. Hold your meeting now that all the prep work has been completed.
9. Establish ground rules that everyone can agree to support.
10. Plan for the future what the group would like to accomplish.

2. School-Based Strategies for Youth

The afternoon workshop, "School-Based Strategies for Youth," was led by a presenter who had previously facilitated/organized a group of students led, and together they had formed a group in their school designed to help counter homophobia, heterosexism, hatred and other oppressive behaviours. After hearing her presentation, participants took part in a discussion on effective strategies that youth could use to network with each other around anti-homophobia and anti-discrimination issues. This workshop highlighted strategies for mobilizing youth to take action in their own school communities.

The facilitator described the circumstances in that particular school which was in North Vancouver and was very conservative. It had no multicultural club, no human rights club, nor social justice club. With encouragement and support, a number of individuals, students and adults who were interested in stopping hatred in any form, started the HART club (Handsworth Advocates for Respect and Tolerance). It had two streams:

• School Accreditation - its main purpose was to teach respect and tolerance and to counter homophobia.
• Anti-Hate Group - its purpose was to counter any kind of hate and oppression (racism, homophobia, sexism, anti-Semitism, classism, and ableism)

The facilitator went on to describe the commonality among oppressions. She explained to participants that racism, homophobia, sexism and other forms of oppression silence people, make them feel marginalized or like outsiders and target individuals. All oppressions erode the self-esteem of students.

One of the first things the group did was to conduct a survey about which issues were of concern to them. She recommended this as an excellent starting point to assess where students are at in a school. The in-school survey, answered by 50 students, revealed that racism and homophobia held the top spots as the issues that needed immediate attention.

As a result of the survey, the group decided that their main purpose was to inform and educate everyone in the school. The next question to be decided was how to best accomplish this task. The HART group decided to hold a school-wide assembly as well as other activities to raise awareness.

The school assembly was student-organized and conducted entirely by students. It included speeches, skits, and a slide show on the history of oppression (racism, sexism, homophobia) in North America. The students in the school assembly felt honoured to be educated by their peers and this had the dual benefit of educating in a way that had real impact and raising school pride.

Other activities that the HART group undertook were: a Button Up campaign, and posters with the theme "This is so gay straight." The students put together their own 'zine and distributed it. One youth, who was also an actor, created and presented a monologue on what it meant to be a gay student in school.

The group also had to decide how to measure success and the criteria were:

1. Students would not hear any more laughing over the word 'gay';
2. Most students would wear button up buttons, and;
3. Homophobia would be mentioned during an anti-racism day in school.

The facilitator cautioned that this isn't a plan for all schools but in order to make a plan for a school, youth and advisors need to assess the strengths and weaknesses of that particular school.

Keys to successfully mobilizing youth are:

• Know your problems and strengths in your school.
• Find allies such as teachers, P.A.C., students and in the outside community.
• Realize that students do have power (and rights)
• Ensure that the group is student energized and student driven.

3. Queer Youth - Advocating for Your Rights in School

A presenter from GALE led Sunday morning's workshop, "Queer Youth- Advocating for Your Rights in School." Participants discussed the rights queer youth are entitled to in school, how queer youth can protect themselves from harassment at school and what can queer youth do to prevent or deal with abuse when it occurs? On Sunday morning, education participants focused on making recommendations to the BC Teacher's Federation, BC Safe Schools Centre and the Ministry of Education on how to remove systemic barriers to discrimination for queer youth in schools.

Handouts distributed at the workshop included:

• School's Out
• Potential Actions for Queer youth (see Appendix Three).

In this workshop the facilitator discussed school board structure and how to negotiate with them, how the Ministry of Education works, various school policies and how to influence them. Participants also discussed student codes of conduct, and District anti-harassment policies. Students need to know what protections are available for them. Unfortunately, for the most part, sexual orientation is not usually included as a specific ground for protection under school board and District protection policies, however the policies do protect students generally from harassment.

Districts are governed by School Boards who create and govern anti-harassment policies and individual schools govern student codes of conduct, which cover behaviour like carrying weapons, making threats, having respect for all, etc.

One participant asked how best to challenge local school boards to create LGBT/GLBT positive, anti-harassment policies. The facilitator told the education stream participants they will need to make their case by making a presentation to the local school board. He then explained how to best set up a board presentation.

He suggested that youth:

• Gather a broad base of support from groups especially, not just individuals;
• Contact, in writing, the school board to set up a meeting and follow up with a phone call, make sure to call first to get the correct spelling of the Chair's name and proper contact information;
• Make sure to do everything in writing and keep a record of everything, including dates and follow up on your letters and requests;
• Be clear about your intent, and;
• Ensure that adults and youth work together. It works best when youth are involved as advocates for themselves. It is much harder for the board to ignore queer youth or dismiss the group as a bunch of malcontent teachers.

Participants discussed who has jurisdiction over recommended reading materials. In the past there was a government committee, which gave provincial approval for reading materials. This ensured a province-wide standard for recommended reading materials, but the committee has been allowed to lapse in the last couple of years and now Districts are making their own decisions over the recommended reading list. A number of the participants expressed concern about the lapse of the provincial committee under CAPP and strongly suggested it needs to be re-instated.

Participants also discussed how school boards worked and how they made decisions and how they could have an impact of school boards. The best way to make an impact is to get out and vote, in your local elections and in the provincial election. There was a recent study done in the US that showed that candidates only need 18-20% of the voting electorate in order to get elected. It is important to not assume that fundamentalists will get elected and, therefore, assume it is useless to do anything about it. Voter apathy will ensure that school boards will be elected which will be unlikely be proactive in creating LGBT/GLBT-positive policies. It was suggested that GALE prepare a voter guide and that this guide also include information on negotiating with school boards.

The rest of the time participants prepared recommendations for the plenary and funders. For this work the participants were separated into five groups of mixed ages, genders, orientations and gender identities and the participants in the five groups worked together to prepare recommendations.

B. Education Stream Recommendations

1. Public Support for LGBT/GLBT Youth Safety and Human Rights

• That the Ministry of Education publicly support the safety of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered students in schools by:
  • Strongly encouraging the specific inclusion of the term "sexual orientation" in all local school board human rights and anti-harassment policies;
  • Publicly stating the Ministry's support for the establishment of Gay/Straight Alliance student groups in all middle and high schools in BC and that all school boards and principals be informed of this public endorsement, and;
  • Ensuring that all school safety resource materials produced by the BC Safe Schools Centre and the Ministry of Education include and focus on resources, which combat anti-gay harassment in schools at all grade levels.
• That the Ministry of Education strongly encourage local school boards to provide coverage for all protected groups under the BC Human Rights Code, including sexual orientation, when determining local policies.
• That the Ministry of Children and Families recognize that LGBT/GLBT youth have a right to access queer culture similar to other minority youth rights to access their cultures.
• That Gay and Lesbian Educators of BC (GALE-BC) and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Issues Subcommittee of the BC Branch of the Canadian Bar Association carry out a harassment awareness campaign (e.g., pointing out the costs of lawsuits against school boards) at all levels within the school system and relevant areas in the Ministry of Education.

2. Ending Invisibility - Creating and Using Queer Youth Resources

• That the Ministry of Education re-establish an ongoing sub-committee under the Career And Personal Planning umbrella to approve of age-appropriate lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender resources in all curriculum areas.
• That the BC Teachers' Federation provide resources for teachers, students and parents on LGBT/GLBT issues.
• That GALE-BC develops a "how-to" resource guide for the queer community to use in presentations to school boards in order to battle institutionalized homophobia in the school system. This resource would include a bibliography of resources, videos etc. to recommend to schools.
• That the Ministry of Health instruct regional health boards throughout BC to seek LGBT/GLBT policy and program advisors similar to the Vancouver-Richmond Health Board's existing model.
• That the BC Teacher Librarians Association ask members to identify books in school libraries by rainbow stickers on their spines, similar to the way in which books written by Canadian authors have a maple leaf sticker.

3. Training the Teachers

• That the BC Teachers' Federation provide more Professional Development training for teachers on LGBT/GLBT issues.
• That the Vancouver School Board works with the Vancouver-Richmond Health Board, specifically through its LGBT population health advisory committee, to consult, educates and train teachers and school board personnel on LGBT issues.
• That the Ministry of Education and the BCTF jointly set provincial learning outcomes for the teaching of LGBT/GLBT issues in appropriate courses in schools and that equal time be given to the issues of racism, sexism and homophobia.
• That the BCTF, Ministry of Education, BC Safe Schools Centre and local school boards work together to help facilitate an awareness campaign for youth (that is facilitated by youth) about homophobia and heterosexism in schools.

4. Support for Queer Youth in Care

• That the Ministry of Children and Families ensure that LGBT/GLBT youth are placed with same-gender or gay friendly foster families.
• That the Ministry of Children and Families require that foster parents go through LGBT/GLBT sensitivity training during their foster parent orientations.

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