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The San Diego Union Tribune, May 21, 2009
School curbs girl's report on gay rights activist Milk
The American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego is threatening to sue Ramona school officials after they told a sixth-grader she couldn't present a report on slain gay rights advocate Harvey Milk to fellow students unless their parents signed permission slips.
District officials told Natalie Jones and her parents that a report on Milk fell under the school board's life and sex education policy, which requires parental consent before any instruction on the topics of reproduction and human sexuality.
David Blair-Loy, the ACLU's legal director, said in a letter to district officials yesterday that they violated Natalie's free speech rights.
Natalie, 12, is a student at Mount Woodson Elementary School and did the report last month as part of an independent research project class at the school. Students in the class are required to do PowerPoint projects on a subject of their choosing.
Natalie picked Milk, who became one of the first openly gay elected officials in the United States when he was elected in 1977 to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. After serving 11 months, Milk was assassinated in a City Hall shooting in November 1978 by Dan White, who had resigned as a supervisor but wanted his job back. White also killed San Francisco Mayor George Moscone in the rampage.
The slain supervisor's life was the subject last year of the Academy Award-winning film “Milk,” starring Sean Penn.
The day before Natalie was to present the report in April, she was told by Principal Theresa Grace that she would not be allowed to show her project in class the way other students had done.
Blair-Loy, in his letter to the school district, said the girl was told the subject was “sensitive.” School officials later told the girl's mother, Bonnie Jones, that the presentation only could be shown to students whose parents had signed a permission slip in advance.
Superintendent Robert Graeff and Grace cited the board policy dealing with sex-education matters. The policy states that parents will be notified in writing about any teaching on the subjects of sex or “family life, human sexuality, AIDS or sexually transmitted diseases.”
Graeff did not return several messages yesterday seeking comment on the ACLU's letter.
The school rescheduled Natalie's presentation for May 8, at a lunch recess, Blair-Loy wrote. In the meantime, school officials sent home a letter to all parents in the class that included the permission slip.
The letter to parents described how Milk had championed minority rights, founded the gay rights parade and pushed for a gay rights act. The letter said parental permission was requested “in order to respect the rights of all our students and their parents.”
Natalie gave the presentation to about half the class, Blair-Loy said. The ACLU wants the district to apologize to Natalie, send letters “reflecting such apology” to parents who received the school district permission request, let Natalie give the presentation to the whole class and clarify that the board policy applies only to course content for sex-education instruction. The group also wants the district to say situations like this won't happen again.
“We think the school district singled out and discriminated against Natalie's speech because of its content,” Blair-Loy said. “This is not sex education. This is a presentation about Harvey Milk, a historical figure who happened to be gay.”
Bonnie Jones said she was upset and did not understand the district's objection.
“If you look at her presentation, I don't see anything that is wrong with it,” Jones said.
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What do you think about this article? Did it seem biased? How do you feel about the source? Did it present the issue effectively? What's your opinion on this subject?
Thanks,
Sofie
I think this is one of those cases where school boards are paranoid about parents and lawsuits and that sort of thing. I think the perception that gay rights are a very sensitive issue exacerbates its sensitivity. I think the article is biased towards Natalie and does little to present the opposing side. I feel that all students should be exposed to "gay history". However, I understand that some parents are extremely conservative and perhaps homophobic and would be upset at their children learning this. In that sense, I feel that the school was acting responsibly, but hypocritically. A permission slip doesnt get sent out every time the students learn about a violent subject such as a war, or about black history. I feel that eventually perception towards the gay community will start to change and their struggle for civil rights would be appreciated as the black struggle is. However, right now is not this time, and schools must be cautious about sensitivities. After all, about half the parents did not want their children to view the presentation.
ReplyDeletehi, i'm realy glad to have read this article. first of all i think it's great that a twelve year old was interested in this subject and chose it s her project. she must be a very special and open mined person and i'm glad she anaged to bring the story of Milk to at least half her class.i'm sure the other half is curious to know what her project was about to cause all of this controvecy.
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