Matthew Shepard’s legacy - looking back and ahead on this anniversary.

Matthew Shepard was murdered eleven years ago today.

"... despite the passage of time and increased cultural visibility, the realities faced by LGBTQs today are 'no different than when Matthew Shepard was murdered."
~ Charles Robbins (Executive Director and CEO of The Trevor Project.

Please read this excellent article:
Matthew Shepard’s legacy :: The fight continues
by Scott Stiffler, EDGE NYC, Monday Oct 12, 2009.

Just Another Student Coming Out Story...

An eighth grader on my floor whom I taught when she was a sixth grader - and when I was "Ms. K" - stopped by my classroom at the end of the day today along with a friend of hers (whom I also taught as a sixth grader). I asked how she has been over the past year or two, since I was on a different floor last year and rarely got the chance to see their class during that time.

While she was updating me on her new teachers and how it feels to "rule the school" in eighth grade, the student added that she "has a man." I responded "Oh, yeah? What's his name? Is he in our school?" She looked at me, paused for a moment, and said "No, he's not in this school... And actually, I'm lying. I have a girlfriend!" She gave me a big smile at first but then immediately proceeded to say "But you're the only one who knows about it." I reassured her of my understanding of discretion, saying "Well, none of my current students know that I used to be Ms. K - at least not yet - so I understand keeping things quiet. Don't worry."

She proceeded to tell me that she and her girlfriend have been dating since May. (She has the date they began dating painted onto the strap of her backpack). Apparently she thinks her mom and many other people in her community have an idea that she's gay, but she's not worried about negative responses because - in her words - she is "too gay" for anyone to bother her about it. (I interpreted this to mean that she is so confident about her identity that nobody would try to give her any trouble about it.) She anticipates that people in her life will be relatively understanding and allow her to lead her life as she chooses. At one point in the conversation, she added "I love reading books about anything gay, or same sex. Woman and woman, man or man, I love it. I can't get enough. Anything, I tell you." Her uninhibited enthusiasm and excitement were inspiring.

What moved me the most about the conversation was how casual it felt. The student made it clear that she was completely comfortable approaching me to share this update, even though she had only spoken with a few close friends about it. The impromptu conversation this afternoon became one of those rare moments when I receive concrete feedback - in this case, two years after the fact - that at some point I did something to make a student feel safe and good about herself. That is one of the most gratifying things to know as an educator, even if I didn't necessarily know it at the time.

Back to School!

Week One of the school year is almost over in Brooklyn, which means that it's back to the Safe Schools Coalition blog for me!

Though I changed my legal name - first, middle, and last - over the summer, I opted to remain "Mr. Krywanczyk" at my school this year. "Mr. K" is an integral part of my identity there, and I wasn't able to change my name with the Department of Education early enough to give my school and coworkers adequate notice (by my personal estimation). After meeting my three new classes of sixth graders I find myself hoping that my trans-ness won't come up. Maybe that's delusional of me, since I taught some of our current eighth graders as "Ms. Krywanczyk" two years ago. However, I discovered on my arrival for in-service on Tuesday that I had been moved to a different floor from last year, which may increase the chance that my history will not arise in my classroom. Only time will tell.

The most immediate challenge for me this year stems from the fact that all three of my classes are CTT classes. This isn't a problem, per se, it's just that I've never taught a single CTT class before. I think that collaborating with a co-teacher who will be in my room every period and working with a larger number of students with IEPs is a great opportunity, but also a significant change. My co-teacher has been working with CTT classes for twenty-odd years, which is exciting. I already love working with her and have learned from her, too, which is a good sign. After Day Two, I feel hopeful!

Press statement: Task Force Action Fund applauds hearing on school safety through bullying prevention

Task Force Action Fund applauds hearing on school safety through bullying prevention
July 08, 2009
http://www.thetaskforce.org/press/releases/pr_070809

MEDIA CONTACT:
Pedro Julio Serrano
Communications Coordinator
(Office) 646.358.1479
(Cell) 787.602.5954
PJSerrano@theTaskForce.org

WASHINGTON, July 8 — The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund has submitted testimony to the United States House of Representatives Subcommittees on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education and Healthy Families and Communities of the Committee on Labor and Education, highlighting the destructive effect of bullying and harassment on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students and families. The Task Force Action Fund urged passage of the Safe Schools Improvement Act, which would fund school programs to prevent bullying and harassment on the basis of actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity.

Statement by Rea Carey, Executive Director
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund

"Schools should be places of safety, not fear. Yet, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender children and young adults, children and young adults who are perceived by peers to be LGBT, and the children of LGBT parents all remain at high risk of aggressive bullying and harassment. Sadly, the nation has recently witnessed many youth suicides that were caused by aggressive and unremitting school bullying targeted at a student's actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. This year, for example, Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, an 11-year-old in Massachusetts committed suicide because he faced daily and severe anti-gay bullying. As such examples demonstrate, unsafe schools can have profoundly destructive consequences.

"Bullying and harassment motivated by homophobia, biphobia and transphobia are national problems deserving of federal legislative attention. The Task Force Action Fund welcomes federal measures to increase school safety that are cognizant of the specific prejudices faced by LGBT students and families. As one such measure, we ask Congress to pass H.R. 2262, the Safe Schools Improvement Act, introduced by Rep. Linda Sanchez. The Safe Schools Improvement Act would help schools deal with bullying and harassment that target a student's actual or perceived identity or associations with persons or groups on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or religion. It would send a strong and clear message that schools have a duty to actively protect all students, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity."

To read the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund testimony, click here.

Download a high-resolution photo

To learn more about the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, follow us on Twitter: text@TheTaskForce.

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The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund, founded in 1974 as the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Inc., works to build the grassroots political power of the LGBT community to win complete equality. We do this through direct and grassroots lobbying to defeat anti-LGBT ballot initiatives and legislation and pass pro-LGBT legislation and other measures. We also analyze and report on the positions of candidates for public office on issues of importance to the LGBT community. The Task Force Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) non-profit corporation incorporated in New York. Contributions to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund are not tax deductible.

Nathan OUTloud interview with Kim Pearson regarding TYFA and the "Rob, Arnie & Dawn Show"

In Nathan OUTloud episode on June 14th, host Nathan Treanor interviews TYFA co-founder Kim Pearson regarding TYFA and the events from the "Rob, Arnie & Dawn Show" on KRXQ in Sacramento, California that started with the May 28th show.

Nathan OUTloud is a bi-weekly podcast dedicated to sharing stories from the LGBT community.

Go to the Nathan OUTloud site to listen to: Episode 5 - Kim Pearson from TransYouth Family Allies 36:40 minutes

Find out more about: TransYouth Family Allies (TFYA)

Thank you Rob, Arnie, and Dawn for an excellent show this morning

I listened to the "Rob, Arnie & Dawn in the Morning" show this morning and I have to say I was very impressed. It was clear that they really got it that they had crossed the line on the show and then made it worse a week later by telling people that it was just a joke.

What seems to have impacted them the most in getting there is that their regular listener audience told them that what they had done and said was not okay.

I could tell that they took time to really connect with people -- to open their minds and hearts to the responses they got -- and it changed them. And they have the guts to go on the air and admit how they screwed up and do a show that really deal with it.

Today they spent from 7:30 AM to 10 AM on the show talking about this. The guests they brought in were Kim Pearson and Autumn Sandeen who were excellent, and they had callers to the show also and handled that very well.

This is what they posted on their homepage http://www.robarnieanddawn.com/ after the show:

UPDATED JUNE 11TH, 2009, 10:45AM

We would like to thank our two very special guests for stopping by and sharing their stories with us. If you would like to learn more about them, please visit the following links.

To learn more about Kim Perason and the TransYouth Family Allies organization visit www.imatyfa.org.

And to read Autumn Sandeen's online contributions visit www.pamshouseblend.com.

If you miss today's show, you can download the full two and a half hours directly from this web site by clicking on the links to the left.

Thank you,

The Rob, Arnie & Dawn Show

Because the show's homepage may change in time I am linking directly to the show that happened today here:

- Hour 1 Of Transgender Response
- Hour 2 Of Transgender Response
- Last Part Of Transgender Response

Doing the show they did today takes guts, and I applaud Rob and Arnie for that - for being willing to publicly not only say that their behavior was wrong, and not just to apologize on the air, but to spend the whole show today talking about it so that other people can learn and understand with them.

Again thank you Dawn for being such a good ally. Your voice in all this was very much appreciated.

And thank you Kim and Autumn for your parts in this whole experience.

It's very good to be able to see something like this turn out for the good. It is an example of what we can hold up to show people that there is reason to hope and to do this work we do.

Updates on "the transgender controversy" and the "Rob, Arnie & Dawn in the Morning" show

Note: this is an update on my June 3rd post below, Rob, Arnie & Dawn in the Morning - "the transgender controversy".

I checked and you can now listen to the entire segment of this show on the player on the GLAAD site here:
http://www.glaad.org/Page.aspx?pid=730

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On June 5th GLAAD posted updated information on their website about ten companies that have pulled their advertising from KRXQ, the Sacramento California radio station that hosts the Rob, Arnie & Dawn in the Morning show:

The entire listing of companies include:

• Chipotle
• Snapple
• Sonic
• Bank of America
• Verizon
• Carl’s Jr (CKE Restaurants)
• Wells Fargo
• Nissan North America
• AT&T
• McDonald’s

For more information, read UPDATE: McDonald’s Is 10th Company to Pull KRXQ Advertising on the GLAAD website.

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This was posted today, Sunday June 7, 2009 on >The Rob, Arnie & Dawn Show website: http://robarnieanddawn.com/newsite/ - and because it is posted on their homepage which I expect will change, I am posting the message here rather than linking to it:

UPDATED JUNE 7TH, 2009, 11:50AM

TO OUR LOYAL ROB, ARNIE AND DAWN FOLLOWERS,

WE HAVE FAILED YOU. AS A SHOW, AS PEOPLE, AS BROADCASTERS, WE HAVE SIMPLY FAILED ON ALMOST EVERY LEVEL.

WE PRESENTED OUR OPINIONS ON A VERY SENSITIVE SUBJECT IN A HATEFUL, CHILDISH AND CRUDE FASHION; AND THEN, GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO RETRACT THOSE REMARKS, WE DEFENDED THEM.

SINCE THEN, YOU, OUR LOYAL LISTENERS, HAVE MADE IT CLEAR TO US THAT WE WENT TOO FAR. THE RESPONSE HAS BEEN OVERWHELMING. NONE OF YOU SAID THAT WE COULDN’T HAVE OPINIONS, YET SO MANY OF YOU SAID THAT THE WAY WE GAVE THEM CROSSED THE LINE. FURTHER, YOU SAID THAT OUR ATTEMPT TO MASK OUR COMMENTS AS “JOKES THAT WOULD BE UNDERSTOOD BY OUR AUDIENCE,” WAS UNACCEPTABLE. I WOULD SAY NOW THAT IT WAS WORSE THAN THAT, IT WAS COWARDLY. YOU HAVE MADE THAT CLEAR.

WE HAVE REACHED OUT TO VARIOUS GROUPS AND ASKED FOR A CHANCE TO MAKE THIS RIGHT; TO RESPOND, WITH THEIR PARTICIPATION, TO THE EDUCATION THAT OUR AUDIENCE HAS PROVIDED US. THAT OPPORTUNITY HAS BEEN GRACIOUSLY GRANTED THIS THURSDAY MORNING, JUNE 11TH. AT 7:30 A.M.

THE WORD APOLOGY APPEARS NO WHERE IN THIS LETTER FOR A REASON. WE ALREADY HID FROM DOING THE RIGHT THING ONCE AND WE’RE NOT GOING TO MAKE THAT MISTAKE AGAIN. APOLOGIZING IN A WRITTEN, POSTED STATEMENT IS A FORM OF COWARDICE. WE WILL SAY WHAT NEEDS TO BE SAID THIS THURSDAY.

ON A FINAL, PERSONAL NOTE, AS THE LEADER AND OWNER OF THE SHOW, I HAVE MADE THE DECISION THAT WE NEED TO REFRAIN FROM BROADCASTING NEW EPISODES UNTIL WE CAN ADDRESS THIS ON THURSDAY . WE WILL RETURN TO THE AIR AT 7:30 A.M. JUNE 11TH.

ROB WILLIAMS
ROB, ARNIE AND DAWN

So since thier show is broadcast out of Sacramento California, that will be 7:30 AM Pacific time this Thursday.