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JERICHO CENTER — A Vermont high school has been charged with discrimination after it cancelled a diversity awareness event that was to include a presentation by GLBTQA youth agency Outright Vermont.
Chittenden East Supervisory Union, the governing body of Mount Mansfield Union High School, faces charges of committing an unlawful discriminatory act in a place of public accommodation.
Students say they were led to believe by administrators at the high school in Jericho Center that an ex-gay deprogrammer should also be invited to participate in the presentation.
Since Outright Vermont has a policy of not engaging in debate with ex-gay ministries, it declined its invitation and suggested that the appropriate forum for the issue the school had raised would be a panel concerning religious responses to homosexuality. Outright's Executive Director Tami Eldridge said, "We recommended a list of local GLBTQ affirmative clergy."
According to Eldridge, Outright then contacted a group of approximately 70 supporters from the community surrounding the school. Many contacted school administrators in an effort to educate them on the subject of conversion therapy.
Eldridge also forwarded a comprehensive package of information about Outright, its educational programs, and ex-gay reparative therapy to Joseph Corsaniti, Mount Mansfield's assistant principal.
In the midst of this controversy, administrators cancelled Awareness Week, which had been scheduled for the first week of May. On April 21, Nat Harrison, whose son Abram is the student council president, a member of the school's Gay Straight Alliance, and one of the Awareness Week organizers, filed the charges of discrimination with the Vermont Human Rights Commission.
In his written response to the charges, Chittenden East Superintendent Gail Conley claimed that the cancellation was due to lack of preparation and organization on the students' part as well as conflicts with mandatory tests and spring break.
At a public meeting on May 3, many members of the student body and faculty said this was not the case. They insisted that they were prepared for the originally scheduled event and that the tests and break were acknowledged and considered before the Awareness Week dates were set. "The kids are trying to bring enlightenment and healing to the school and he's trying to shut it down," said Ms. Harrison.
Awareness Week was rescheduled to begin on May 20. Yolanda, a Burlington-based transgendered performer, has been asked to make a presentation.
As of press time, Outright Vermont has not been re-invited to the event Eldridge says Corsaniti contacted her to ask if she would recommend Yolanda as a presenter for the school's event. "I told him that I would whole-heartedly recommend him as an HIV/AIDS educator and as a performer who genuinely cares about the GLBTQ youth."
The substitution did not satisfy Harrison. "Yolanda's great, but Outright is specifically equipped to deal with high school-age kids," she said.
She has confronted Conley directly about the issues involved and said she came away with the impression that the only discrimination he is concerned about is that against the Christian deprogrammer. "When I told him that kids are being called 'faggot' every day in his school, he went stony silent. He wasn't horrified or upset by this."
Mother and son both point out that the havoc seems to have come not from the majority of the school or community, but from a select few individuals. They report a great deal of support from students, faculty, and residents of the area, evident in the standing-room-only crowd in attendance at the May 3 meeting. Tut Parmley, a particularly vocal member of the Chittenden East school board, has received public rebuke for his overtly homophobic statements to the press. Some prominent members of the community have gone so far as to ask for his resignation from the board.
Abram Harrison expressed frustration in attempting to teach the very people whose job it is to teach him. "Imagine how ridiculous it feels to have to actually convince those in charge of our education that sexuality is indeed an important topic to be addressed and homosexuality is in fact an accepted lifestyle."
At the May 3 meeting, the school administration did agree to a suggestion of sensitivity training made by Sandra Limoge, a former Outright Vermont board member. No official announcement has been made since that time.
Editors Note: As we went to press on May 24, we learned that Outright Vermont had that day received an invitation to participate in the school's Awareness Week on May 27th.
