State Pulls Outright from In-School Presentations

by Barbara Dozetos

Montpelier—The Vermont Department of Education announced plans last month to do its own outreach to gay and lesbian youth in schools, rather than pay Burlington-based agency Outright Vermont to do it.

Commissioner of Education David Wolk said his department would incorporate the work Outright has been doing in its “safe schools” initiative. The program addresses harassment based on race, religion, and sexual orientation, among other things.

In the big state budget picture, the $12,000 designated for this work is seemingly insignificant, but it has captured the attention of conservative legislators. Virginia Renfrew, a lobbyist with Renfrew and Zatz Consulting, said she expected the money intended for Outright Vermont to be the source of heated debate in the coming legislature, especially in the newly Republicans-controlled House of Representatives.

Outright has been a victim of the backlash stemming from Vermont’s new civil union legislation. Right-wing groups have accused Outright of recruiting kids to homosexuality with their school programs. One organization did a mass mailing just prior to the elections, quoting randomly from safer sex brochures it said were being distributed in schools.

Outright maintains its work in schools is limited to tolerance and anti-harassment education. It also helps students start gay-straight alliances where there is an interest. The more graphic and controversial information is available at the group’s drop-in center in downtown Burlington, but not a part of any work in the schools.

Keith Elston, executive director of Outright Vermont, said removing his organization from the firing line could have been part of the reason for the cut, but he was not consulted before the decision was made.

The Department of Education is supportive of Outright’s work, said spokesperson Diane Derby, but public confusion puts the bigger mission in danger.

“The problem is about what Outright Vermont does in schools as opposed to in the drop-in center,” she said. “Our concern is that no matter how hard we try to explain that, the distinction is still lost.” That, she said, did play into the department’s decision to take on the work itself.

Additionally, Derby said, stemming anti-gay harassment is a key part of one of Wolk’s top priorities: making Vermont schools safe for all students. “We believe Outright does good work,” she said. “We want to learn from them, not compete.”

Elston said he is puzzled by the department’s insistence that Outright’s work is valuable and well done in the face of the decision. He is also curious about how the department will avoid the same public relations problems Outright has had.

“Why duplicate a service they admit has been effective?” said Elston. “It doesn’t make sense for them to go in and do the same thing we’ve been doing, because they’ll face the same trouble. We’ve been doing this for 11 years and we’ve been successful.”

Elston said his bottom line is that he and his staff are better qualified than the department to do what they’ve been doing.

“I don’t want to detract from the safe schools program, or from our non-gay allies and supporters,” he said, “but they can’t speak with the same moral persuasion as gay people can.”

Derby said department personnel these and other concerns into consideration as they lay out plans for the program.

Wolk said he will continue to use Outright to help in teacher trainings, but specific plans will not be in place until later this month.

Despite the situation, Elston continues to have faith in the commissioner.

“In my weaker moments, I’ve been frustrated and angry,” he said, “but if I ever suggested or thought bad things about Dave Wolk’s involvement in this, I’d be wrong. He’s been an incredible ally to our community.