District spokesman says new proposal likely to be approved at Nov. 18 board meeting
Click here to read a draft of the proposed policy
John Wright | Online Editor wright@dallasvoice.com
In response to a series of gay teen suicides across the nation, the Dallas Independent School District is moving forward with a policy that provides specific protections against bullying for LGBT students.
The seven-page policy discussed by DISD’s board of trustees on Thursday, Nov. 4, would make the district the first in Texas to outlaw bullying based on actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity/expression.
None of DISD’s nine trustees spoke against the proposal during Thursday’s briefing session, and a district spokesman said afterward that the policy likely will be approved by the board at its next meeting Nov. 18.
“I hope as a district that this sets a trend for others — that this is something that has to end, and let it begin with DISD,” trustee Nancy Bingham said.
District staff had initially proposed a general bullying policy that failed to enumerate categories of protected students, prompting objections from LGBT advocates who’ve lobbied trustees over the last month.
Trustee Eric Cowan said he’s glad the categories were added.
“I wish we were at a point where all students could mean all students, but unfortunately our society isn’t there yet,” Cowan said.
The LGBT-inclusive policy was brought forward by trustees Bernadette Nutall and Lew Blackburn. The policy is similar to one that’s in place in Broward County, Fla., home to Fort Lauderdale.
“We finally got a bullying policy where everybody is covered,” Nutall said. “I was bullied as a child, so I don’t want anybody to go through that craziness.”
Nutall said she’s asked staff to develop training on the policy for students, teachers and staff. The policy will be included in the Code of Conduct that’s distributed to all DISD students.
“They need to understand what bullying is and what they can get in trouble for,” Nutall said.
Thursday’s discussion came after trustees heard from three representatives from the LGBT community.
Roger Poindexter, director of Lambda Legal’s South Central Region, warned that gay students who’ve been bullied have won large monetary settlements from districts in other parts of the nation.
Poindexter said while a general policy might give adults “a warm fuzzy feeling,” it wouldn’t accomplish its goal.
“We need to spell it out so the bullies can understand it,” Poindexter said, before reading off the names of gay teens who’ve taken their own lives in recent months, including 13-year-old Asher Brown near Houston.
Rafael McDonnell, a spokesman for Resource Center Dallas, said 10 years of research shows that enumerated bullying policies are more effective.
“If it isn’t written, nobody’s going to think about it,” McDonnell said.
Jesse Garcia, president of Dallas’ gay chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, told trustees they’re “sorely mistaken” if they think current policies are protecting students from anti-gay bullying.
While DISD has policies prohibiting harassment and discrimination based on sexual orientation, Garcia said he knows a student who was bullied relentlessly for being gay before being “saved” by the LGBT community.
“Don’t make a suicide make you do the right thing,” Garcia told trustees. “The time to act is now.”
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition November 5, 2010.
As a schooly bullying speaker I understand how important it is to protect our students. School districts need to have a zero-tolerence policy in place with harsh consequences. Looks like Dallas ISD is on the right path and now students can focus on learning instead of surviving.
Bullying at school is wrong. Everyone has the right to believe what they want to believe and speak their mind as long as it does not violate the US Constitution. The DISD is about to make a decision that may have many ramifications. So be it. There is a song/video on youtube.com that I think the DISD should view. It is titled, “Messiah loves homosexuals”. At the end is an invtiation to a public debate to anyone willing to discuss the accuracy and relevancy of the song to today.. The tune is familiar to Texas. I would be glad to come to Dallas and publicly debate someone over the matter of gay rights and my song.
Be forewarned, people! Anyone who’s upset when they’re bullied will probably be upset by Merriken’s video. Merriken actually uses Sodom to argue that homosexuality is a sin. Even most antigay fundamentalists are no longer making that argument. In the end, he says that gay people can be forgiven — presumably for being gay or being actively gay. Why isn’t that a Christian message? Because in Christianity, no one group of people is held to a different standard than any other. God’s love and forgiveness are the same for everyone (John 3:16-17, Romans 3:23-24).
Matt, Will you accept the invitation to a public debate over gay rights and the message of my Youtube.com song/video titled, “Messiah loves homosexuals”. How about in Dallas, Texas? Or are you, like so many others, avoiding a public debate with me? Yes, I will briing a KJV Bible. l will be happy to publicly debate gay rights, the accuracy of my video, and anything else you wish to publicly debate. Bring your “A” game.
No one group is held to a different standard than others in Christianity. You are right. That standard includes abiding by the rules of sexual conduct set down in the Bible. Two cities and their surrounding area suffered consequences for not abiding by the standard. Genesis ch. 19, 2 Peter 2:6, Jude 1:7
I expect the public debate to be polite, well mannered and respectful of each other. Kenny Merriken
Kenny –
Thanks for your support of anti-bullying initiatives. It is extremely important that we do what we can to allow schools to be a safe place for learning and growing – not a place of fear, hate, and hurt.
That being said, I’d like to ask you to be a bit more careful in the rhetoric you post. I am a Christian. I have preached in churches large and small. I seek to follow the way of Jesus Christ. I am also gay.
While I appreciate that your attempts to “debate gay rights” are likely rooted in sincere care for God’s creation, I need to tell you that they fail to take care of God’s creation in the way God would want. I appreciate your desire to call other folks to join you in your faith – a faith that I’m sure has brought you joy and fulfillment (or as Jesus would have said, your faith has brought you to abundant life.)
However; for LGBTQ folks, the words you use, the images you propagate, and the violent message you spread feels much like the bullying we encounter on a daily basis. Your use of scripture to scare and intimidate feels much like a bully shoving us into a locker and your light-hearted tune feels much like the mocking jeers of our peers in the cafeterias and hallways of the schools we grew up in.
Paul tells us that we will know the work of God when we see it because it will bring love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.
Those are the things we see when we hear people like Joel Burns speak from the floor of Forth Worth’s City Council chambers, or when we hear Dan Savage talk about his family and the life they have made, or when we see the outpouring of support for LGBTQ teens from places like the It Gets Better Project or even the DISDs anti-bullying policy. These things are all making the world more like God wants it to be. And we know that because we can see the fruit of their work.
Your debates and arguments would bring divisiveness, enmity, hurt, pain, and anguish. And those are not the fruits of the work of God.
So, while I appreciate your intent – I appreciate your desire to call creation into the abundant life of the Messiah – I want to ask you to stop using the methods you are using. The fruit is too bitter and those methods will fail to make creation more like God wants it to be.
Grace and Peace from the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex,
Jay
So, while I appreciate your intent – I appreciate that you desire to make God’s creation more like God wants it to be – I would respectfully ask that you refrain from behaving in ways that bring bitter fruit.
Dear Jay, you referred to apostle Paul. Let me send you to what apostle Paul said in the Book of Romans. Romans 1:18-32. Then there is Romans 9:29 (which is a quote from Isaiah). How about Peter? 2 Peter 2:6, Or the Messiah? Luke 17:29. Please bring your reference books or anything else you wish to the public debate that I am inviting you to in Dallas, Texas. I will bring the KJV Bible that I inherited from my mother. Respectfully, Kenny Merriken
I was the victim of severe anti-gay bullying. I disagree with zero tolerance policies that focus on punishments and getting into “trouble.” That will only fight violence with violence. Just like our prison system fails to make our country safer, so will punishing bullies. Bullies need consequences, but also need help and understanding so that they can transform into allies of the LGBTQ community. We need to change school culture and climate, not just create a system of punishments.