[ Sonoma Independent | MetroActive Central | Archives ]

Petaluma Educators Get Lesson in Gay Awareness

Project 10 continues countywide campaign to end harassment

By Paula Harris

"On Jan. 24 of this year, on an incoming tide and facing San Francisco, our son Robin was seen leaping from the Golden Gate Bridge," says Cotati parent Stephanie Reed, recalling the suicide of her gay 15-year-old son, a Petaluma High School student who'd endured prolonged harassment, homophobia, and isolation.

"I believe for a brief moment he flew with outstretched arms, black coat streaming, and that his desire was to land in a place of enlightenment," she continues. "For him the struggle ended."

For Stephanie Reed and her husband, Tim, the struggle was just beginning, however. In her quest to understand her only son's suicide, Reed says she learned a lot about growing up gay and realized she must attempt to help others understand the traumas involved .

This month, Reed joined local leaders from gay, lesbian, and bisexual rights support groups at a presentation for the Petaluma City Schools Board of Education, where they spoke out against gay harassment.

Sexual-minority support members say suicide is a big concern among gay youth. "According to a 1989 U.S. Department of health and Human Services study, 20 to 35 percent of all gay, lesbian, or bisexual youth make suicide attempts and 50 percent consider it," says Bob Norton, a counselor with the county's mental health department and co-founder of Project 10, which derives its name from the Kinsey Reports that found that 10 percent of Americans are homosexual.

Subsequent studies have disputed those findings, estimating the percentage is much lower.

During the 3 1/2-hour Board of Education meeting, which drew an audience of 150 people from several counties, Reed asked educators to embrace Sonoma County Project 10, which she called "a comprehensive program" that provides teacher training and peer support and is a resource for counseling information for gay students and their parents.

Reed's testimony underscored her son's suffering. "Because he was different, Robin was sexually harassed by mean-spirited peers who called him 'fag,' 'sissy,' 'queer,' 'gay blower,' and other sexually derogatory terms," an anguished Reed told the school board. "Robin did not commit suicide because he was gay. He committed suicide because he was in pain. The time bomb had exploded. The anti-gay messages struck at his core."

Project 10 supporters say gay, lesbian, and bisexual students continue to be objects of hate and ridicule and are a hidden minority that needs positive role models. They advocate raising protection for and awareness about gay students by having a designated adult at each campus who can direct troubled students to counseling and support groups.

But its critics claim Project 10 has a political bias and a distinct cultural agenda. A group called the Project 10 Research Committee sprang up two years ago in opposition to the organization. Some religious leaders have said they distrust Project 10 because, they claim, the program teaches hate toward people of faith. Mel Grams, pastor of Adobe Christian Center in Petaluma, presented school officials with a letter of opposition signed by 20 pastors from 12 Petaluma churches opposed to Project 10.

"We don't have a crusade against gays," says Grams. "But Project 10 has an unwritten agenda that is unacceptable to us."

Other critics charge that Project 10 recruits impressionable children who are unsure of their awakening sexual identities.

"If we drag one child into homosexuality because of this information, we're committing a crime," says Petaluma resident Peter Georges.

Maddy Hirchfield, a supervisorial candidate and spokeswoman for Sonoma County Project 10, denies the group is out to recruit teens. "This is a hidden minority that needs positive role models; Project 10 creates positive role models," she says. "It's a hell of a way to grow up. Kids out there struggling with this issue need to see people like me."

In recent months, Project 10 has also visited schools in Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, and Cloverdale. It has received a mixed response. Dave Ashworth, principal at Cloverdale High School, said a Project 10 presentation last year, initiated by the student body president, met with stiff community resistance but resulted in a second presentation specifically for students. Only 15 students attended.

"Right now there is nothing incorporated in our curriculum regarding Project 10 or their issues," he says.

Santa Rosa High School also does not practice Project 10 policies, but Principal Michael Panas said a presentation by members two years ago resulted in some changes on campus. Some faculty members voluntarily made themselves available to students to discuss gay issues.

Also, Santa Rosa High School students have formed an organization called United Sexualities, an alliance of gay and non-gay teens. Panas says the alliance continues to have a strong and positive presence on campus and he thinks the Project 10 presentation made a difference.

"It helped students feel this is a safe place for everyone," he says. "The students have taken some ownership of that."

Meanwhile, Petaluma school administrators are grappling with the controversial issue. Superintendent Chuck Cadman ordered 20 copies of the acclaimed book Prayers for Bobby (which chronicles the suicide of a gay teen) for all school principals as "homework" prior to a Dec. 11 meeting, when principals will hear another presentation by Project 10.

Prayers for Bobby, by Sebastopol author and prominent gay journalist Leroy Aarons, tells how Bobby Griffith--a young East Bay man, who was gay and born into a Christian Fundamentalist family--leaped to his death off a freeway overpass in 1983. The boy's mother, Mary Griffith, also spoke at the recent Petaluma board of Education meeting. She later called the school administrators' prompt reaction "remarkable."

How Petaluma schools will respond in the long-term is still very much up in the air. Yet, Stephanie Reed says she's delighted things "are moving forward."

School Superintendent Chuck Cadman adds that school officials are in an "information gathering" phase before beginning to take action on creating a support system for sexual minorities. He has invited local clergy to present their concerns and suggestions in January.

"We're proceeding in a very deliberate fashion, holding off any judgments and avoiding emotionally charged, non-productive dialogue," says Cadman. "We really want to generate more light than heat."

[ Sonoma Independent | MetroActive Central | Archives ]