8 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE DECEMBER 6, 1996
PRIDE PROFILE
Teaching our gay and straight children well
by Bob Boone
Cleveland-When teachers Judy Montgomery and Jim Hassel started a local chap-
third annual Midwest GLSTN conference in mid-April.
Pride profile
What person (deceased, living, gay, straight) do you most admire, and why?
Judy Montgomery: Kevin Jennings, founder of GLSTN, "He's been an instru-
Montgomery: For gay and lesbian groups to organize and support one another and end the duplication of work
What is your favorite recreational activity or pastime?
Montgomery: Working with Macintosh computers and teaching others teachers how to use them in the curriculum.
Hassel: Training and racing harness horses. Do you have a partner? Children? Montgomery: Sal Stohlman, third anni-
versary.
Do you have any pets? Montgomery: Two cats.
Hassel: Two dogs, two cats, five horses. Where did you grow up? Montgomery: Sheffield Lake
Hassel: Avon Lake
Do you have a favorite quote (yours or someone else's)?
com-
Montgomery: Margaret Mead, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, mitted citizens can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has."
"Pride Profile" spotlights individual members of the Ohio lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community who have made a difference in our lives. If you know someone who has made a difference, contact the Chronicle at P.O. Box 5426, Cleveland 44101, or call 216-631-8646 (toll free 800426-5947), or e-mail ChronOhio@aol.com.
Jim Hassel
ter of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Teachers Network a year ago, they made a huge step toward their goal to “help create safe schools for all kids."
The group has served as a means of support and education for gay and lesbian teachers to be out of the closet and for working toward an atmosphere where gay and lesbian students and students of gay and lesbian parents can be comfortable and unafraid.
Fulfilling what she called a "duty to myself to come out," Montgomery has also recognized the importance of her openness in being a role model, reasoning that "If the teachers are scared to death, what does that say to the kids?”
Cleveland has been selected to hold the
Q. Afraid of the Dentist?
Judy Montgomery
ment for a huge movement for empowering teachers in this country to help kids."
Jim Hassel: Kevin Jennings, because of all the work he's done for kids, students. What is your favorite pride symbol? Montgomery: The rainbow flag.
Hassel: The pink triangle and rainbow flag
If you could pick anything, what would you most like to see our community achieve in the next few decades?
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Student receives almost $1 million for anti-gay abuse
Continued from page 1
that deals with issues affecting lesbian and gay youth.
Buckel added that the make-up of the jury sent an equally important message. "Jamie had a jury drawn from rural Wisconsin-the heartland of this country-tell him that he did not deserve what he suffered during those four years when he was in school. [Lambda] had been telling him that all along, the Seventh Circuit in giving us our appeal victory in July told him that in some respects, but that this was a jury from his home state, I think, is an important part of this victory."
Last summer, the
Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in
Chicago overturned a ruling that Nabozny did not have enough
evidence to take the
the rights of lesbian and gay students, attorneys said.
"Now the tables have turned, and it is prejudice that has proved so costly," said Patricia Logue, a Lambda attorney who worked on the case.
According to Kevin Jennings, director of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Teachers Network and a former high school history teacher, Nabozny's victory is a major moment in the history of the gay and lesbian civil rights movement.
"In the end, these kinds of rulings will only have an impact if there is someone at the local level who is holding their schools accountable for their behavior."
district to court in a civil suit, allowing the trial to go ahead. Nabozny said in his lawsuit that the abuse from other students ranged from name-calling to being shoved, beaten, spat upon and even having his head pushed into a urinal and being urinated upon. In his testimony during the two-day trial before U.S. District Judge John Shabaz, Nabozny recounted instances of attacks he endured. In one incident, he said, boys in an 8th-grade science class boys pushed him to the ground and pretended to rape him.
He said he was kicked in the stomach so many times during high school that he later required surgery.
The decision establishes a precedent for
"[The courts] have said that students who are gay or lesbian are entitled to equal protection and equal opportunity from their schools." Jennings said. "Now, students and teachers fighting for equality will have the courts on their side. Things will quite literally
never be the same." Jennings added that GLSTN's network of over forty chapters will be hard at work in the coming months to make sure the Nabozny ruling has teeth.
"In the end, these kinds of rulings will only have an impact if there is someone at the local level who is holding their schools accountable for their behavior," he said. "That's our plan for the next phase: To let school officials know that we're watching, and we'll be making sure they live up to their legal responsibilities to protect all students."
Although he is happy with the settlement, Nabozny will not be receiving one other thing he had sued for: his high school diploma.✔
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