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Show !l A Winter 1996 Venceremos page two Editorial School Board Decision Robs Self Determination VENCEREMOS readers both here in Utah and beyond must be outraged at the recent decision by the Salt Lake County School Board to ban all non-academic clubs from county schools as a way of excluding a proposed gay-straight student alliance. The club had been proposed months earlier by area high school students as a peer counseling and suicide prevention* group which would provide support for gay and lesbian teenagers. With little dialogue about what the club would do and not do, the Salt Lake County School Board decided they would rather ban all non-academic clubs from public schools rather than admit gay and lesbian student clubs (since simay E only gay clubs would violate federal civil rights awSs Maybe unbeknownst to our out of state readers, even before the school board's decision to ban all non-academic clubs was made, a quiet controversy had been on-going for months. Utah/'s socially conservative majority portrayed the issue as nothing more than a question of how, not whether, to exclude the gay-straight student alliance. State and County officials cloaked their opposition in the colors of the Christian right's state's rights fight. Live news casts from the foot of the state's capitol building promised that the state would raise taxes and forgo all federal moneys for education so that Utah would be soared having openly gay high school students. State officials attempted to quash the students proposed club by arguing that since homosexuality is in fact illegal in Utah, public schools would be promoting lawlessness by Whats Inside: allowing gay clubs. Utah like more than thirty other states prohibits sex between unmarried persons by statute. Utah's sodomy statute prohibits all oral or anal sexual contact, although federal court decisions usually exclude married persons from this law. Though rarely enforced, such laws have been found constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court as recently as 1986. Attempts to discredit the legality of a gay- «straight alliance failed miserably thanks to the courage of the organizing stu-. dents. Despite often nasty and completely uncalled for attacks from the far right against these students, they could not be intimidated. The student's assurances that their club was not about discussing sexual techniques or organizing orgies, but was instead to provide support for suicidal teens and to fight harassment and physical intimidation proved unassailable. It was a cornered school board which turned it's back on the children whose well-being it supposedly represents which ultimately banned all non-academic clubs from meet- ing on campuses or in any way affiliating themselves with public schools. Utah's legislature, which was already in a frenzy of morality-legislating (triggered by an upsurge in proto-fascist rhetoric from the Christian right), stepped in to the fray, passing a new law which prohibits Utah teachers from promoting or discussing illegal activities with students (actually, this is already made illegal in every state by basic conspiracy statutes]. In addition, the legislature also passed a law aimed at intimidating students who wanted to join the gay-straight student alliance by requiring students to obtain signed permission slips from parents in order to attend any club meet- ings. Page 3 Interview Wiéh Luis Valdez Page 4 Embracine Those. Children hs Our Children Page 5 Ín the Eyes ol the Law The Salt Lake County School Board's decision, coupled with the legislatures recent actions, are a cowardly attempt by Utah's xenophobic elites to punish children and their families who do not adhere to the states dominant Mormon theology. It is important to recognize that this back-handed assault on Gays and Lesbians is an assault by powerful elites (with all the power and support of this state's government) on children. That Utah's children pose such a threat so as to have created Utah's number one public controversy in recent memory speaks greatly to Utah's poor civil rights record generally. As Latinos, we are especially unhappy with the board's decision to ban non-academic clubs because it directly bans all racially empowering clubs. We must remember the important role our youth have played in the battle against racism. It was high school and college age students who battled the racist policies of Los Angeles's public schools and of the LAPD. Those few brave students who fought institutionalized prejudice at Salt Lake City's public high schools remind us of the important role students play in making democracy work in practice as well as in theory. Remember that at first, little justice was given to students who opposed institutionalized racism in the Jim Crow south. But symbolic justice was won through hard work and courage when the entire nation was outraged by the militant opposition of reactionary whites to the simple request for equality before the law. Seeing the courage of a few students in the face of such staunch opposition is truly inspiring. The first day after the board's unfortunate decision, at least one club organizer admitted that she was afraid to return to school because she feared retribution. We cannot help but be reminded of the fates of a few African-American students who fought segregation of Alabama's schools. We sincerely hope that the state's rights rhetoric of Utah's governor will not necessitate that the army be called in as was the case when Cone Wallace tried to make racial injustice a state right. Most of all, Utah's anti-Gay 4d Lesbian fervor has ale ed in the dilution of all high school students rights. One ¡rate reader of the SALT LAKE TRIBUNE asks “What [is] the rationale for not allowing any non-curricular clubs to meet at school... The answer is simple. Banning student clubs mutes the student voice in public affairs, which is one of the most important goals of the Christian right. After all, it was students who defeated the Vietnam war, segregation and police brutality. The board's decision must be recognized as an underhanded attempt to defeat the spirit of the First Amendment's right of peaceable assembly and action. Nothing could be worse for our children than to let this nonsense go unchallenged. We must support the rights of all students to take control of their lives no matter who or what they may represent to some at the time, or all of our rights even our right to publish an alternative newspaper for our campus - will be lessened. The student organizers of the proposed Gay-Straight student alliance must feel defeated by the board's callous decision. But to them we offer a ray of hope. Utah's unfortunate stance has had the very effect of drawing attention to the fusion of the LDS church and Utah's government, and may well be an important energizing event in the battle for civil rights for all Utahns. The hypocrisy of a state which tries to make itself. the poster-boy for the family values movement opposing instead of nurturing it's own children is on par with the jailing of Rosa Parks for not moving her ass off that bus, and may yet be the spark which causes the house of cards which is prejudice to ignite. Our sincerest thanks go to the students who fought the good fight in Salt Lake's public schools. To them we say that when the enemies of justice seem all powerful and won't stop calling your house and threatening your life, take heart, that means you've already won (and they almost never mean it anyway]. Take care! Cartas Page 6 Mi Entrevista Con Francisco Alarcon Page 7 Coming Home and Back Again Editor's note: As MECHA, Venceremos following message. a courtesy to is running the Dear students: Chicano and Latino faculty, staff, and students at the University of Utah are in the process of organizing the first Chicana[o)/Latina(o) Youth Leadership Conference to be held on campus on Friday, May 10th. We expect 200 Chicano and Latino high school students from the Salt Lake City and Granite School Districts to participate in the program. One of the purposes of this program will be to target high school sophomores and freshmen who may not have given serious considera- tion to attending a college or university, and especially, the University of Utah. The main emphasis .of the Chicano/Latino Youth Leadership Conference will be to bolster the selfesteem of Chicano and Latino youth, by focusing on cultural awareness and self-pride. Moreover, students will be provided workshops and information on planning for college by U. faculty, staff, and students. We believe these workshops will serve to build stronger bridges between the university and the Chicano and Latino community. The highlight of our conference will be a play written and performed by a U. Chicano graduate student, Andres Orozco. Andres and fellow U. student Chad Alger and a variety of high school students will present a play titled “Compadres y la Mañana”. The play includes a series of vignettes with contemporary issues which young Chicanos and Latinos confront on a daily basis. We ask for your support of this important inaugural event which will surely become a tradition at the University Of Utah. Your donation will be greatly appreciated. In exchange, we will recognize your organization formally at the conference. Sincerely, Ross Rocha and Oscar Ruiz MECHA 581-8151 Submissions now accepted for VENCEREMOS Send to: VENCEREMOS University of Utah 240 Union Building Salt Lake City, UT 84112 VENCEREMOS Editor/Publisher: Managing Editor: Faculty Advisors: Artists: Guerilleros: Greg V. Marcial Marco Leavitt Theresa Martinez, Alberta Gloria Jonathan Deem, Vince Lobato Jonathan Hurd, Jennifer Martinez, Tomas Martinez, David Tucker E. Jason Settle Pilar Briones Marco Leavitt Dave Thometz Special Thanks to: Ted McKinley Warner Koenig To all who helped make this publication posTranslation: Layout/Design: sible, we thank you for your time and effort. In Lak Ech! VW) Impresso la Universidad de Utah Venceremos is a quarterly Chicana/Chicano student publication founded in 1993 and is recognized by the publication council of the University of a University of Utah. The views expressed in Venceremos represent the views of individual writers, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the ASUU or the regents of the University of Utah. send all correspondence to: Venceremos 240 Union Bldg University of Utah SLC, Utah 84112 |
