Transcripts

WILLIAM WILCOXEN: When Erin Ferguson graduated from Saint Paul Central High School last spring, many of her classmates knew she'd been active for four years in the school's support group for gay, lesbian, and bisexual students. Ferguson says she made no effort to hide her sexual orientation, and her peers never made it a problem for her. But she says gay and lesbian students just a few years older than her had very different high school experiences.

ERIN FERGUSON: Hearing the students that were seniors when I was a freshman in the group talk about Central, it's a completely different atmosphere than the one I was in. I mean, I was out to the entire school, and everybody was really supportive. I mean, there were some random silly things. But overall, most of the teachers and most of the students were really supportive and really nice. And that was not the case at all for the seniors who graduated my freshman year.

WILLIAM WILCOXEN: Ferguson says some of those seniors felt the atmosphere at Central was so hostile toward gay and lesbian students that they dropped out of school once rumors about their sexual orientation circulated. She says the change in attitudes since then is largely due to the support group, which has helped make gay and lesbian students a more visible part of the school's day-to-day life. A similar group is now in place at Como Park High School.

And the Saint Paul School District plans to have gay, lesbian support groups in all six of its high schools under a wide-ranging program called "Out For Equity." The school board approved the program last spring, but did not provide money for it. Interim program Director Mary Tinucci says "Out for Equity" may start later this school year if enough money can be raised from private sources. She says the growth of student support groups is part of a recognition that schools risk losing gay and lesbian students.

MARY TINUCCI: They're isolated. They can't find each other. They think they're the only ones. Studies have talked about national governmental studies talking about increase of drugs and alcohol use to cope with that isolation and fear and harassment, increased risk of suicide for young people who are feeling so alone and isolated. So the support group is a vehicle to say to kids, "You're not alone."

WILLIAM WILCOXEN: But as that message is spread through more schools, it is raising more objections from critics who say public schools should not affirm homosexuality. Darrell McKigney, legislative director of the Minnesota Family Council, says schools should steer teenagers away from homosexuality, particularly because of the higher risk of suicide, depression, and other health problems associated with gay and lesbian students.

DARRELL MCKIGNEY: If a kid gets involved in drugs or another self-destructive behavior, the reaction is not to go out and affirm that behavior and to promote acceptance of that behavior. The rational reaction is to take and help them get out of that behavior.

WILLIAM WILCOXEN: Conservative groups, including the Family Council and the Minnesota Christian Coalition, criticize a booklet the State Education Department has recently made available to school districts called Alone No More. The booklet is for teachers and administrators to use in planning how to discuss sexual orientation in AIDS and HIV education. But McKigney charges the book's purpose goes beyond health care.

DARRELL MCKIGNEY: This booklet really amounts to a promotion of the homosexual lifestyle in public schools under the guise of AIDS education. It's really about acceptance of a lifestyle, promotion of that lifestyle, and trying to promote more people to be accepting and involved in it.

WILLIAM WILCOXEN: An education department official takes exception to that charge. Ruth Ellen Luehr says the department's goal is to help kids protect themselves from aids, other sexually transmitted diseases, and pregnancy by choosing to delay sex. She says schools should bring that message to all students, regardless of their sexual orientation.

RUTH LUEHR: The basic premise that we end up dealing with is that sexual orientation is not a choice, whether you're a heterosexual, bisexual or homosexual. So therefore, we can't encourage people to be gay, and we can't encourage people to be straight. People are what they are. What we can do is encourage people to make wise choices and smart choices about the risks that we do know exist regarding HIV, STDs, and pregnancy and so on.

WILLIAM WILCOXEN: Darrell McKigney says the Minnesota Family Council plans to use the Alone No More booklet in lobbying for a law to cut off state funding of school districts that support homosexuality. Such a measure was buried by this year's legislature, but McKigney predicts it will fare better next year.

DARRELL MCKIGNEY: I think what this booklet is going to do is it's going to obviously convince those people who had their head in the sand and said, no, this is not going on. This is not part of the agenda. This thing is such flagrant pro-homosexual propaganda that it really is going to make our job at the legislature a lot easier.

WILLIAM WILCOXEN: The Minnesota legislation mirrors a federal provision that nearly became part of this year's education bill. Mary Tinucci of the Saint Paul School District says the threat of funding cutoffs may have a chilling effect on school districts that are beginning to reach out to gay and lesbian students.

MARY TINUCCI: That's a very serious threat because what it does is, for guidance counselors across the country, it says to them, you talk about this, and you are putting your district at serious funding detriment, if you talk about this with young people. And people aren't going to take that chance.

WILLIAM WILCOXEN: Tinucci says she's encouraged that the Saint Paul District has endorsed the "Out for Equity" program. She expects to know by the end of the year whether money to launch the program can be raised from private sources. For the FM news station, I'm William Wilcoxen.