‘Diversity Teach-In’ to support embattled teacher set for next month

A pair of Genoa Township brothers is organizing a free “Diversity Teach-In” next month in support of persecuted Howell High School teacher Jay McDowell that is open to the public.

Brothers Phil and Matt Letten are organizing the event for McDowell, who was suspended for one day without pay because he sent two students to the office for disrupting his class with anti-gay rhetoric. The incident occurred Oct. 20; the day people all over the country wore purple to support the end of anti-gay bullying that led to a rash of suicides by gay teens. Apparently, McDowell asked a student wearing a belt buckle sporting the Confederate flag to remove the symbol of racism, slavery, white supremacy and treason.

McDowell has fought the suspension and the attack against him, and the fight has gained support of people all across the country. Howell Public Schools Superintendent Ron Wilson has pulled out all the stops in attacking McDowell, who also happens to be the president of the Howell teacher’s union.

The purpose of the teach-in is to address the issues of bullying and homophobia, and it is set for 7-8:30 p.m. Jan. 6 at the Howell Opera House in downtown Howell, 123 W. Grand River.

Radio station WHMI is reporting that in addition to McDowell speaking, other speakers at event include a Flint Biology teacher who also serves as a union president; along with a recently retired school psychologist from the Lake Orion district. Also speaking will be Yvonne Schumacher-Strejcek of the Community Unitarian Universalists in Brighton – which has a history of tolerance, acceptance and community service in the county - and Rev. Dick Preston, who does campus ministry in East Lansing and hospital ministry in Lansing.

The Letten brothers also told WHMI that they also hope to have one or two individuals from the Howell school district speak at the event.

Come to Lansing for All American Lobby Day to stand against bullies

A coalition of Michigan organizations is banding together for All American Lobby Day in Lansing on Wednesday, May 13 to lobby for the passage of Matt's Safe School Law that would require public school districts in Michigan to establish bullying policies.

The anti-bullying legislation, Senate Bill 159, was introduced by Sen. Glenn Anderson, D-Westland, and it would amend the Revised School Code to require schools to adopt a policy that prohibits harassment or bullying at school, as well as prohibiting the harmful and potentially deadly bullying from telecommunications devices. The bill specifies that all minorities, including religious and racial minorities and youth with disabilities, are protected.

According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, as many as half of all children are bullied at some time during their school years, and at least 10 percent are bullied on a regular basis. This year alone five students in the United States have died due to bullying.

A similar bill passed the House last session, but it died when the Senate declined to take up the bill. Anderson also introduced the same bill last session, but the Republican controlled Senate refused to give it a hearing. Although the bill had bipartisan support, it was killed by Senate Majority Floor Leader Alan Cropsey, R-DeWitt. The main opposition has come from extremist rightwing groups, such as the anti-gay hate groups the American Family Association (AFA) of Michigan because it extends protection to students who may be gay.

The law is named after Matt Epling, a popular East Lansing middle school student who committed suicide as a result of bullying in school.

Among those organizing All American Lobby Day include Project Light, National HRC, White House LGBT Task Force, Michigan Equality, University of Michigan College Democrats, Michigan Democratic Youth Caucus, American Family Committee and the Order of St. John the Beloved (Catholic Order).

He lobby day will kick off at 9 a.m. with training at Teamsters local 580, 5800 Executive Dr. in Lansing, and a press conference will be held at 1:30 p.m. on the glass floor rotunda in the Capitol.

Anti-gay hate group does not want gays to be protected from intimidation

The anti-gay hate group the American Family Association (AFA) of Michigan is busy spreading misinformation and insisting gay people not be protected from intimidating and hate crimes.

The AFA, led by homophobe, Gary Glenn, has had their supporters flood Michigan legislative offices with letters written by the AFA railing against House Bills 6340 and 6341 that addresses hate crimes. The bills were approved last week by the House before it broke for its two-week break, and it now goes to the Senate for consideration. The AFA falsely claims it supports censorship, it discriminates against religion and it gives gays special treatment and protection. Although the bill covers hate crimes committed because of ethnicity, race, disability and gender, it’s the protection it offers to gays that sets them off.

It's very similar to the objections raised about Matt's Safe School Law that would require public school districts in Michigan to establish bullying policies. In fact, it mentions those bills, HBs 4162 and 4091, in the letter.

"As with recent "bullying" legislation, HB 6341 segregates victims of certain crimes into special "protected class" categories -- including "sexual orientation" (homosexual behavior) and "gender identity" (cross-dressing) -- and then doles out special enhanced protection based on membership in those categories."

HBs 6340 and 6341 would increase the penalties for crimes committed because of person's bias toward another person or group based on race, disability, gender, religion, sexual orientation or other reason. According to the bill analysis, "A person is guilty of ethnic intimidation if he or she maliciously, and with specific intent to intimidate or harass another person because of that individual's race, color, religion, gender, or national origin, caused physical contact with another; damages, destroys, or defaces any real or personal property of another; and/or threatens, by word or act, to do one of the fore-mentioned acts."

Also, a person who hung or displayed a noose on property; displayed a burning cross or displayed any symbol that is historically or generally understood as intended to intimidate or threaten would be eligible to be charged. Last year in Michigan, there were 28 convictions for ethnic intimidation under a similar law.

The letter uses a debunk incident as a reason to oppose the bills.

"Such legislation has also proven to be a serious threat to religious freedom in other jurisdictions such as Philadelphia, where a multi-racial group of citizens in 2005 was arrested and prosecuted intimidation" because they read Bible verses out loud on a public street during a "gay pride" festival in the city."

They are actually referring to a 2004 incident where 11 members of the group Repent America, an organization that dedicates a large chunk of their time to protesting pro-gay events. they are not as bad as the Westboro Baptist Church, but they share some characteristics.

The incident continues to be misrepresented, and it has been debunked on Snopes. What happened was that they were using a bullhorn to drown out a stage performance with anti-gay shouts during Philly's annual Outfest, which led several people on-site to confront them. This then led the police to ask them to move in order to prevent any potential violence, but they refused -- which then and only then led to them being arrested for such charges as failure to disperse, possessing an instrument of crime (a bullhorn), obstructing a highway, criminal conspiracy, and disorderly conduct. Under Pennsylvania's hate crimes law they were also later charged with "ethnic intimidation" -- but in order to receive this additional charge, they had to first engage in behavior that the officers found unlawful.

However, when the charges were contested in court, it was ultimately determined that no hate crime law had been violated, and the charges were dismissed.

That has not stopped so-called Christen groups like the AFA from using the incident to further their agenda. This is not the first time conservative religious groups have misrepresented an incident to further their cause, and the most recent example occurred at Mount Hope Church in Delta Township on Nov. 9 where the church's claims did not match the police report.

The assault of so-called Christians on gays is disturbing, like the banning of gay marriage in California financed by the Mormon Church.

House Republicans do the bidding of homophobic hate groups

You have to wonder exactly why and what Republicans are so afraid of about lesbians and homosexuals.

The discrimination they harbor against the gay community is baffling, and it drives a large part of their agenda. They embrace hatemongers like Ann Coulter and Gary Glenn who are clearly homophobic and discriminatory. The latest example of their discrimination is their opposition to the common sense, anti-bullying bill, House Bill 4162, introduced by Rep. Pam Byrnes, (D-Lyndon Township) and passed by the House almost along party lines 59-50 on March 28. It’s hard to believe 50 alleged elected leaders are kowtowing to the extreme rightwing hate groups and opposing the bill – known as Matt’s Safe School Law - because they say it promotes the homosexual agenda. I know it’s absurd but that’s the claim.

According to an Associated Press story in the Lansing State Journal, “Michigan law shouldn't formally recognize homosexual behavior, conservatives say, nor should gays get special protection. Republicans favor a broad ban against all bullying in schools.”

What caught my eye about this story - other than the ridiculous notion that homosexuals, who often face violent harassment and bullying, should not be protected - is that some of the 200 people who showed up on the day the bill was approved to lobby in support of the bill were from my high school, Monroe High School. I’m proud to be a Trojan.

De'Lea Cheatham braces for abuse every day.
The 17-year-old senior at Monroe High School says she frequently has been yelled at and shoved by other students because she's a lesbian. It began in middle school and has only gotten worse in high school, says Cheatham.
One student who supports the legislation is Ben Mathews, an 18-year-old senior at Monroe High and member of the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance. Mathews says many students are bullied even if they’re straight but perceived to be gay or lesbian.

Veteran journalist Jack Lessenberry put it best in his blog, and he cut right to the chase. I guess 30 years of journalism experience will do that for you. Lessenberry has worked as a foreign correspondent and executive national editor of The Detroit News, reporting from more than forty countries. His writing has appeared in such national publications as Vanity Fair, Esquire, The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Boston Globe. He is also a professor of journalism at Wayne State University, and his freelance columns appear in The Metro Times, The Traverse-City Record Eagle and The Toledo (Ohio) Blade. He also has local ties to Livingston County, serving as the executive of Hometown Communications that includes all the Observer and Eccentric newspapers, as well as the Livingston County Daily Press and Argus before the chain was purchased by Gannett.

Lessenberry said it was a well-written law, and “anyone who grumbles about it imposing state control hasn’t read it. In a civilized society, this bill would be adopted unanimously. But in fact there are those who want to kill or weaken it. “

But there are bigots who are so blinded by their hatred and fear of anyone gay, or who might be gay, that they would rather put children’s lives at risk. There are also those who support the haters for cynical political reasons. Two Republican state representatives are fighting to make sure the bill does not protect people based on sexual orientation.

He calls Gary Glenn and his organization – the so-called “American Family Association” - a hate group. It was Glenn who gave Vicky Fyke, the leader of the anti-gay hate group known as “LOVE” PAC (Livingston Organization for Values in Education) and the former advisor of the Livingston County Teen Age Republicans, the ridiculous idea to have the FBI investigate books in the high school curriculum as pornographic.

They are doing the work of a hate group misnamed the American Family Association. It is spreading the lie that this bill’s real purpose is to “legitimize homosexual behavior and cross-dressing,” and that this will lead to increased cocaine use in children under thirteen.” You can read this garbage on their web site.

The real obscenity and crime is that the much needed-bill will die in the Republican-controlled, homophobic Senate.