Gay Pride Day' rebuff
engenders divisiveness
By Scott Herhold,
MercuryNews.com from the Web, February 27, 2006
Los Altos, CA Feb.26 -- When
Ruth Gibbs began working in the administration office at Los Altos High School,
she wanted to find a way of signaling that she was friendly to gay or lesbian
students. So she asked a friend, Wiggsy Sivertsen, who urged her to put up
a rainbow: The kids would know its meaning.
Today that swath of a rainbow is hidden behind papers and pictures in a far less
prominent position than the eagle mascot or the big poster that talks bluntly of
stereotypes about lesbians and gays.
But the Gay-Straight Alliance that Gibbs serves as adviser is alive and feisty.
And the 20 or so kids in the club are at the center of a controversy that has
put the Los Altos City Council on the defensive.
Nearly two weeks ago, on Valentine's Day, the council rebuffed an attempt from
the alliance to name June 7 "Gay Pride Day" -- the kind of proclamation that
goes almost unremarked in San Jose or even Mountain View.
In fact, the council went one step further: In the name of not raising
false expectations, it voted 3-2 to change its rules to ban any proclamations
about sexual orientation. Zip, nada. Go home, kids. We've got
garage additions to consider.
Divisive issues
Mayor Ron Packard explained that this would spare the council from "issuing
proclamations on issues I consider divisive and not appropriate to our
community."
In the council's defense, it would probably not consider such contentious issues
as abortion or the Iraq war. The difference is that it hasn't passed a
rule specifically banning those topics from even being discussed.
And that has upset the kids in the Gay-Straight Alliance. "Now they're
mad," says Gibbs, a soft-spoken Los Altos resident who has gay relatives.
"They don't understand why they're being treated this way."
Over the last six years, Gay-Straight Alliance members have taken a series of
bolder steps: First they came up with "safe zone" posters, proclaiming
classrooms safe from bigotry or taunting. Then they had a PG-13 gay film
festival and a "day of silence" at the school to honor closeted gays, lesbians
and transgender youths.
Two years ago, a different council granted them a Gay Pride Day proclamation,
which they celebrated with a pizza party. But now they've been rebuffed on
grounds that the issue doesn't deal with city business and is too divisive.
A bigger outcry
The irony is that the Los Altos council has created more divisiveness in town by
denying the kids' petition than it would have by granting it in the first place.
Face it: The kids weren't asking for much. Essentially, they wanted
a piece of paper that acknowledges that they exist. "These types of
proclamations make the youths and the adults feel like they're part of the
community," says Aejaie Sellers, executive director of the Billy DeFrank Lesbian
and Gay Community Center in San Jose.
I couldn't reach Packard to tell me what he considered divisive about a Gay
Pride proclamation. But the mayor has tried to recoup by offering to
proclaim June 7 as a Day of Tolerance and Respect.
The problem with this idea, Gibbs says, is that the kids don't want to be
tolerated. They want the same pride and recognition as anyone else.
She says they won't be thrown a bone so they can go away.
Gibbs has pulled the papers for a gay pride parade permit June 7, which has to
be approved by the police. Usually, these are very small affairs. This
time is different. Unless the council changes its mind, anyone who cares
about equal treatment regardless of sexual orientation ought to consider
marching.
Contact Scott Herhold at sherhold@mercurynews.com or (408)
920-5877.
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