This comes to me by a person well-positioned to know exactly what transpired at the NEA meetings. I must protect the person's anonymity but I will vouch for the reputability of the source.
Ken
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The National Education Association is holding its 80th annual Representative Assembly in Los Angeles this week. The 2.6-million member NEA has a number of issues to deal with, but one of them is gay and lesbian education.
Six years ago, the NEA RA passed a resolution in favor of designating June as "National Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transsexual and Transgender Month." But four years ago -- under pressure from radical conservative and religious groups such as The Eagle Forum, Concerned Women of America and Focus on the Family -- the NEA RA rescinded its resolution. In its place, the NEA RA passed a resolution calling for "respect" for all designated months, weeks and celebrations. (The 1.1-million member American Federation of Teachers [AFT] has never had such qualms. The AFT Biennial Convention passed resolutions against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation beginning in 1970 and continuing through the 1996 biennial convention -- the same year the NEA rescinded theirs. The text of these resolutions may be found at http://www.aft.org/human/resource/issues.html . The AFT, also the target of pressure groups, has never submitted to the tactics of these groups.)
Here is the report from [a highly placed but anonymous source whose name and credentials are known to me] on what happened yesterday at the NEA RA:
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Gay/Lesbian Resolution Referred to Task Force
On July 4, the NEA Resolutions Committee, responding to a request by Kathy Figel, chair of the Gay and Lesbian Caucus, officially accepted a motion to withdraw the New Resolution B, which would have put NEA on record of developing a curriculum, instructional materials and programs for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students. The resolution also called for recognition of GLBT employees as "role models" and the dissemination of information about their "historical contributions, heritage and culture." Similar resolutions cover Blacks, Hispanics, Asian-Pacific Islanders, American-Indians and Alaska Natives.
Instead, the committee has asked the NEA president to form a task force "to examine the needs of and problems confronting gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students and education employees." The task force will report its findings to the NEA board of directors in February 2002.
The RA will debate this decision July 6, but the Resolution Committee's decision essentially tables New B for this year. "There are those outside this hall who have attempted to interpret this as NEA backing away from its position," NEA president Bob Chase told the delegates. "They could not be any further away from the truth. We will not allow our policies to be dictated to us by people outside of this organization."
On July 3, several hundred demonstrators from Focus on the Family, a Christian right group, staged a peaceful protest in front of the convention center, and right-wing media have had a field day with the issue. NBI-B provoked impassioned debate at the open hearing of the Resolutions Committee, July 3, pitting gay rights advocates against more conservative delegates from Southern, Midwestern and Rocky Mountain states.