Here's an interesting news item:
---------------------------------------------------------------

Posted: March 24, 2004 8:02 p.m. ET

(Camarillo, California) As a teacher Ron Fanelle believes in being straightforward, so when a student stood up in his seventh grade class and asked Fanelle if it was true that he had gotten married in San Francisco on Valentines Day, Fanelle said yes, but it didn't end there. Monte Vista Middle School student then asked if he married a man. Yes said Fanelle.

It was the first time his sexuality had ever come up in class, and he says he was pleasantly surprised when the class stood up and applauded.

But not all parents were applauding. The parents of one student pulled their child out of Fanelle's class and another parent showed up at a school board meeting to accuse the middle school teacher of promoting a pro-gay agenda.

The Pleasant Valley School District school board meeting was carried live on a local community access channel in the community, about 50 miles Northwest of Los Angeles.

"I come to you tonight with a heavy heart," said parent David Maddux, who doesn't have a child in Fanelle's class. "A seventh-grade history teacher announced to his students he's gay. I'm very upset and disappointed that this person was bringing his homosexual platform to the classroom."

But, Fanelle said he did not initiate the discussion in his classroom and he's filed a complaint with the school district accusing two other teachers of spreading the word among students that he is gay.

Now, there's an official board inquiry.

Fanelle married his partner of 15 years, Randy Serak. His colleagues, including principal Sara Davis, knew he was gay and had gotten married and they congratulated him at a staff meeting.

A teacher then told her students about the marriage and word spread quickly through the school, Fanelle said

"The kids walked in and there was a buzz about it," Fanelle said. "They said, 'We heard you got married on Valentine's Day. Is it true?' I said, 'Yes.' They asked, 'Was it a man?' I said, 'Yes.' Then they gave me a standing ovation."

The students then asked about his partner.

"I said, 'His name is Randy. It was a beautiful wedding. Any other questions?'" Fanelle said.

A male student began muttering negative comments under his breath, Fanelle said, so he read aloud the school district's sexual harassment code in a student handbook. He also used the opportunity to talk about suffrage, bigotry and the Magna Carta.

Because he was hoping to avoid any controversy about his personal life, Fanelle said he has filed the formal complaints with the school district against the teacher who talked about his sexuality with her students and the one who stood by while her students gossiped about it.

"(Fanelle) got married and came back and somehow the kids found out about it," said School board president Sandra Berg. "We're trying to teach appropriate behavior toward people's personal lives. We're trying to set parameters and find out what the appropriate procedures would be for kids."

Superintendent of schools Tom Dase said: "Our intent is to make sure we have all the facts and we preserve everyone's rights. We're not investigating an individual, and we're certainly not investigating Mr. Fanelle because he's homosexual."

©365Gay.com® 2004

I had a great dinner last night at Sushiro, a Japanese restaurant just off Broadway Ave. in Saskatoon, with my friend Todd. We also laughed a lot!

Here's some information that should be of interest to anyone who writes:


It's the birthday of the inventor of Liquid Paper, used to correct typing errors, Bette Nesmith Graham, born in Dallas, Texas (1924). She was a struggling artist when she got a job as a secretary at Texas Bank & Trust. To cover her typewriter mistakes neatly, she began using tempera paint mixed with certain chemicals that she knew about from her background in painting. Graham made her first batch in her kitchen blender and named the creation "Mistake Out." She changed the name to "Liquid Paper" after a rapid increase in demand.

I enjoyed this poem when I came across it because I spend a lot of my time teaching grammar.



Poem: "Permanently," by Kenneth Koch, from Selected Poems, 1950-1982 (Vintage).

Permanently

One day the Nouns were clustered in the street.
An Adjective walked by, with her dark beauty.
The Nouns were struck, moved, changed.
The next day a Verb drove up, and created the Sentence.

Each Sentence says one thing—for example, "Although it was a dark
rainy day when the Adjective walked by, I shall remember the pure
and sweet expression on her face until the day I perish from the
green, effective earth."
Or, "Will you please close the window, Andrew?"
Or, for example, "Thank you, the pink pot of flowers on the window
sill has changed color recently to a light yellow, due to the heat from
the boiler factory which exists nearby."

In the springtime the Sentences and the Nouns lay silently on the grass.
A lonely Conjunction here and there would call, "And! But!"
But the Adjective did not emerge.

As the adjective is lost in the sentence,
So I am lost in your eyes, ears, nose, and throat--
You have enchanted me with a single kiss
Which can never be undone
Until the destruction of language.

Sometimes I wonder if all the time and energy I've put into writing and performing have had much of an impact on anyone.

Last night I went with David and some friends to see "The Laramie Project" at the university. Both the play and the production were very impressive and moving. David and I were near Laramie, Wyoming (on the way to visit a friend in Cheyenne) in 1998, about two months before Matthew Shepard died as a victim of homophobic violence. I don't know what else to say, except that we need to generate as much as love as possible to make up for all the hatred that's in the world.