2
Daily Tar Heel/Monday, Janaary 11, 1993
Support group for gay and lesbian teenagers formed
By Richard J. Dalton Jr.
Staff Writer
Anti-gay vandalism at Chapel Hill
High School this past May prompted a
teacher to start a support group for gay
students in December and could also
bolster support for inclusion of sexual
orientation in the school ’ s multicultural
curriculum, according to a school board
member.
In May, anti-gay graffiti directed at
English teacher David Bruton was
painted on 10 buses, school officials
said.
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Vandals also threw a dead opossum
into the teacher’s classroom.
In response, teachers walked out and
held hands in solidarity, according to
Noah Kotch, editor-in-chief of the
school newspaper, The Proconian.
Last year, Chapel Hill-Carrboro
School Board member Ted Parrish pro
posed including sexual orientation in
Chapel Hill High School’s multicultural
curriculum, but it was voted down by a
substantial majority.
Parrish said the incidents of vandal
ism might increase support for inclu
sion of sexual orientation in the
multicultural curriculum.
“I think (the multicultural curricu
lum) got a real jolt last year when the
thing happened with the bus and all that
foolishness,” he said.
Kotch said the incident prompted
discussion concerning homosexuality
at the school and led Bruton to start a
support group for gay students.
Students interested in joining the sup
port group were told during a school
assembly that they could confidentially
contact the group’s advisers.
Some gay teenagers belong to Out
right, a gay support group independent
of the high school, but this is the first
school-sponsored group, Kotch said.
“There’s no school club that deals
with (homosexuality),” he said.
Gay and lesbian students need to
know that there are other gays and les
bians in the high school and that “they
are not freaks,” Kotch said.
School board member Sue B aker said,
“Those evolving a sexual identity should
not face the questions themselves.”
“I’m very much in support of a
group,” she added. “We can develop an
atmosphere of acceptance.”
“No one has to agree with other
peoples’ choices or lifestyles, but we
must have an attitude of acceptance for
those lifestyles or choices,” Baker said.
Kotch said the group was not only for
gay and lesbian students but also for
students interested in homosexuality or
for those who hadgay or lesbian parents
or friends.
He said there had been little negative
reaction to the group from parents.
“Chapel Hill is a pretty progressive
place,” he said.
Parrish said, “I can’t imagine anyone
saying it would promote homosexual
ity.”
But town council member Joe
Herzenberg said he expected some op
position to the group.
"Anytime you make progress, there
is a backlash,” he said.
“(The group) is a great idea,”
Herzenberg said. “I’ve been aware of
the need for this type of thing for 10
years.”
Herzenberg said that in 1981 or 1982
there was an editorial in The Proconian
calling for a gay support group to be
established.
Bruton could not be reached for com
ment.
Phoenix
from page 1
had no business staff and had not kept
adequate financial records.
“The printing bill was over about
$900,” Hunter said. “The printing bill
was paid prior to the freeze, and the
phone bill is in the process of being
taken care of. But they have yet to
appoint a treasurer, and the Phoenix
doesn’t appear to generate any funds.”
Paces said the printing bill to Village
Printing was left over from this past
spring, when the Phoenix broke from a
joint operating agreement with The
Daily Tar Heel in which the DTH agreed
to handle business and advertising for
the newsmagazine. The DTH and the
Phoenix entered into the agreement in
November 1991, and the Phoenix broke
away in March 1992.
DTH General Manager Kevin
Schwartz said he had advised the Phoe
nix not to print another issue last spring.
“They printed an extra issue when there
were not funds and incurred the bill,”
Schwartz said.
But Paces said she did not know
whether the Phoenix was responsible
for the printing bill from the extra issue.
“We kept getting printing bills, and
nobody knew who was responsible.”
Paces said the phone bill was gener
ated during the summer when an uni
dentified person had used the phone in
the Phoenix office. Several student or
ganizations use the computer system in
the Phoenix office, including the Cellar
Door and the Black Ink.
But Tuck said he was not sympa
thetic. “There were a lot of calls made
over the summer,” Tuck said, “but it
was (the Phoenix’s) responsibility to
put a lock on the phone.”
The Phoenix also had not applied to
be recognized as a student organization
by the Office of Student Affairs as of
late last semester, Hunter said. An orga
nization must be recognized by the Of
fice of Student Affairs to receive stu
dent activities funds.
“It’s the responsibility of the organi
zation to fix it,” Hunter said. “Their
funds cannot be unfrozen until they
have University recognition.”
But Paces said the Phoenix was a
recognized student organization. “I
don’t know what he’s saying about our
not being an official student organiza
tion,” she said.
The most recent listing of Univer
sity-recognized organizations does not
include the Phoenix.
Hunter said the biggest problem with
the Phoenix was that the organization
had no structured business staff and
didn’t generate its own revenue.
“(The Phoenix) doesn’t have even a
semblance of any structure,” he said. “If
they’re allowed to operate under the
present system of organization—which
is none—student government will have
to bail them out.”
Paces said the Phoenix planned to
hire a business manager. She also said
the Phoenix planned to try to generate
revenue.
Paces said she hoped to use the re
maining funds to print as many issues as
possible. “We’re working on building
(a staff), and we’U start fresh next year.”
Tuck said the Finance Committee
would meet Thursday to decide whether
to continue to stop all student activities
funds to the Phoenix or to take further
action.
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