#0 - Dec. 26, 2006, 8:59 p.m.
Exhibit B: L-sb--n, the politically neutral term for a female homosexual is a banned word
Exhibit C: Any post on this forum concerning night elves, blood elves, playing characters different from one's own RL sexuality, or asking for gay representation in lore will result in a tirade of insulting homophobic hateful comments. Mods will either delete the entire thread or do nothing. But they will take no action against the specific people who write these hateful comments.
Exhibit D: Barren's Chat. nuff said.
Imagine if Blizz banned a guild for being friendly to african americans? Or banned the word "mexican"? Or if posts about the jamaican accent of trolls resulted in people using the N word in liberal doses? Or if people casually suggested that Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world (like Mel Gibson does) in Barrens Chat? We all agree that none of that would be acceptable behavior. Unless the target of hate are homosexuals.....
Shouldn't Blizz at this point admit that it has a problem with homophobia within itself as an organization AND within its own member community? Shouldn't it take pro-active, explicit and brave action to correct the situation?
I would suggest the model used at the Morgan Hill school district thanks to the good efforts of the ACLU:
http://www.narth.com/docs/victory.html
ACLU Victory:
Pro-Homosexual Training
Required for School District
ACLU says new program will "serve as a model";
schools warned of lawsuits
if homosexuality is not affirmed
by Frank York
The American Civil Liberties Union in cooperation with the National Center for *@!%*%* Rights, won a major victory on January 6, 2004, against the Morgan Hill, California school district.
The ACLU victory was a $1.1 million settlement against the school district over the district's alleged failure to protect six homosexual students from harassment in 1998. In addition to the $1.1 settlement, the ACLU also won a requirement that all school district administrators, teachers, campus monitors, custodians, school safety officers, and bus drivers take a pro-homosexual sensitivity training program.
Beginning in the 2004-2005 school year, the district will also require peer-to-peer training for all 9th graders on "anti-gay harassment." All 7th graders will be required to take classes on anti-gay harassment as well. Student handbooks and school policy manuals will be revised to state that "harassment and discrimination based on actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity is expressly prohibited under district policies and state law." This policy will remain in effect in the school district until June 30, 2008.
The inclusion of protections for "gender identity" will create a new set of challenges for school officials. "Gender identity" refers to drag queens, cross-dressers, and transsexuals (all included under the umbrella term, "transgender"). Under this new policy, school officials will apparently be prohibited from banning male students from attending school wearing the apparel of the opposite sex.
In an ACLU press release on this victory dated January 6, 2004, the group says: "The mandatory annual training program for both students and staff should serve as a model for schools everywhere that care about protecting their students from harassment. We hope that the outcome in this case will make suing other school districts less necessary."
The Morgan Hill victory has been lauded by the Gay, *@!%*%* and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), an organization that has established more than 1,000 Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) Clubs on junior high and high school campuses.
In addition, GLSEN, in cooperation with The National Center for *@!%*%* Rights, has developed a resource designed to require other school districts to affirm homosexuality on campuses through GSA clubs. The document, "Fifteen Expensive Reasons Why Safe Schools Legislation is in Your State's Best Interest," lists numerous court cases that have ruled in favor of homosexual clubs on campuses.
