Groundspark

“I showed Let’s Get Real to my students, many of whom do not want to have these conversations and have a hard time sitting still. They were riveted. The discussion afterward was profound.”
— Kim Carter, director, Monadnock Community Connections School, Keene, New Hampshire

GroundSpark is partnering once again with GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network for National No Name-Calling Week, which runs through January 27^th. GLSEN is our longest-running partner organization, and in support of No Name-Calling Week, we’re offering free streaming of our film Let’s Get Real (view the trailer below)!

GLSEN and GroundSpark first started working together back in 1992, when Helen Cohen and I were looking for educators who might have the courage to address anti-LGBT prejudice in their classrooms. We attended one of the first GLSEN conferences (back when the “E” was a “T” for teachers and GroundSpark was called Women’s Educational Media) and told the attendees about our vision for a world where educators would proactively address all kinds of bias, including homophobia, in their classrooms.

The contacts we made at that gathering helped us go on to make It’s Elementary—Talking About Gay Issues in School.  Groups of teachers all over the country then mobilized to host the first screenings of the film, and in the process, launched many of GLSEN’s first chapters.  Kevin Jennings, GLSEN’s founder, is prominently featured in our follow-up film, It’s STILL Elementary.

Years after the making of It’s Elementary, we decided to take on bullying connected to all kinds of bias, and produced Let’s Get Real, which is now used in thousands of schools across the country. GLSEN also expanded its focus and today is at the forefront of addressing bias-related bullying of all kinds.

GroundSpark has been a No Name Calling Week partner since day one. This year we are excited to offer free streaming of Let’s Get Real for the whole week! It’s a great chance to preview the film and see if it’s right for your school or community organization. Or for parents, to make time to watch it and have a much-needed conversation with your 5^th – 9^th grader.

Visit our No Name Calling Week page for simple steps to get started!

One of the most enjoyable parts of my job is calling donors to say thank you for their gifts. I can’t call everyone, but when someone makes a significant gift that’s a big jump from their previous contributions, I try to be sure to pick up the phone. Last week I called Leslie and David Lagerstrom in Edina, MN. All I knew about them is that they had driven into Minneapolis a couple of years ago to attend the Twin Cities premiere of Straightlaced—How Gender’s Got Us All Tied Up, our documentary about teenagers grappling with pressures to conform to gender norms.

I had to leave a voicemail for them and then received this from Leslie:

Dear Debra,

I tried to return your call but wasn’t able to reach you so I thought I’d drop you an email. You had called to thank my husband and me for our donation to your wonderful organization, which was our pleasure!

You also mentioned that you were curious about our interest in your organization, which I am happy to share. Our 15 year-old son Sam is transgender. Born female, he has told us ever since he could speak that he was really a boy, and when he was 12 years old he began to transition. As you know from your work, life for kids like this is incredibly hard – society seems to have such a hard time grasping this concept and therefore what they do not understand they must persecute.

Sam has experienced so much bullying and rejection over the years, yet he remains strong and true to himself. Quite honestly, I don’t know how he does it. He is an ‘A’ student in one of the best school districts in the nation (Edina, MN). We investigated switching schools when the bullying was at its worst, but when Sam posed the question to us, “…why should I have to be the one to leave?” we decided to allow him to stay put. He is a member of the high school debate team, recently winning the JV State of MN tournament and in the winter he volunteers to teach downhill skiing to developmentally disabled youth. He’s a good kid but it is hard for people to see past the fact that he is transgender. That is why we believe your work is SO important! The more we can educate society about LGBT issues, the more likely we are to reduce and hopefully remove the stigma surrounding these communities. At least this is our hope.

I started a blog last July that chronicles our experience raising Sam – you can find it at www.transparenthood.net.

Keep up the great work at Groundspark! It is appreciated more than you know!

Since we released Straightlaced, we’ve seen more and more parents become visible advocates for their transgender and gender non-conforming children. Sam’s story makes us more determined than ever to get Straightlaced screened in as many high schools as possible this year.

A new report was just issued by MAP (Movement Advancement Project) that illuminates how public policy fails two million American children.

For years, anti-LGBT activists have tried to silence any school curricula that make the educational system more welcoming to children being raised by LGBT parents or guardians. MAP’s outstanding compilation of data and analysis will be an extremely powerful tool to end that silence.

The harm caused to these families by discriminatory economic, legal, and school policies is un-American and in-excusable.

This report provides irrefutable evidence that there is much work to be done to end that harm and charts the path of what needs to change.

As the organizers were closing up the main meeting room Friday night at the Northwest LGBTQ Youth Conference for Hope, in Meridian, Idaho, one of them approached me and whispered, “there’s a young woman in the audience who is in tears and she’s asked to speak with you.”

I looked up and saw her. Cute with spiky blond hair, her eyes red from crying. I had noticed her earlier, burrowed into the arms of a tall transgendered woman who was slated to speak on a panel the following day.

The room cleared out and Kyle (not her real name) finally stopped sobbing. She told me she was going into eighth grade next fall and that she just didn’t know what to do. “I’ve lost so many friends, just because of the way I am.”

She had asked for me because I had just facilitated a discussion after screening our film It’s STILL Elementary as the kickoff for the conference.  It tells the story of why Helen Cohen and I made It’s Elementary—Talking About Gay Issues in School back in 1996, what happened to many of the students in that original film, and how we had coped with vicious attacks from conservative right wing organizations that had tried to stop the film from airing on public television. (The only other time I have been to Idaho is when I came in 2006 to interview the staff at Idaho public TV about how they handled the pressures around the broadcast.)

The group had stayed afterwards for almost two hours after the credits rolled. It’s STILL Elementary opened up a floodgate of topics they wanted to discuss: Idaho politics (because some of the most heated battles were right here in their state), coming out, organizing Gay-Straight Alliances in schools, reading books with two moms, gratitude for supportive parents, and a wide array of teens’ experiences in Idaho’s high schools today.

“It’s a Christian school,” Kyle explained. “I just wish there was something at my school that was like you showed in the movie.” At her school, there is no GSA, no curriculum that fosters awareness of and respect for LGBT people, and not a single teacher at the school who she could imagine going to with her pain and loneliness. She said she knows there are many kids in the school who are LGBT or Q, but there is nothing to connect or support them.

“My mom is great though,” she said. “She’s here with me.” We agreed that maybe her mom could speak with other parents at the school and see if they could get something to happen.

The next day we screened Straightlaced, and when the audience questions were just about over, a middle-aged man took the microphone and haltingly told us that the part of the film that affected him the most was one of the last interview clips, when a student looks into the camera and reveals that he could lose his Eagle Scout status with the Boy Scouts because of coming out on camera in the film.

“My son was on track to get his Eagle Scout,” he said in almost a whisper, “but he wouldn’t do it because he was afraid they would do something to him. Why? Why would they do anything to my son?” No one in the room made a sound.

“He has all the leadership qualities they want Eagle Scouts to have.” It was clear that his heart had been broken to see his talented son back down from his goals because of the Boy Scouts’ homophobia.

I later learned that this father, who is Mormon, had attended the conference at his son’s request. “It’s amazing that he’s here,” the organizers told me.

When I meet people—like this father, like Kyle and her mom, and like Emilie Jackson-Edney, who proudly shared her experiences changing gender in the workshop after mine—in places as conservative as Meridian Idaho, I feel the arc of change bending. These are all good Christian people, who are struggling with their churches, their schools, and their community groups to ensure that all children are safe and loved.

“Do you think if you made It’s Elementary today that you would face as much opposition as you did in the early ‘90’s?” one person asked. I’m not sure, but I don’t think so.

We’re inching forward, but there is no going back.

Sixteen years ago, producer Helen Cohen and I were at PS 87 in New York City filming a fifth grade class during a civics lesson. “Today the law says that if you’re the same sex —two men or two women— you can’t get married, it is against the law,” their teacher explained. And then he set up a class assignment for students to debate whether or not the law should change.

When the news broke last Friday that New York had changed its discriminatory marriage laws, I immediately thought of this incredible scene in It’s Elementary—Talking About Gay Issues in School, the film Helen and I ended up making with the footage we shot that day.

These children had the opportunity, in elementary school, to think critically—with their teacher’s support—about whether or not it was fair for same sex couples to be denied equal legal rights. Today these same students are 25 and 26 years old! And they are part of the electorate that voted in the current representatives in the New York state legislature.

We couldn’t possibly have imagined when we completed It’s Elementary that it would continue to be so relevant and utilized 16 years later. But every week new copies of the film go out to school districts across the country.

Sometimes it’s because states have enacted new anti-bullying legislation and school districts need ways to help their teachers and staff members understand why it’s so important to be pro-active in addressing bias. Sometimes it’s because there has been some horrible hate crime or suicide and the district wants to do everything it can to prevent another tragedy.

And sometimes, it’s just because the cultural tide is turning and staff need support on how to grapple with their students’ questions about why the government treats LGBT people differently than everyone else.

Educators watch the film, or our companion documentary, It’s STILL Elementary. They use the highly regarded curriculum guide for these films that offers support on how and why to address LGBT issues in school settings. Inevitably these screenings and trainings build teachers’ understanding and confidence, preparing them to lead age-appropriate lessons for their students that are inclusive and welcoming to LGBT people and families.

Even more importantly, they support educational pedagogy which prioritizes critical thinking skills, respect, and compassion.

I hope we don’t have to wait for all of today’s elementary school children to grow up and become voters before we truly have full legal equality throughout the United States.

But for today, we’re celebrating the fact that if we were to film that same scene again right now in New York, the lesson would be different: today, in New York, two people of the same sex do have the right to marry!

GroundSpark has learned that the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights will turn its attention to peer-to-peer bullying, harassment, and violence in schools this May—and your stories are wanted. Beginning with a day-long briefing on peer-to-peer violence in K-12 public schools on May 13^th, the Commission’s report will examine bullying and other types of peer-to-peer violence where students are targeted due to their race, national origin, religion, disability, gender, or LGBT-status. According to Commissioner Roberta Achtenberg, the event breaks new ground as the first time the Civil Rights Commission will host a hearing on an LGBT-related issue.

GroundSpark will have the opportunity to submit testimony, along with many experts in social sciences, mental health, education and law. Commissioner Achtenberg is making a special effort to encourage those touched by peer-to-peer violence targeted against LGBT youth (and those perceived to be so) to share their stories. The collected stories will form a permanent record built from the contributions of people across the country, and these personal narratives will be an invaluable resource, aiding the Commission in understanding the nature, pervasiveness, geographic spread, and negative outcomes of such violence. Stories shared in this way will also help to set the stage for expert testimony and filings from professional perspectives.

Stories should be submitted in writing with the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights for inclusion in the public record. The Commission defines “inter-student violence,” as any verbal and physical assaults, teasing, bullying and any other form of harassment. The letters need not be formal or in any particular format. Each author is encouraged to write in their own voice and to tell their story in the terms in which it was experienced.  The Commission should learn of the personalities of the kids and families involved, the way things happened (or are still happening), what types of people were involved (other students, school staff, and/or others), and what impact these experiences are having on the student and for the rest of the family. Thoughts about what types of intervention might be helpful to address the causes could be important as well.

In order to humanize this issue as strongly as possible, families and individuals who are comfortable doing so are encouraged to attach a picture to the front of the letter. For those contributors who are not comfortable sharing their identity openly, they should use at least one initial to identify themselves and any people relevant to their stories since the letters will be submitted to the public record. It would be extremely helpful if writers who are maintaining anonymity could at least identify a region of a state in which they live (“Northern Maine,” or “Twin Cities Minnesota,” for example).

GroundSpark has been privileged over the years to see the power of your stories in action. We encourage stories about all forms of harassment, bullying and violence.  Don’t be afraid to make concrete suggestions about how schools, parents, teachers and communities should respond—the Commission can learn from what went wrong as well as what went right.

The Commission’s final report, to be issued in September 2011, will discuss student needs, promising programs, jurisdictional issues, and the enforcement efforts of the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice. Stories of how students, families, schools and communities are impacted by peer-to-peer bullying, harassment and violence are critical to the report’s effectiveness.

Letters should be sent, if possible, by May 1, 2011 for introduction into the Commission’s record in advance of the May 13 hearing in D.C. (the public record will remain open for 15 days following the hearing). The letter itself should be addressed to:

Kim Tolhurst, Esq., Acting General Counsel
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
624 Ninth St., N.W., Washington, D.C.  20001

Please note that the envelope should be addressed and mailed to Commissioner Achtenberg’s special assistant, Alec Duell at:

c/o Alec Deull
3102 Krueger Road North, Tonawanda, NY  14120

Announcing Our National Straightlaced Partners!

Last week, the White House hosted a conference on combating bullying. The same day, both houses of Congress reintroduced the Student Non-Discrimination Act to protect the rights of LGBT and gender non-conforming students in our nation’s schools.

We can’t think of better timing to proudly announce our national partners for the expanded outreach and education campaign for documentary film, Straightlaced—How Gender’s Got Us All Tied Up, about the pressures teens face today because of gender role expectations and homophobia.

We’re honored to have such an esteemed group of organizations working with us to share Straightlaced as a critical tool to help improve school social climates, particularly when it comes to addressing stigma and social pressures connected to gender roles, sexuality, and sexual orientation.

They are helping spread the word about the film, showcasing it at their conferences, writing about it in their newsletters and websites, promoting its distribution with partner discounts, and working with GroundSpark in a variety of exciting ways.

You can help too. Is there a school you know that could use a copy? A social service agency or community group? Does your organization want to become a Straightlaced partner?

Order your copy of Straightlaced today. Or stream a copy and watch it right now.

Contact us to explore partnership opportunities.

Or make a gift to help GroundSpark keep reaching out.

Thank you for helping us, as always, ignite change through film.

Debra Chasnoff, Founding Director & Amy Scharf, National Program Director

P.S. Please check out the amazing work that all of our Straightlaced partners do each day. It’s an honor to be collaborating with each of them.

Originally published in The Huffington Post

Hats off to the Obamas for drawing national attention to the problem of bullying in our school communities. Hosting a conference at the White House to draw more media attention to bullying is an excellent step forward.

Like most symbolic White House gatherings, though, this conference recommended some good steps forward but also carefully avoided some important strategies that need to be put in place if we are ever going to truly stop bullying.

Here’s my report card on what I heard on the live feed from the White House Thursday.

Raising the level of public awareness about the importance of addressing bullying in schools:

A+

“Bullying is not just a harmless rite of passage or an inevitable part of growing up,” the president said. “We can take steps — all of us — to help prevent bullying and create a climate in our schools in which all of our children can feel safe; a climate in which they all can feel like they belong.”

I couldn’t agree with him more.

Drawing attention to the fact that bias issues underlie many bullying incidents.

B

The president deserves credit for acknowledging that many students are targeted because of some aspect of their identity. “[Bullying] is also more likely to affect kids that are seen as different,” the President said, “whether it’s because of the color of their skin, the clothes they wear, the disability they may have, or sexual orientation.”

He acknowledged the families of two youths who committed suicide last year, one of them, Carl Walker Hoover, because of being tormented by homophobic harassment.

But he failed to explain that bias-infused harassment affects all youth, not just those who have are seen as “different.” Anti-LGBT stigma and the pressure to conform to gender norms, for example, affects all girls and boys regardless of how they may identify sexually at any point in their lives.
Calling for system wide efforts for curricula that address rampant anti-LGBT stigma, racial and ethnic stereotypes, mental and physical disabilities, religious differences, and pressures to conform to gender norms.

C

Acknowledging the families of those who endured bias-based harassment is not the same as calling for pro-active education that prevents that bias from developing in the first place. It is definitely possible to pull school communities together to take initiative against bias. I know we can because we have been helping to do that for years with GroundSpark’s Respect for All Project.

Shifting the focus from individual responses to bullying to communitywide culture-changing ones.

B-

The selection of experts on the panel that spoke after Mr. and Mrs. Obama were focused primarily on psychological and behavioral factors, which, of course, contribute to bullying. But only one, Professor George Sugai, encouraged the discussion to focus on sociological factors, namely changing the culture in schools.

Advocating for funding and programs that train every teacher on how to address bullying and the bias that underlies it.

C

One speaker mentioned that we need more teacher training. While another commented on the fact that while 40 states have anti-cyber bullying laws, none of them have provided funding to enforce them. Lack of training for individual teachers and for school staff as a whole is probably the single most significant stumbling block to changing school culture.

Moving from rhetoric to action

B

The White House announced several programs that Facebook, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association, and others are launching to step up ways to address bullying.

And kudos are deserved for the federal government’s launch of www.stopbullying.gov, which amazingly includes a section for LGBT youth. But the website has no resources to help schools and educators address bias issues, or to help train teachers or to help with a systematic approach to change school climate.

Overall Grade Point Average

B

Areas for Improvement

1. Tie federal funding for education to mandatory anti-bias and anti-bullying training for school personnel that focuses on school wide culture change, not just stronger discipline.

2. Bravely call for more pro-active curricula that help students learn about why all kinds of stigma, including homophobia, are harmful to everyone and how they can be allies to stop it.

Mr. President, you made significant progress during this grading period, and we hope you can realize your full potential in the semesters to come.

Last night the Vallejo Unified School District 30 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge, voted 4 – 1 to continue its anti-bullying curriculum for students in its elementary, middle, and high schools.

The curriculum was put in place as the result of a settlement negotiated by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California on behalf of a lesbian student in the district who was being harassed —by faculty and staff at her school—because of her sexual orientation.

The district agreed to bring age-appropriate lessons about diversity and standing up against bullying and name-calling into every classroom, and also to provide training to all faculty and staff about anti-gay harassment and discrimination. GroundSpark’s films and educational resources are being used at all grade levels to help implement this plan.

At a contentious board meeting last night, parents were split in their opinions about the curriculum. Many, including the mother of the young woman who had been harassed, applauded the district’s efforts to prevent further harassment.

I saw how it affected her,” Sheree Hamilton said in reference to her daughter, Roxanne. “She fell into a deep depression. She didn’t laugh anymore. She fell behind in school.”

“Teenagers, gay teenagers committing suicide: why? Because this education was not there,” said another parent, Franklin Hernandez.

As has been true in other school districts, the Pacific Justice Institute, a conservative activist organization opposed to any discussion of LGBT people in schools, played a role in organizing parents to oppose the district’s anti-bullying work.

At last night’s meeting, some speakers objected to the district having a curriculum that acknowledges families headed by gay or lesbian parents, or curriculum for teenage students that discusses anything related to sexual orientation or gender norms. Others claimed that the district’s implementation of this curriculum without giving them the option to “opt-out” their children from the lessons constitutes “bullying” by the district.

Despite this vocal opposition, the school board members stood behind the anti-bullying curriculum.

We are very proud that the district is using our Respect for All Project resources to help implement its initiative. Elementary school students watch That’s a Family! which introduces respectful awareness of what it means to grow up in families headed by parents who are divorced, single, different races, lesbian or gay, as well as those who are being raised by adoptive parents or guardians.

In middle school they are watching Let’s Get Real, which helps open up discussion about harassment connected to racial tension, religious differences, anti-gay stigma, difference in family income, immigration status and more.

And in high school, students are watching Straightlaced—How Gender’s Got Us All Tied Up, a proven catalyst for helping all upper level students think about how pressures to conform to gender role norms can lead students to collude with anti-gay harassment, engage in risky sexual practices, or get violent.

As part of GroundSpark’s response to this fall’s wave of media attention on teen suicide related to homophobic bullying and harassment, we have been offering free streaming of all of our Respect for All Project films through the end of the year.

Just click on our anti-bullying spark to find out more.

(For That’s a Family! click here for free streaming in support of National Adoption Day)

I had planned to send out a blog post today announcing our new partnership with Google, but now I need to also let you know about another tragedy that has occurred in the midst of our gratitude.

Yesterday we learned of yet another young teenager who was being harassed daily with anti-gay slurs and who felt that the only solution was to end his life. Brandon Bitner was only 14. Last week, he apparently deliberately ran in front of a trailer truck and was killed. He left behind a note saying he was tired of being called “faggot” and “sissy.”

His classmates are planning on leaving class today and surrounding Mid-West High School in Middleburg, Pennsylvania, with a human chain to remember Brandon and call for an end to bullying.

And as I am writing this, I just learned of another harrowing story. A middle school girl, age 12, was beaten up by students after she attended her Christian fellowship group at Hernando Middle School in Tennessee last week just because her name is Randi.  Apparently her schoolmates objected to the fact that she had a “man’s name.”

These incidents are another powerful reminder of how the pressure to conform to gender norms and the homophobia that underlies those pressures must be addressed if we are ever going to put a halt to the national bullying epidemic.

These events make it all the more poignant for us to gratefully announce that Google has made a $20,000 gift to GroundSpark to support our documentary-film based campaigns to address bias-based bullying in schools.

We also recently received an additional significant infusion of support from our longtime partner, the Gill Foundation, to enable us to reach out to more communities with advice, films, curricula, and access to professional development to address anti-gay and all other forms of bullying.

These two remarkable gifts make it possible for us to continue distributing our anti-bullying “Spark” through the end of the year, to continue to provide leadership in the National Safe Schools Roundtable, to respond to school district requests for support to address homophobic and gender-non-conformity issues, and to support schools trying to incorporate LGBT-inclusive curricula.

Free Streaming of GroundSpark’s documentaries extended to December 31, 2010.

Tens of thousands of people have shared the Spark on Facebook, through email, Twitter, or by posting it on their blogs or websites.

The Spark allows anyone to stream four of our top documentary films for free, offers discounts on DVD and curriculum purchases, and easily connects users to downloadable resources.

So many people have clamored to tell LGBT youth that “It Gets Better” and have shared the stories of what they are doing to “Make It Better.”  I’m so proud that GroundSpark can help put real concrete tools at the disposal of all youth, parents, educators, social workers and anyone else who is looking for ways to get the people they care about to start taking action to make sure that it really does get better.

Please put Google and the Gill Foundation’s generosity to work. Click on the SHARE button in the Spark and post it as widely as you can.

Finally, I found this video that Brandon Bitner posted on Facebook earlier this year of him playing a solo in a school concert. Apparently, he was quite a skilled violinist. I can only imagine what kind of harassment he must have endured that could silence this music.

On behalf of GroundSpark’s board of directors and staff, I am delighted to announce we now have a new executive director! Please join me in warmly welcoming Susan Mooney to GroundSpark, where she will work in partnership with our board, staff, and founder, Debra Chasnoff, to lead the organization into our next exciting chapter.

Susan brings to GroundSpark a unique blend of skills and experience in fostering change in organizations, groups and communities. A leader in the Violence Against Women movement for many years, Susan was instrumental in adding sexual assault prevention as a core component to the first Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), passed in 1994. Over the past 12 years, Susan has focused on supporting progressive organizations undergoing changes in leadership, direction and vision, including Chinese for Affirmative Action, Asian Law Caucus, California Labor Federation and Center for Domestic Violence Prevention. In this capacity, Susan has enhanced the effectiveness and impact of organizations working on a range of civil rights issues including immigrant rights, LGBTQI rights, domestic violence, workers rights and tenants rights. We are thrilled to have Susan’s values and expertise to help lead GroundSpark into the future.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to recognize the amazing work and dedication of Debra Chasnoff. For close to 30 years she has been at the helm of this organization, wearing multiple hats as executive director, filmmaker, producer, lead fundraiser and spokesperson. Debra has made exceptional contributions to the field of documentary filmmaking, the LGBT family rights and safe schools movements, and the environmental justice movement — just to name a few. Her passion, commitment and vision have been extraordinary. With Susan coming on board, Debra, in her evolving role as president and senior producer, will focus on developing new creative projects for GroundSpark and expanding our ability to bring the messages of our film-based campaigns to an even wider audience.

This is an important moment in the life of GroundSpark and we invite you to join us for our next exciting chapter. Your continued support is vital at this time as we transition GroundSpark’s leadership and prepare ourselves for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

If you’d like to send Susan your own personal welcome, you can reach her at smooney@groundspark.org. And thank you, as always, for being part of our work to create visionary films and dynamic education campaigns that move individuals and communities to take action for a more just world.

Sincerely,

Ruth Borenstein
Chair, GroundSpark Board of Directors

As news of five suicides committed by youth who were targeted with homophobic harassment has spread across the country, GroundSpark has redoubled our commitment to helping communities do a much better job of addressing anti-LGBT bias, particularly in school.

We are making some of our tools available for free for the next two months
in an effort to get them out far and wide during this time of intense public awareness.

But we need your help. And I don’t just mean by sending a donation.

We need your help in shaping the public conversation and getting GroundSpark’s powerful tools into the right hands.

Click on this “spark” to share our resources and analysis with everyone you know who works with youth. We’ve made it very easy to insert in an email, post on Facebook, Twitter, or any website.

There is a lot of talk right now about more stringent laws and punishment for bullying. We definitely need strong, federal and state anti-bullying legislation. The full solution, though, involves much more than tough laws and rules.

We need to go deeper and address the underlying ignorance and stereotypes that contribute so painfully to the bullying epidemic. We need to build a culture of empathy and compassion. We need to get everyone on board—every student, every parent, and every adult who works with youth.

In recent days, many excellent new initiatives have popped up to support LGBT-identified students and their allies. GroundSpark is building on the good work of our sister organizations by sharing what we do best: sparking the transformation of whole schools from places of conflict and alienation to communities of respect and support.

We know from experience that people get inspired and motivated when they can see moving examples of honest, caring discussion about tough issues like bias-based harassment.

That’s what GroundSpark—through our films, curriculum guides and trainings—can provide. So for the first time our curriculum guides are available for free online and parents and students can stream our films for free into their homes.

Talking about how all students are negatively affected by anti-gay bias, no matter how they identify, is not easy. Nor is talking about stigmas regarding gender norms, race and class. But we have been doing this work, thoughtfully, and with great success for close to fifteen years.

To do our job well, though, particularly at this moment, we need you to help us spread the word.

You can help us reach out to the parents of the youth who do the bullying, the parents of youth who are scared to death to speak up on a classmate’s behalf for fear of being targeted themselves, and the parents who don’t know what to do when their own kids are harassed.

You can help us reach the science teachers, baseball coaches, janitors, and school bus drivers so they understand that it is an important part of their job descriptions to model how to respond to anti-gay slurs.

You can help us give administrators and guidance counselors support and tools to launch in-depth dialogues and school-wide commitments that address bias and prejudice in serious, constructive ways, and not just through discipline.

Please take a moment to share GroundSpark’s Respect for All Project with everyone you know who cares about youth. We’ve brought together our best tools on addressing bias, particularly homophobia. All we need now is you to join our team and spread the word.

Just click here and you’ll see how easy it is to get started.

We’re committed to change. Join us.

Debra Chasnoff
President and Senior Producer

As a documentary filmmaker, it is so rewarding when your work is used in communities affected by the very issues your films raise. Every year we hear from school staff, community leaders, religious groups, youth and parents about the ways that GroundSpark films help local efforts to reduce prejudice, increase empathy, and open hearts and minds. We wanted to share one story that exemplifies a growing trend across the country in which school districts are being required to act in response to lawsuits from students claiming unchecked anti-gay harassment and gender bias.

In 2009, the Vallejo City Unified School District in northern CA settled a lawsuit with Rochelle Hamilton, a high school student who was harassed by teachers and students because she was an out lesbian. As part of the settlement, the district was required to provide mandatory training for teachers, staff and students about preventing and identifying anti-gay harassment and discrimination.

We were thrilled to learn that, to fulfill these requirements, school officials, like many others around the country, have chosen to use The Respect For All Project films and curriculum guides as a central part of their anti-bias training for both adults and youth. As a result, every school in the district will own and use copies of That’s a Family!, Let’s Get Real and Straightlaced. In addition, It’s Elementary-Talking About Gay Issues in School will be used in teacher/staff trainings .

Sharon Rose Babot, Coordinator of Instructional Services is leading the Vallejo school district’s efforts to ensure that their schools are safe and inclusive for all students including LGBTQ identified students. Through GroundSpark’s Technical Assistance and Training program Sharon found support and guidance to help her develop and organize district-wide teacher/staff trainings. Sharon shared with us that she found our films and accompanying guides to be particularly useful, “ because the films are in ‘student voices,’ their impact and message are much more powerful than an adult giving information about law, issues, etc. around LGBTQ awareness.” She thanked The Respect for All Project for “providing us with the tools and the curriculum guides that will allow us to present powerful and thought provoking information around respectful interaction with all human beings.”

In Vallejo, teacher/staff trainings have already begun, and schools are expected to implement programs for students this fall. In the future, we hope that more districts and schools will join those in the know and act before lawsuits are filed, as a way to prepare and educate their communities about LGBTQ harassment and prejudice.

A new study being published in the July issue of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ journal Pediatrics has found that children raised by lesbian parents are just as strong socially, academically and in total competence than as their peers raised by non-lesbian parents. What great news to read on a Monday morning! Finally, a study published by America’s leading pediatric medical group confirmed what we have known all along and have been working to help others see: that the children of LGBT-headed families exist in our communities and function just like their peers who come from non-gay families. And to read that, in some measures, they are in fact doing better than their peers sent a wave of excitement through our office – because helping the kids of LGBT-headed families succeed is important to our work. Our film That’s a Family! has screened in schools, communities, teacher education programs and more, as a way to allow children and adults to see LGBT parents and their kids in an affirming light. This is crucial not only for kids with gay parents to see themselves reflected in media, but also for others to see that these families are just like their own.

The news also made me think about our 1984 film Choosing Children, about the different ways lesbians were becoming parents and raising children. When Gattrell’s study was first began in 1986, Choosing Children had already been screening to audiences across the country. It was a time when lesbian and gay parents were just gaining mainstream visibility and the lesbian baby boom was igniting. How far we have come, 25 years later, when Gartrell’s study shows not only that children raised by lesbians will turn out okay, they will even excel. On that note, this fall we are screening a newly-restored film print of Choosing Children, celebrating all the wonderful children LGBT people are now parenting. And we’d love for you to join us at this community event. See the invitation and program.

You can read Nanette Gattrell’s study in the journal Pediatrics here.

GroundSpark has been keeping our eyes on textbooks the past few months, as new guidelines about their content were enacted across the world. Schools rely heavily on textbooks, and the information they contain forms the building blocks for how youth see each other and the world.

As we optimistically shared to our Facebook fans, the Taiwan Ministry of Education has decided to begin including positive mentions of LGBT issues and people in 11 different content areas beginning in 2011. The Ministry of Educated justified the move by saying, “Students should be able to grow up happily in an environment of tolerance and respect,” and further recognized that teaching materials need to adequately reflect social diversity — two core inspirations for the work of our Respect For All Project.

Unfortunately, closer to home, a dramatic debate played out in front of the Texas State Board of Education. In considering over 300 proposed changes to the events, people, and philosophies that students learn, the Board rewrote history with a profound conservative and Judeo-Christian bias. Among some of the revisions: removing references to ‘the separation of church and state,’ deleting Cesar Chavez as an important historical figure and adding Rush Limbaugh, and highlighting the work of Phyllis Schlafly, founder of the anti-gay Eagle Forum. One frustrated board member said the new rules, “Pretend this is a white America and Hispanics don’t exist.”

The changes, which were voted on and approved this week, will have a ripple effect across the country. Texas is one of the largest markets for educational materials, and the state’s new textbook rules will change the content available to other states. In light of this news, GroundSpark remains even more committed to working tirelessly to ensure accurate and inclusive curriculum is available in every classroom. Stay tuned to our facebook page, blog and Twitter account to keep abreast of the ways our films and resources are being used across the country.

At the end of April, our Respect For All Project facilitators, Nancy Otto and Scott Hirschfeld, led a training in Asheville, North Carolina centered around our anti-bullying film Let’s Get Real. The training was organized by Safe Schools for All, an emerging alliance in western North Carolina of organizations committed to addressing bias-based harassment in the region’s schools. Scott kicked off the session by sharing a gripping suicide note of a 14-year old boy, named Hamed who, after being relentlessly tormented by his peers with slurs like big-nose, four-eyes, geek and fag, 14-year-old Hamed became so depressed that he saw only one way out.

GroundSpark trainer Nancy Otto (standing) facilitates a small group discussion

The training attendees—teachers, after school youth service providers, principals, parents, and a couple of clergymembers—asked if we could share Hamed’s last note to his parents, which Scott read out loud at the training. And so we are reprinting it here below. It was printed in the book Cyber Bullying: Issues and Solutions for the School by Shaheen Shariff (Taylor & Francis, Inc.).There is an article about Hamed online.

Here is the excerpt from Hamed’s five-page suicide note explaining his decision:

“Dear Mom and Dad, The first thing is, I love you Mom and Dad, but you didn’t understand why I had to commit suicide.  There was so much going on and I tried to cope with it, but I couldn’t take it anymore…It was horrible.  Every day I was teased and teased, everyone calling me gay, fag, queer, and I would always act like it didn’t bug me…But I was crying inside me.  It hurt me so bad ……and when people said it, my own friends never backed me up.  They just laughed…  I know that you are going to miss me and that you will never forgive me, but you will never understand.  You weren’t living my life.  I hate myself for doing this to you.  I really, really hate myself, but there is no other way out for me…I love you Dad and Mom.  Please, please tell the people at school why I did this.  I don’t want somebody else to do what I have done.  Mom, after my death please, please go to schools and talk to kids that bullying and teasing has big consequences…Please visit my grave often so I’m not lonely.”

After watching Let’s Get Real and going through the training, the 65 trainees were each eager to start working on the action plan they developed for their own schools and community groups. “It’s an intense way to start off,” Scott reflects, “but it certainly gets us all on the same page about how high the stakes are and how important it is that we all work harder to address these issues.”

In April, Debra Chasnoff had an op-ed published in the Huffington Post about the underlying gender issues that haven’t been discussed very much in the community response to the suicide of 15-year-old Phoebe Prince. We received a wide range of responses to the article, some published on the Huffington Post website, some on GroundSpark’s facebook page, others by email. As always, these issues, and our perspective on them, reach a wide range of people who connect to youth in different ways.

Here are some excerpts from the responses:

“Great article!!  I am so glad you wrote that.  Finally, someone is addressing the core of the bullying — youth are merely acting out the values of society.  It’s striking that most acts of bullying center around a boy – whether it’s competition for a boy, as in Phoebe’s case, or the accusation of being gay, such as in Carl Walker Hoover’s case…. I love how you recognize the ‘problem’ as being institutional/societal and the solution as being educational.”

Image from "Let's Get Real"

“Thank you! – I live in Springfield, MA, I sit in a men’s group in here with men whose children go to the South Hadley schools. I have been watching this closely – with sadness and anger. There are good people doing great work out there – like you! And I think that it is time for adult men to go into the shadows of their own adolescence and learn how to help boys become mature, compassionate men. I believe that there is a stunning lack of emotional intelligence and basic empathy in our modeling for teenagers – and this case demonstrates how stuck we are. We continue to use ‘carrot and stick’ approaches when these methods of motivating have been shown OVER and OVER to FAIL in psychological & social studies… Our culture is driven by adolescent boy mentality – consume, objectify, compete, detach, blame, hide, attack. Boys and girls need to be listened to, accepted, acknowledged, mentored and blessed … every day. In my opinion there aren’t enough adults in our society who know how to do this for each other, let alone for children. I think we need a new movement of adult males. Men who are willing to do the hard emotional inquiry it takes so we can raise the next generations to be healthy, safe and mature men rather than boys in men’s bodies. Ready? www.openmen.org or www.mankindproject.org.”

“Arresting and sentencing the students who criminally conspired to torment and abuse a young Irish immigrant will not solve any problems, you are correct in that. However, should the legal system turn a blind eye when peer abuse/bullying includes stalking, statutory rape (it’s a law on the books, and a reason why girls under 16 are called jailbait), and criminal harassment? Do kids get a get out of jail free card for abusing a fellow student? Actions have consequences, sometimes legal ones. Bullying is now 24/7 with social media like formspring.me, facebook, twitter, and texting. Is it time we consider peer abuse to be as harmful to our kids as child abuse.”

“Dear Debra, Thank you for this email.  I am a parent of a gay son (who is now thriving in SF as an IT project manager), have a local parent support group in Hawaii called Da Moms, and do projects for community outreach and education on GLBT.  We have used It’s Elementary in the past with the state department of education and am working to get greater interest and use of your harassment/bullying, and of Straightlaced videos.  I am lining up funding and a working committee to hold a 2 day conference for health and social service providers in about a year – and hope to bring in resources from the mainland too.  I plan to make a trip to SF in September and perhaps visit Groundspark then.  You do wonderful work!”

Image from "Straightlaced"

“I am an elementary teacher. Very little bullying ever happens in front of me. A LOT happens when adults aren’t looking. There is no perfect way to deal with it. Punishing the bullies makes the victim a bigger target…or provides reason to unleash their henchmen. Shielding the victim would require them being with an adult every second they are at school…totally impractical and it puts another target on their backs. …Ms. Chasnoff suggests schools take a more active role in helping students develop better skills in this area, but the girl who said, “We never get to talk about this stuff,” is correct. Curriculum is all tied to teaching the standards in order to cover the material that will be on the state test. Until educator’s heads are removed from the test guillotine, all the little social extras aren’t going to be done….”

“As you know, there are a cadre of trainers who are ready to go to any school to educate faculty about these issues. I am one of the National Educaiton Association trainers and we use your films in our presentations. I believe prevention solves a lot of suffering. If you hear of anyone who needs a training for their staff you can contact PSathrum@NEA.org. Good luck and thanks for taking on this fight.”

“Thank you for making the connection to the Prince death; I think these reminders of relevance are very important. Our middle schoolers know and talk about these events, often seeing them as out there, as if there were little likelihood that their own unkindnesses were of a different order. ”

“I agree that arresting a few students will not stop bullying at that particular school or any other. I have been following this case closely and it shows that something awful must happen in our society to gain any attention on the issue of school bullying. Despite the attention, the response is not effective; like every aggressive or violent act that occurs, someone must be blamed and punished. As a public health student, my hope is for prevention. The problem is that prevention is not valued in our society because it does not produce readily observable effects like throwing someone in jail does.”

A few months ago, Straightlaced–How Gender’s Got Us All Tied Up screened at the National Association of Independent Schools’ People of Color Conference in Colorado. Wanda Holland Greene, Head of the Hamlin School in San Francisco and long time supporter of GroundSpark, co-presented the film with Social Studies Teacher Kirsten Gustavson to an audience made up primarily of independent school leaders and teachers of color.

Wanda opened the workshop by asking the group to do something we are rarely asked to do in our everyday lives as adults: Think back to when you were a child and try to remember a message that you received about what it meant to be a “proper man” or a “proper woman.” She asked participants to think about what their chosen message was and try to hear it in the source’s voice—was it their mother’s voice, their teacher’s voice, the television, the radio, or maybe their pastor?

Wanda Holland Green and Kirsten Gustavson

Unearthing the messages about who and what they should be in the world, and locating the many different sources of these messages, was incredibly revealing. “I wanted the audience to have an introspective approach to the topic of gender,” Wanda says.  But she also wanted people to bring their insights into their classrooms. She goes on: “So what does it mean to create a safe, inclusive learning environment in our classrooms when gender messages come from so many multiple sources, unique to each individual’s experience? If diversity is a component of excellence, how do we take into account the varying experiences of gender expectations that all of our students face?”

The answer to this question is obviously complex, but one important piece is surely Wanda and Kirsten’s approach of asking educators to think back to when they themselves were young. “Straightlaced allowed us to reconnect our professional work on diversity and inclusion with the very real “stuff” of lived human experience.  By sharing our own feelings and stories about gender, we remembered how powerful the messages are, and many left the session energized and excited to help our young people better understand their own experiences,” Kirsten noted. Sharing our personal stories allows us to see the similarities and differences in what we all experience and offers a chance for dialogue to grow. Certainly the young people in Straightlaced show us what a powerful force stories can be.

Here’s GroundSpark’s challenge to you: Tell us your personal story. Leave a comment about a message you received when you were younger about what being a “proper man” or a “proper woman” means.

I was recently out in western Massacusetts for screenings of Straightlaced and Let’s Get Real. At one of them, the superintendent and assistant superintendent of the South Hadley, Massachusetts school district were in attendance. They were very moved by the films and said they thought they would be very helpful to their work in the district. Bullying, gender, and homophobia must be on their minds a lot right now, because of the suicide of 15-year old Phoebe Prince, who attended high school in their town. Since those screenings I have been following the Prince case closely and today have an opinion piece about it published in The Huffington Post.

We are reprinting it here as well.

Arresting Teenagers Doesn’t Solve Gender Pressures

“It is completely understandable why there has been so much pressure on government authorities in South Hadley, Massachusetts to find someone to blame for 15-year old Phoebe Prince’s suicide last month.

But the issues involved in this case, and in the case of Carl Walker Hoover, the ten-year old boy who committed suicide this time last year a few miles away in Springfield, Massachusetts, are far more complex and cultural than a tale of bullies run amuck who need to be dealt with as criminals.

We can lock up perpetrators and institute all the anti-bullying rules and policies we want, but unless the responsible adults in every community–educators, parents, administrators, and counselors–find a way to open up real, meaningful dialogue about gender and sexuality based pressures and bias–what happened to Phoebe and to Carl is likely to continue.

As a documentary filmmaker who has made several films about youth, bullying and prejudice, I have had the opportunity to speak with hundreds of diverse high school students about the internal struggles they face every day to feel good about themselves in our culture.

Invariably over half the students in every high school classroom I’ve visited–private or public, in rural, suburban, or inner city communities–have jumped at the chance to talk about the pressures they contend with which are connected to societal norms about gender and sexuality.

“Please don’t go,” a female sophomore begged when we visited her history class. “We never get to talk about this stuff but it’s what I think about all the time, every day.”

Phoebe Prince committed suicide after constant bullying at school.

When I read about Phoebe, I thought of the many female students we’ve interviewed who have confided about the daily stress they face trying to make sense of the mixed messages they receive from the media, their families, and their peers about how a young woman is supposed to look and act.

Young women are constantly told that their value as human beings is determined by how sexy they are, how much skin they reveal, how close to some ideal of perfection their body curves match. And then they are chastised for crossing some invisible line and “going too far.”

One high school senior told me about the spiral of pressures that led her to turn to serious drugs. “I feel that people are judging me all the time,” she said. “I’m just paranoid, like, what are they thinking, do they think my boobs are big, do they think they are small, do they think my butt’s big?”

If girls fail to tow the line, they are invariably subjected to negative slurs and accusations connected to their sexuality–”slut,” “whore,” “bitch” if they go too far one way, “dyke” if they go the other.

And when it comes to actual sexual activity, it is very challenging to grapple with our culture’s double standard. “Like when a man runs around or sleeps with a lot of women, ” one girl complained. “He’s a player. All the boys give him his props, and they go brag about it. But when a woman tends to sleep around, she’s a whore, a slut or a ripper.”

Similarly, when I read about Carl Walker Hoover last year, I thought about the boys I interviewed who have shared their worries about how they dress, how physically affectionate they can be with their male friends, the expectations they face to lose their virginity and have lots of sexual partners, the way they talk, the way they hold their bodies when they walk–all to fit some unarticulated norm about the proper way to be masculine. They are painfully aware of how one little slip in behavior or appearance could lead to being the recipient of relentless anti-gay slurs.

“Having your sexuality questioned is a very powerful tool in controlling someone,” one male high school junior told me. “And I think that’s mainly why people say (things about that). Because it’s so easy to control someone by questioning something that they don’t know, by making fun of something they can’t help.”

Arresting those who bully may bring some brief consolation to one community. But it does nothing to create a culture where every single student is able to come of age in a supportive, nurturing way.

We need to demand that our school curricula help all students understand that they do not need to play into these destructive cultural messages and they can be allies to each other as they navigate these muddy cultural waters. And we need to work together to ensure that all young people have the space and respect to develop their sexuality and gender expression in authentic, safe ways that match who they really are inside.”

Our whole staff at GroundSpark is working hard to help everyone concerned about “bullying” to dig deeper and start dealing with the sexism and homophobia that fuels so much of it. Please get involved — share this article with your friends and colleagues, and consider making a donation to GroundSpark as well.

I’m Sukh, an intern for GroundSpark and a student of public health interested in the issue of school bullying as a public health concern and novel ways of preventing it.

Two weeks ago on KGO News Radio, I heard David Lazarus discussing the topic of bullying with listeners. Some questions that came up include, what makes bullies bullies? What makes victims victims? How can victims defend themselves? Many listeners pointed to self-defense classes as a way not only to build self-esteem, but as a technique for protection in case a bullying incident arose.

Bob Gordon, a member of my cohort in the San Francisco State University MPH program, emailed in and suggested that listeners watch a copy of Let’s Get Real and David Lazarus shared this advice with listeners…Thanks Bob!

So, can karate classes combat bullying? In the field of public health, there is a lot of emphasis on PRIMARY PREVENTION, which is targeting the entire population to prevent a negative outcome (i.e. bullying). While self-defense has its benefits and can be helpful in many ways, I don’t think these classes are the way to prevent bullying. Rather I feel that self-defense is a method of treatment—after the roles of bully and victim have been identified and the relationship between victim and bully has been established.

Methods such as those of GroundSpark’s are ones that are really effective in identifying the root of the problem. GroundSpark films Let’s Get Real and Straightlaced touch on the issue of bias, which takes form in racism, classism, sexism, and various other isms. Creating awareness of diversity and highlighting the need for respect can create an atmosphere of inclusiveness and acceptance. As a result, children can develop healthy relationships with each other that don’t involve bullying in the first place and karate can be valued as an extracurricular activity rather than a necessity.

Last year I went to Greensboro, North Carolina to screen Straightlaced, It’s Elementary, It’s Still Elementary, Let’s Get Real, and That’s a Family! for several different groups of educators in the community. As often happens after these events, attendees left very inspired to take the next step in their communities to put these films to work so that the culture can change to create more safe, inclusive, and successful school environments. People who never before thought that they could take steps to pro-actively address homophobic and other kinds of bias change right before our eyes, and become empowered to take action. Take a look at some of the audience’s reaction to the film:

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Audience reactions to the Greensboro, NC premiere of
Straightlaced — How Gender’s Got Us All Tied Up in 2009.
Join our Straightlaced group on facebook!

So, I am was very excited to learn that last week, educators in Greensboro did indeed take it to the next level. Annette Green, one of the main organizers, sent us this report:

These were words written on evaluations by the Guilford County Schools teachers, counselors, social workers, media specialists and administrators to describe the Respect In Our Schools training they attended on February 27. The six hours spent at Wesley Long Education Center were jam packed with thought provoking presentations, exercises and discussions to help them understand the issues involved with creating safe and welcoming schools, and give them some tools to do it. GSAFE, along with PFLAG and other community groups organized the training, which was largely sponsored by a grant from Guilford Green Foundation. Presenters were volunteers from GSAFE, Equality NC, GCS, Guilford College and the NC Association of Social Workers .

In addition to learning what state law and GCS policy require in terms of protecting LGBT students, training participants viewed films from GroundSpark’s “Respect For All Series” (by filmmaker Debra Chasnoff) and practiced how these could be applied to various grade levels in the schools. They also worked in teams to identify problems and create Action Plans for their schools.

There was tremendous excitement and a sense of empowerment among participants to take what they learned back to their classrooms. Some other comments on evaluations included:

WE WILL!!!

GroundSpark’s work in Lake County, California is featured in an important story on today’s “California Report” airing on public radio throughout the state at 8pm today.

Reporter Scott Shafer wanted to do a follow up story on the two-year anniversary of the tragic murder of Ventura County openly gay eighth grader Lawrence King. With a grant from the California Endowment and the Ford Foundation, GroundSpark’s Respect for All Project (RFAP) has been reaching out in Ventura County to encourage the schools to do pro-active education with teachers and students to prevent bias-based harassment.

We also told Scott about the amazing work happening north of the Bay Area in Lake County, where we have been supporting a network of educators, parents, and activists to strengthen the county’s efforts to be pro-active and to implement comprehensive anti-bias plans in help prevent bias and violence.

Over the last two years, Cristy Chung, our community programs director, and Barry Chersky, one of our longtime faciliator/trainers, have helped community leaders conduct a county-wide assessment and develop a blueprint for taking more concrete steps to create safer and more welcoming schools.

Last week they showed Lake County’s Respect for All Task Force our new film for high school students, Straightlaced—How Gender’s Got Us All Tied Up. The California Report’s Scott Shafer was in Lake Country and talked to Cristy about GroundSpark’s work. Tune in today to hear the story (at 8 pm on KQED), or listen to the story online.

GroundSpark’s Respect for All Project provides films, curricular resources and professional development training programs to support school communities to be safe, inclusive, and welcoming for all students. For help in your community, visit www.groundspark.org or contact community programs director, Cristy Chung.

Last week we received an email from a woman named Monique Marshall. Apparently she had attended the Straightlaced premiere in Los Angeles last March. Monique purchased a copy of the film and then took it home to watch with her ten-year-old daughter, Moreau.

Moreau wrote a letter to T’Uh from STRAIGHTLACED

T’Uh, “the Sporty Hot Dog Girl” in STRAIGHTLACED

After seeing the film, Moreau asked her mother if she could write a letter to one of the young people in Straightlaced. This is Moreau’s letter to “Sporty Hot Dog Girl:”

In the film, after constant badgering from others to look different and act “the way ‘young ladies’ are supposed to,” T’Uh stands firmly by her choice to look different and be herself in the world–”I do what I want. I like being different.”

I went ahead and sent the letter to T’Uh over the weekend and she had this to say in response: “The letter touched my heart and gave me chills. I’m going to write to my new buddy right away.”

Thank you Monique, for sharing Straightlaced with your daughter! The culture change that we need for our young people to be their fullest and brightest selves will take the work of many–especially parents.

Last Saturday was a miserably cold day with dreadful weather conditions in Lexington, KY. While many locals camped out at home with hopes of catching the University of Kentucky basketball game on TV later that afternoon, another group gathered at Kentucky Theater in the early part of the morning in great anticipation of the state’s premiere of GroundSpark’s award-winning film Straightlaced—How Gender’s Got Us All Tied Up. By the time 10:00am rolled around, over 400 people crowded into the theater, finding any available room on the floor to sit.

“I had no idea there would be so many people who were in interested in this film,” says Travis Myles of the Kentucky Fairness Alliance who introduced the film at the theater. What’s most interesting is the story of how the event came to happen and all the players who made it into that theater last Saturday.

Myles had never heard of GroundSpark’s work until he met Debra Chasnoff last summer at the annual meeting of the Equality Federation, the national network of state-based organizations working for LGBT equality. Debra had been invited to screen the film, and our other anti-bullying documentary, Let’s Get Real, because of the powerful role the films can play in helping states pass comprehensive anti-bullying laws. “I was interested because I think film is one of the best ways to help change the hearts and minds of the key players we need to reach in this movement,” says Travis.

After the showing, Travis approached Debra and “she told me about the local significance and relationship that Lexington played in the pivotal scene in Straightlaced, and immediately put me contact with local folks who were working hard to screen the film for the Lexington community.”

From there, the Kentucky Fairness Alliance, and The Jesse Higginbotham Technology Trust and the family of Hannah Landers, a student in the film who died in a car accident, along with the Fred Mills of the Kentucky Theatre and the Central Kentucky Council for Peace and Justice, the Lexington GLSO GSA, the Voice of Silence and Dunbar’s No Day But Today hosted this spectacularly moving event.

In the audience, over half whom were high school aged youth, people were sitting on each others’ laps to make room for everyone. The audience was diverse, including a select group of young women from the Florence Crittenton home, a group home dedicated to help pregnant and parenting youth in their journey toward empowerment and independence. “It was amazing,” says Rebecca Woloch, a local parent who was one of the main organizers. “Thank you for allowing us the chance to do this great thing for Hannah and Josh (the student in Straightlaced who committed suicide) and everyone who has ever had to fight to be accepted for who they really are.”

Richard Landers, Hannah’s father, was also quite moved. He, like the rest of the audience, was inspired to keep organizing with Straightlaced. “Several parents told me that they wanted to have the film shown at churches, schools, and placed in school libraries. I am loaning one of our copies to the principal at Hannah’s school with hopes he can arrange to show it to students and/or use it for staff training.”

For us here at GroundSpark, that would bring our work on Straightlaced full circle. In the film Hannah talks about hearing students in the halls say things like “It’s about time that fag killed himself” after Josh’s suicide. We can think of no better outcome from this event than to have Straightlaced screened at this very same high school, and we look forward to working with the folks who braved the snow last Saturday to keep making change in Kentucky.

At every screening of Straightlaced where there is a Q and A afterwards, someone always, understandably, asks, “Who is Hannah Landers?” Because at the end of the film, a title comes up that says:

In May of 2008, Sue Chen, my co-producer, had booked a plane ticket for Hannah and her mom to fly out to meet us in San Francisco so we could film a second interview with her. But days before they were supposed to come, Sue received a horrible phone call, and learned that Hannah had been killed in a car accident. We all were devastated.

We finished the film without that extra interview and all knew immediately that we would dedicate Straightlaced to Hannah’s memory, and by extension, to the spirit of her activism.

Then we started working on the world premiere. Much to our surprise, Hannah’s parents, Richard and Michelle Landers, were really excited to fly out to San Francisco to be there; they wanted to be part of the big audience that would be seeing the film for the first time.

Hannah had told us that her dad was an administrator at a Baptist church. I confess that of few of us here had some preconceptions about what kind of views a person who held that job might have about the point of view in our film.

We wondered: how would the Landers feel about the film? How would they feel being in a theater filled with close to a thousand Bay Area activists?

It turned out our concerns were for naught. The Landers’ response was so moving to me, and taught me a powerful lesson about my own stereotypes.

“We enjoyed the entire evening and sincerely appreciate the time we spent with you and the other Groundspark board of directors members and staff,” Michelle wrote to one of our board members. “Everyone was so wonderful, gracious and hospitable – we are very glad that we made the trip.”

“The film is fantastic and we are even more proud of Hannah than we could have imagined. She was incredibly passionate and wise for someone her age and she spent a lot of energy fighting what she saw as the injustices of the world. She was a champion for the underdog and a spokesperson for those who wouldn’t or couldn’t speak for themselves. We miss her terribly, but are very inspired that her words and actions will continue to help young people.”

Fast forward several months. I am so proud to be able to tell you that on January 9th, Straightlaced will have its Kentucky premiere on January 10th, 2010 at the State Theater at the Kentucky Theater at 10:15am. Richard and Michelle have worked with Rebecca Woloch, the mother of another student in whose memory the memorial garden in the film is dedicated, to organize the screening. They will be doing a fundraising pitch at the event and want the proceeds to be split between GroundSpark, the Hannah Landers Memorial Scholarship Fund, and a local suicide prevention group doing work in Josh Shipman’s memory. Please download the event flyer for more information on the event.

We, too, are also inspired that Hannah’s words and actions are helping so many people—of all ages—along with those of all the courageous young people who appeared in Straightlaced, and all of our other Respect for All Project films.

Our new year’s wish for you is that you continue to feel inspired and courageous. To look inside yourself, to challenge your own stereotypes, and to find the strength to be a champion for those who can’t or won’t speak for themselves.

Thank you from all of us at GroundSpark. Let’s stick together in 2010.

Debra Chasnoff
President and Senior Producer

Help GroundSpark bring the stories of courageous young people like Hannah to communities across the country in 2010, by making a donation to GroundSpark today!

GroundSpark films make a great gift! Please buy one today or donate a film to a school that can’t afford one.

In a case that GroundSpark has been following closely, the Alameda County Superior Court ruled this week that lessons designed to address anti-gay and lesbian bullying in the district’s elementary schools do not simply constitute “health lessons” and therefore are not subject to the state’s policy of allowing parents to “opt out” of having their children participate in those lessons. Even more importantly, Judge Frank Roesch ruled that the state education code’s requirement that schools address discrimination and bias effectively supersedes any potential opt-out provisions. Our film, That’s a Family!, used widely throughout the country to support children from all different kinds of families, is part of the curriculum that’s been under debate.

GroundSpark’s Cristy Chung, Director of Community Programs and the Respect For All Project had this to say about the ruling: “This critical decision reinforces the importance of creating safe and inclusive schools for all children and their families. My hope is that we find a way for our communities to support one another and together teach our children what respect really means.”

This ruling is consistent with a 2007 ruling in Massachusetts clearly stating that while parents have the right to direct the upbringing of their children, that right does not extend to directing what a school teaches. (You can read more about this ruling in the It’s Elementary curriculum guide). And that preparing students for citizenship in a diverse society and fostering an environment in which lesbian and gay students can learn are sufficient justifications for implementing LGBT-inclusive curriculum.

Here’s a link to the news story on the ruling in Alameda County, CA.

And to see the trailer or stream That’s a Family!, please click here.

Hello to all the friends and fans of GroundSpark. I’m the new guy on the board of directors. Brittney Shepherd, our staff producer, asked me to introduce myself and answer the question: Why did you join the board?

Meet me, David Kundtz, GroundSpark's newest board member!

To learn more about my background and and our other amazing members of our board of directors, go here.

I’ll begin with John Hume and David Trimble, contemporary heroes of mine. Both politicians, Hume is from the Republic of Ireland and Trimble from Northern Ireland. They are rightly accredited with bringing about peace to the long and violent conflict in Northern Ireland with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. Here’s a quote from Hume:

“Difference is of the essence of humanity. Difference is an accident of birth and it should therefore never be the source of hatred or conflict. The answer to difference is to respect it. Therein lies a most fundamental principle of peace – respect for diversity.”

And here’s a quote from Trimble:

“There are two traditions in Northern Ireland. There are two main religious denominations. But there is only one true moral denomination. And it wants peace.”

We all want peace. Everywhere in the world. It’s possibly the most sought after and the most elusive of all human desires. And if you’re like me, you’ve often wondered, But what can I do to bring about peace? The thought can be overwhelming; I’m only one little person with very limited resources.

Which brings me, finally, to the answer to Brittney’s question: Why did you join the board? To increase and support and create peace. GroundSpark is a practical and real embodiment of the conviction that, in Hume’s words, “respect for diversity is an essential way to peace.” There will always be many factions, identity groups, and denominations but, in the words of Trimble, “there is only one true moral denomination. And it wants peace.” The work of GroundSpark is something we can all do to bring about peace. “Respect for All” says it all.

That’s the main and underlying reason for accepting the invitation to join the board. But there are many more. A few of them: Being part of a group of amazingly talented and caring staff and board members; being part of an organization respected and influential throughout the country and world; helping to give voice to children and families who are often invisible and ignored. Grateful and honored is how I am feeling as we look to the opportunities offered by the challenges of hard economic times and changing cultural realities. GroundSpark is doing immensely important work. May it continue and prosper.

Thanks for the chance to share some thoughts.

Sincelerly,
David Kundtz

We are very proud to announce that Debra Chasnoff’s alma mater, Wellesley College, recently honored her with a Lifetime Achievement Award in Documentary Filmmaking from the college’s Art Department and Cinema and Media Studies Program.

Lifetime Achievement Award for Film Maker Debra Chasnoff

Here’s a bit from the speech, Beth Pfeiffer, one of the trustees of the college, made during the award presentation:

“Debra Chasnoff, class of 1978, majored in economics. After a short stint in corporate America, Debra went on to follow her true passion—social change. Understanding social change is the result of deep passion and potent pragmatics, she embarked on her filmmaking career in 1984 with the film Choosing Children. Her commitment to equity and understanding informed the film and her courage to speak out and her personal honesty and talent that gave the film a place in history.

Accolades followed immediately, including an Academy Award in 1991 for her subsequent film, Deadly Deception, and they multiply from there. Founder and Executive Director of GroundSpark, a non-profit organization dedicated to creating visionary films and dynamic educational campaigns that move individuals and communities to take action for a more just world, Chasnoff has evolved into one of the most successful and dynamic documentarians of our time. Her latest film, Straightlaced, debuted this year and, having seen it, I’m sure the trail of awards will continue!”

Everyone here at GroundSpark, myself included, take our hats off to our colleague. Thank you for the work you do and the courage you inspire!

We are gearing up for the Twin Cities premiere of Straightlaced, which will take place Monday November 16th in Minneapolis. This will be the last regional premiere of the film, completing an thirty-city, ten-month long tour of Straightlaced! With an impressive array of community partners and dedicated volunteers working on the ground to fill the seats, word about the event is spreading quickly.

Betty Tisel hard at work in Minneapolis!

Super-volunteer Betty Tisel (pictured above), who has been a long-time donor to GroundSpark with her partner, Sarah Farley, is leaving no stone unturned to ensure success. “Imagine these buckets full of cash and check donations,” she says. ”Visualize all these tickets being SOLD.” To help fulfill Betty’s dreams, get your tickets!!

I had the pleasure of talking with local radio host Leigh Combs last week about the event. A local teacher, advocate, and GroundSpark supporter, Leigh brought home the need for the Minneapolis community to not only come out to the event, but to start the dialog with young people about their experiences with gender pressures. To listen to the full show, click here. And just this week, I had the chance to talk about the more personal nuances and overall charm of Straightlaced with Todd Melby, a Minneapolis local radio documentarian with KFAI. Todd reminds us that the topic of gender and the pressure to conform affects not only young people, but adults also. You can listen to more of my talk with Todd here.

Please become part of what promises to be an inspiring and interesting community event in Minneapolis! For more information about the event or to sponsor the event please visit the event page. See you there!

On the evening of October 29, a group of students, educators parents and social service providers gathered at the Long Island GLBT Community Center in Bay Shore, NY for a screening of and discussion about Straightlaced, facilitated by GroundSpark national Trainer Scott Hirschfeld. Sponsored by the Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth’s Safe Schools Initiative and organized by Director of Youth Services Nick Tryling, this event was part of the initiative’s Transgender Voices & Visibility series. To set the stage for the screening, audience members talked with each other in small groups about the messages they received about gender during their growing up years and how those messages impacted them. After viewing the film, participants engaged in a spirited discussion about the limitations of current gender role norms and expectations, and about strategies for increasing awareness about this issue among their students, colleagues and family members. The group found Straightlaced to be both an affirmation of their experiences and an inspiration to work toward more gender inclusive communities for young people.

The acclaimed Teaching Tolerance program recently released a great new activity for young people in efforts to explore family diversity and the different ways in which to define a family. Making use of the 2010 Census and GroundSpark’s film That’s A Family!, the activity challenges students to explore diverse configurations that form families.

Check out this amazing activity!

This creative and inspiring outlet for youth between the 6th – 12th grade is currently accepting applications! The Young Minds Digital Times Film Competition fosters youth film makers to create poignant and powerful films, all the while competing for a variety of prizes. Check it out and spread the word!

For more information, please email info@youngmindsdigitaltimes.com.

Our film, Let’s Get Real, which (in case you haven’t heard!) features actual middle school youth—not adults or actors—speaking candidly about their varied and often painful experiences with name-calling and bullying, will screen tomorrow at the First Annual Family Conference hosted by the MEGA Family Project!
This conference is the first of its kind in the Southeast, and will be a great opportunity for LGBT parents, prospective parents, families, their children, friends, educators and community members to come together to discuss LGBT family issues and advocacy. MEGA’s Family Conference will have four tracks that attendees can choose from – prospective parents, parenting, schools, and social justice.

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Wedding video of Del Martin and Phylis Lyon.

One year after Del Martin’s passing, we here at GroundSpark would like to remember her and celebrate her life. Here she is at her wedding to Phyllis Lyon in May 2008. Our thoughts go out to Del’s family as we remember this incredible hero and amazing woman.

Just a note to say that we have some great new Respect for All Project trailers that are now up on YouTube and the New Day Films website. If you’ve been curious about these films in the past and need a reminder of their power, these trailers are a great reminder! Check them out and let us know what you think!

A few weeks ago, I received an email from one of the teachers who helped us find some of the students in Straightlaced, letting me know that Bonnie Tinker, the founder of Love Makes a Family in Portland, Oregon had died. Here is an article about the accident. 

Bonnie, who was 61, was hit by a truck while biking in Virginia. I think I first met Bonnie in 2002, when Love Makes a Family helped organize the Oregon premiere of our film That’s a Family! Over the years she also interviewed me for her radio show, and always lent a hand to get the word out about GroundSpark’s work. 

Bonnie was a tireless advocate on many issues, but what I admired about her in particular was her dedication to speaking out about race and its intersection with family diversity issues. I am grateful to Adrienne Ratner for bringing this article to my attention in which Bonnie protested how 20/20 “edited out” the African-American members of her multiracial lesbian-headed family!

We hope to be organizing a Portland screening of Straightlaced in the fall and hope there will be an opportunity to honor Bonnie’s contributions at that time.

One Wedding and a Revolution has been accepted for the 4th Annual Gero-Ed Film Festival held at the Council on Social Work Education’s (CSWE) Annual Program Meeting. The festival features films that show positive images of older adults or that highlight aging issues.

Since 2006 the Gero-Ed Film Festival, which is sponsored by the CSWE Gero-Ed Center, has introduced social work educators, students, and leaders to important films, such as One Wedding and a Revolution. With remarkable footage of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, long-time lesbian activists, marrying on their 51st anniversary, this film demonstrates that marriage equality affects people of all ages.

GroundSpark looks forward to having our film featured again this year!

GroundSpark Needs Volunteers!

We are looking for a few special people to help with mailings, processing film sales, data entry and database maintenance (must know Filemaker). If you are in the Bay Area and can commit to a few hours per week, please join us!

Please contact Zeena Batliwalla, Development Associate, to get involved.

Every year the CINE Golden Eagle Award is bestowed upon filmmakers as a recognition of excellence in production. Straightlaced was one of the films chosen for the award this year and we are definitely excited about this!

With the West Coast film festival premiere last week at Frameline, the FREE Los Angeles screening at OutFest, and the new CINE Golden Eagle Award, Straightlaced has been causing movement far and wide!

The SF crowd anxiously awaits the screening of Straightlaced.

Straightlaced: How Gender’s Got Us All Tied Up screened at the Roxie Theater last Friday to a sold out crowd at Frameline 33: San Francisco’s LGBT Film Festival! With a mixed crowd of film lovers, educators, Debra Chasnoff fans, and youth, the film was received warmly at it’s West Coast film festival premiere. Read the rest of this post…

Groundspark Executive Director and Senior Producer,Debra Chasnoff, earned her cred long ago when she won an Oscar for her short documentary Deadly Deception, an exposé on General Electric’s involvement in building and testing nuclear bombing, precipitating GE’s pullout of the industry nine months later.

In this edition of GO Magazine, she finds herself among the likes of Wanda Sykes, Ellen Degeneres, and emerging stars in the field of LGBT culturing mainlining. It also gets Groundspark on the hip pages of a fancy cool magazine! Check it out!

This Friday, June 26 at 6:00 PM, as part of Frameline33 –  San Francisco’s LGBT Film Festival, Director Debra Chasnoff and Producer Sue Chen will be at the Roxie Theater for a local San Francisco screening of Straightlaced

NOTE: On Frameline’s website, the show is listed as SOLD OUT, but rush tickets are available! If you come to the door a half hour or so early and tell the box office to put you on the standby list, you will probably get in, as some unused tickets will become available. Q & A with director and producer after feature. See you there!

Great news from the Alameda School Board! Last night, the board approved their LGBT-inclusive bullying prevention curriculum, despite the outspoken conservative critics from outside the district who flooded their town hall meetings. Their approval contains no opt-out provision, which means every student in the district will receive instruction on learning empathy and respect for difference. While opponents of the curriculum are now threatening lawsuits, the board heard support from folks like you, and knows they have the strength of their community to move forward creating classrooms that are safe and welcoming for every student.

You can read more about the decision in today’s San Francisco Chronicle.

Debra Chasnoff was on the Laura Ingraham show on May 19th where she debated Brad Dacus of the Pacific Justice Institute about the Alameda School District’s plan to include sexual orientation non-discrimination in their anti-bullying programs.

Chasnoff stated, “Anti-gay harassment is increasingly contributing to some of the worst cases of bullying and of mental health problems in schools. I just want to say really really clearly, I applaud the school district in Alameda for taking pro-active action because in the last month alone there have been two children…who hung themselves in their own closets at home because of suffering from anti-gay bullying that the schools were doing nothing about.”

In response to Vallejo Unified’s settlement of a lawsuit about anti-LGBT harassment, the Angie Coiro show is going to be talking about safe schools litigation tonight. On the show from 6:30-6:50ish will be Lance from Straightlaced, who filed his own lawsuit. He will be talking about his own experiences as well as Straightlaced.

You can listen live at http://www.green960.com/pages/tgs.html.

Our Los Angeles Premiere of Straightlaced–How Gender’s Got Us All Tied Up was last week and we had a wonderful turn out!

We were thrilled to have Academy Award winners, Dustin Lance Black and Bruce Cohen of Milk, on hand to help welcome the film. You can watch their opening remarks below!

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GROUNDBREAKING DOCUMENTARY ON GENDER NORMS IN HIGH SCHOOLS STRAIGHTLACED PREMIERES IN NEW YORK, TUESDAY MAY 26 AT HUNTER COLLEGE

New York, NY : The New York City benefit premiere of the new feature-length documentary Straightlaced–How Gender’s Got Us All Tied Up, will be held at the Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College 7:00pm on Tuesday, May 26. Directed by Academy Award winning filmmaker Debra Chasnoff, Straightlaced reveals a culture of intense pressure to conform to gender roles in American high schools. Introducing the film are Jennifer Raab – Hunter College President, Eliza Byard – GLSEN (Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network) Executive Director, and Mia Herndon –Third Wave Foundation Executive Director.

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News from around the world that directly connects to the issues GroundSpark works on in our Respect for All Project!

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We’ve heard about two different, yet very important causes that deserve some much-needed attention.

The first regards the tragic murder of Luis Ramirez, the 25-year old father of two who was beaten to death last summer. Evidence and testimony surrounding the beating and death of Luis Ramirez suggest that the defendants’ actions in the beating were motivated by Luis’ national origin, Mexico.

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The monthly magazine, Lesbian News, featured a fun interview with me this past April. We discussed everything from why I decided to start making films, to my family and GroundSpark’s latest film–Straightlaced!

While the article isn’t available online, you can view the first page here and the second page here.

The find out more about Lesbian News, please visit their website, www.theLNMag.com

In 1984 I made my first documentary film, and launched what was then Women’s Educational Media into the world of filmmaking combined with activist educational campaigns. Choosing Children, which was co-directed and co-produced with Kim Klausner, my kids’ other mom, explored the then unheard of idea that if you were gay or lesbian, you could also become a parent. We interviewed some of the brave pioneering moms who had had kids AFTER coming out. Lesbians (and some gay men) watching their stories at screening events we organized across the country had lightbulbs go off in their heads. They went home, found sperm donors or applied to adopt. And voila – the lesbian baby boom exploded. Today there is hardly a PTA in the country without a gay or lesbian parent in it!

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News from around the world that directly connects to the issues GroundSpark works on in our Respect for All Project!

This week we bring you not only the news of the week, but a selection of articles from RadicalParenting.com, an organization that focuses on youth development from a kid’s perspective.
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Anne Mitchell, of Equality Kansas, sent us the following message after hosting two Straightlaced screenings in south-west Kansas:

Screening Straightlaced in Garden City and Dodge City, Kansas was so exciting, and brought together over 50 educators, youth, and activists. This was the first time we have hosted a proactive event, instead of being reactive to negative situations we hear about.

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News from around the world that directly connects to the issues GroundSpark works on in our Respect for All Project!

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People line up outside the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland for Straightlaced

The Grand Lake Theater played stage for an amazing event: The East Bay Premiere of Straightlaced! A joint fundraiser for Met West High School in Oakland, Thursday night’s event was a reminder for many here at GroundSpark of why we do the work that we do.

There were more folks waiting to get in the door than we knew what to do with, a harbinger for the energetic reception the film would receive later in the night. As folks settled into their seats, there was an energetic buzz in the air. A sold out crowd of youth, educators, film enthusiasts all crowded into the theater for the film.

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News from around the world that directly connects to the issues GroundSpark works on in our Respect for All Project!

This week is a special news roundup featuring the latest blog post from Kate Kendell, Executive Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, regarding yet another tragic suicide of a young person due to bullying.
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Straightlaced director Debra Chasnoff and producer Sue Chen were interviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle this week about the film and the upcoming East Bay premiere in Oakland.

Read on for the article or click here to visit the Chronicle’s website.

Director Debra Chasnoff (left) and Producer Sue Chen (right)

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Straightlaced director, Debra Chasnoff, will be chatting online TONIGHT over at firedoglake.com about the film!

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News from around the world that directly connects to the issues GroundSpark works on in our Respect for All Project!

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Our perspective on the recent spate of suicides committed by young people as a result of bullying is featured on the Huffington Post and on Facing History, Facing Today. In this article we discuss why these tragedies are occurring, and what schools can do to become part of the solution.

This week another young life was silently lost in our nation’s schools. Eleven year-old Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover killed himself after enduring months of anti-gay bullying at his school in Springfield, Massachusetts.

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News from around the world that directly connects to the issues GroundSpark works on in our Respect for All Project!

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This past Tuesday over a hundred diverse community leaders, educators, and youth joined GroundSpark staff at the Chicago premiere of Straightlaced. Following marriage victories in Iowa and Vermont, change was in the air, and people entered the screening already feeling the desire to make a difference in their own community.

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Our op ed got published in the Huffington Post about the Eric Mohat suicide, Matthew Shepard and Straightlaced.

Here’s a link to the page on the Huffington Post, or you can read it below:

On Wednesday, 250 educators and students from Laramie, Wyoming opened the 10th Matthew Shepard Symposium for Social Justice by watching the film Straightlaced? How Gender’s Got Us All Tied Up. Before the screening, a reporter asked me how today’s climate has changed since Matthew’s brutal murder in 1998. “It’s deceptive,” I said. “We see gay characters on TV regularly now, but after spending five years interviewing teenagers about their experiences with gender-based stereotypes, I’ve learned that popular culture doesn’t necessarily translate into school climates improving around this issue.”

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News from around the world that directly connects to the issues GroundSpark works on in our Respect for All Project!

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If there is anything that the kids in Thats A Family! teach us, it’s that it doesn’t matter where your parents are from, or what gender they are, but it’s growing up in a loving home that makes a family. For many young people with same-sex parents, one parent is prohibited from being with their family because they are not eligible to immigrate.
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News from around the world that directly connects to the issues GroundSpark works on in our Respect for All Project!

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At GroundSpark we stay pretty busy—and passionate about social justice—not just during the week day but in our “off hours” as well. Take Cristy Chung, for example. She’s the Community Programs Manager here at GroundSpark, where she specializes in helping underserved school communities take steps to build more safe and inclusive learning environments— but her dedication to equal civil rights goes well beyond the 9-5 work day. Her involvement in the quest to achieve marriage equality is extraordinary. Recently a piece in the Gay and Lesbian Times came out detailing her work and how she became the lead plaintiff on the case that led to the California Supreme Court ruling on behalf of marriage equality. Click here to read her amazing story that started several years ago.

Christy Chung

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EDGE, “the largest network of local Gay, Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) news and entertainment portals in the world,” interviewed Debra Chasnoff about her work to end bullying and harassment in schools and featured the piece in EDGE Boston. The article highlights not only Straightlaced, but the work of GroundSpark and GLSEN, the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network.

To read the article, please click here

Last November, the GroundSpark team was in Nashville and Chattanooga, Tennessee with our Respect For All Project workshops. We heard teachers and social workers and counselors tell us of their desire to help the youth they work with overcome prejudice and hate. They also told us how a proposition to mandate english-only policies was dividing their community. The policy was eventually defeated, but we were shocked to hear this week that our allies in Tennessee will now have to heal from another divisive bill introduced in their state legislature.

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After experiencing a controversy over a small school district’s use of our family diversity film that amplified into a national news story, GroundSpark realized that the LGBT safe schools movement needed more coordination to create an effective response when our efforts come under attack by the right wing. With this vision, we called together leaders of dozens of national organizations, many of which had rarely discussed issues related to LGBT issues in schools.
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News from around the world that directly connects to the issues GroundSpark works on in our Respect for All Project!
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I wanted to let you all know about our latest milestone in GroundSpark’s online presence–we’ve reached over 500 “friends” on the Straightlaced Facebook page.

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IN THE LIFE, which recently featured It’s STILL Elementary is commemorating Women’s History Month by focusing its lens on the representation of LGBT women in television and cinema.

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GroundSpark will be recognized this Friday by Community United Against Violence (CUAV) at their annual benefit gala. CUAV will be celebrating 30 years of “supporting LGBTQQ survivors of hate violence and domestic violence, and educating our broader communities.” We are thrilled to be honored for our work by such a great organization and are proud to stand alongside fellow honorees: Tom Ammiano & Hank Wilson, Early Gay Safety Advocates; Fresh Meat Productions and INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence.

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News from around the world that directly connects to the issues GroundSpark works on in our Respect for All Project!
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Great news! GroundSpark’s Respect For All Project films are now available for streaming right onto your computer! If you would like to watch It’s Elementary, It’s STILL Elementary, That’s A Family! or Let’s Get Real online you can–just go to www.newdaydigital.com and look for any of our films by title.
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GroundSpark’s film, It’s STILL Elementary will be debuting on national television this Saturday! The LGBT-friendly channel, LOGO, will be broadcasting the film on March 7 at 8pm EST as part of their “Real Momentum” series.

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In this clip from It’s STILL Elementary, Chloe Moushey reflects on
It’s Elementary and the positive impact of LBGT discussions in the classroom.

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Wedding video of Del Martin and Phylis Lyon.

Yesterday was a day we had all been anxiously awaiting—–the oral arguments in the case of Proposition 8 by the California Supreme Court. Ever since the results from
the 2008 election, we knew that day would come, and it arrived with bittersweet anticipation.

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Audience reactions to the Greensboro, NC premiere of
Straightlaced — How Gender’s Got Us All Tied Up.
Join our Straightlaced group on facebook!

In the 1970s, I was a counselor at Camp Rim Rock in Yellow Springs, West Virginia. In 1977, the last year I was there, I was an assistant head of the camp along with a young woman named Annette Green. I never thought I would see her again, but last week we reconnected for the first time.

Turns out that Annette got married to her high school sweetheart David, and moved to North Carolina to raise a family with him. She became a teacher and taught for 20 years in a relatively progressive school in Greensboro. And then she got involved in local efforts to get schools to address anti-gay prejudice. She came across our Respect for All Project films, recognized my name as one of her old camp buddies, and got in touch.

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Last month was a milestone for me and everyone here at GroundSpark. We had the world premiere of Straightlaced—How Gender’s Got Us All Tied Up in San Francisco! We literally finished the film at midnight the night before. And, as with the debut of all of our other films, I was a bit of a nervous wreck sitting in the audience, wondering how the 750 people in the packed house would respond.

Check out some of these highlights from the night:

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Click the above image to start the Flash Video

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We are launching GroundSpark’s blog today in memory of Lawrence King, the eighth grader who was murdered by a fellow student in class a year ago simply because he didn’t conform to conventional ideas about what young men are supposed to look or act like.

We hope that by spreading the hope and wisdom of the young people in all of our Respect for All Project films — Let’s Get Real, That’s a Family!, It’s Elementary, It’s STILL Elementary, and now Straightlaced, — we can help ensure that young people like Larry King can safely and joyously discover whoever they truly are.

We look forward to seeing what you have to say on this blog. So don’t be shy — add your voice to and join in the dialogue about the power of film to spark culture change, especially for students in every school.