UC Davis kicks off the first annual

Bisexual Awareness Week

San Francisco – Bisexual students at the University of California at Davis are raising the visibility bar for bisexuals with the first annual

Bisexual Awareness Week.

Twelve bi awareness building educational events are scheduled throughout the week on the university campus starting today, January 22 and ending Friday, January 25.

"There are a lot of stereotypes associated with bisexuality," said Angelique Tarazi, chair of the Associated Students of the University of California at Davis’s Gender and Sexuality Commission and biological sciences major, to The California Aggie Online, UCD’s campus newspaper. “This should be a really good week for exploring [and] explaining reasons for both positive and negative feelings."

Bisexual Awareness Week is presented by the Bi Visibility Project at UCD and co-sponsored by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Center; Student Assistants to the Chancellor; La Familia; Women's Resources & Research Center and National Organization for Women, reported The California Aggie.

Forty-eight percent of 1,752 self-identified gay and bisexual colleges students surveyed in 2001 by the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States became aware of their sexual preference in high school, while 26 percent found their true sexuality in college. Out of gay and bisexual ment, j20 percent reported, in the same report, they were aware of their sexual orientation in junior high school and 17 percent said they knew in grad school. For the girls, six percent of self-identified gay or bisexual women were aware of their same-sex attractions in junior high school, and 11 percent knew in grade school.

Bisexuality Awareness Week follows Lisa Diamond’s article debunking myths and stereotypes about bisexual women and Utah’s Bisexual Awareness Month.

For more information about Bisexual Awareness Week’s events, visit www.lgbtrc.ucdavis.edu.

Photo courtesy Biflag.com

Judge upholds religious schools rights to expel alleged teen lesbians

San Francisco – A Riverside County judge found no legal basis for a lawsuit against a Christian school brought on the behalf of two girls who were kicked out of school for an alleged lesbian relationship.

Judge Gloria Trask found the girls' discrimination lawsuit had no legal basis under California's anti-discrimination laws January 11, reported the San Diego Union Tribune and the San Jose Mercury News January 19.

The attorneys for the two unnamed girls attempted to apply California’s anti-discrimination sexual orientation laws in business settings to the religious school, but Trask disagreed with them, reported the local the Tribune.

John McKay, attorney for the California Lutheran High School in Wildomar, “applauded the decision, and said the religious school has a right to expel sinners.”

“You can't infringe upon the basic rights of a religious group and their right of association by forcing them to accept people who don't believe in their values,” McKay told the Tribune.

The girls and their parents sued the California Lutheran High School in Wildomar after their 2005 expulsion when the school suspected the then 11th-graders were having a relationship, reported the Mercury.

The school’s code of conduct, according to the Mercury, that “students can be removed for behavior that contradicts ‘Christian values.’"

“We are confidant that things will continue to proceed according to the Lord's plan,” said, Steve Rosenbaum, the school’s principal, who told the Tribune “he was pleased with the ruling.”

The girls’ attorneys couldn’t be reached for comment, reported the Tribune. McKay told the paper that he expects them to appeal the decision to an appellate court.

Under the California constitution, reported the paper, the ruling in Superior Court does not settle the same issue in other courtrooms, but an appeals court ruling would apply across the appellate court's jurisdiction area and would influence cases all across the state.

What do you think? Do you think the school is providing a public service or because it's private has the right to accept or deny any paying parent or student they want to? Or, should the girl's appeal now that the anti-discrimination code that includes sexual orientation and gender is in the educational code?

Scholarships Available for GLBT Youth

The 2008 LEAGUE Foundation scholarship program is now receiving student applications until April 30, 2008. Since 1996, LEAGUE Foundation has continued to grow in its mission of providing financial resources for America´s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender youth to attend institutions of higher learning. Now in its 12th year the LEAGUE Foundation has awarded its 64 scholarships and applications have been received from students from all 50 states. Financial support has been received from corporations, individuals, and other GLBT organizations.

Applicants should graduate high school in 2008; identify themselves as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender; have achieved a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale; are actively and substantially involved in community service; live in the United States; and have been accepted to attend an accredited college or university in the United States.

Scholarships currently open for applications are:

• Matthew Shepard Memorial Scholarship
• Laurel Hester Memorial Scholarship
• LEAGUE Foundation Scholarship

Additionally LEAGUE Foundation has developed a new and improved user friendly website: www.LEAGUEFoundation.org

Information on the site includes: background, history, scholarship descriptions, previous winners, student resources, scholarship application, donation information, and news articles.

Contributions or questions can be directed to LEAGUE Foundation, c/o Charles Eader, 1 AT&T Way, Room 4B214J, Bedminster, New Jersey 07921.

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