(The Progressive)
Gay and Lesbian Pride, proclaims a banner in the showcase at Fairfax
High School. The banner and other symbols of gay and lesbian life
went up in the high school's main hallway during gay-pride week in
June 1994. When the next school year started, the banner was still
on prominent display. Project 10, a group of gay and lesbian youth
at Fairfax High, and the group's adviser, Virginia Uribe, are responsible
for the display, and for the increased support for gay and lesbian
students at the school.
Uribe, who has taught life science at Fairfax for thirty years, started
Project 10 a decade ago. The plight of one particular student prompted
her to take action. An openly gay African-American teenager named
Chris came to Fairfax in the mid-1980s, after transferring from school
to school because of harassment and persecution. At Fairfax, he began
to have the same dreary experience all over again. But for once, the
staff at the school reacted with anger. A group of teachers started
an effort to prevent it from happening to others. Uribe, supported
by other concerned faculty, came up with the idea for Project 10.
The name came from the statistic 10 percent - the homosexual portion
of the U.S. population, according to the Kinsey studies of the late
1930s and 1940s.
Beginning with rap sessions during lunch hour, students began to explore
their identities, the dynamics of a hostile society, and prospects
for improving their lives. "Nothing had been done in this area," says
Uribe. "We were pioneers in trying
to meet this tremendous need."
The project spread to thirty of the other fifty high schools in the
Los Angeles Unified Schools District, and is now being replicated
in districts around the country.
Project 10's objectives are to foster self-understanding and acceptance
among gay and lesbian teens, reduce verbal and physical abuse from
the heterosexual majority, prevent suicide, and provide accurate information
on AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Teachers, counselors,
and administrators have participated in program workshops.
Thanks in part to its success and visibility, Project 10 has made
some enemies in Southern California. The Traditional Values Coalition,
run by the Reverend Lou Sheldon, has attacked Project 10 for presenting
the idea that being gay is a legitimate way of life. Sheldon implies
that the Project is an effort to recruit teenagers into being gay.
Newton Russell, the Republican state legislator from Glendale, has
also condemned Project 10.
Both critics appear in "Who's Afraid of Project 10," a video produced
by the group's supporters, Friends of Project 10, that debunks its
detractors' claims.
Some parents also worry that homosexuality is "catching," says Uribe.
"Most parents are in denial, with the attitude that their child's
gayness will go away if it is just ignored."
The main thing students get out of Project 10, Uribe believes, is
"their realization that they are not alone. The sense of isolation
is gone. Then there is the counseling they give each other."
"Project 10 has been invaluable," says Mitzi Henderson, president
of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. "It has raised awareness
of how issues confronting gay and lesbian students lead to high risk
for truancy, dropping out, substance abuse, and suicide."
Greg Cartwright, a 1988 graduate of Fairfax High, told the school
in his graduation address, "Being associated with Project 10 has given
me the chance to articulate the needs of a silent minority. . . .
I no longer consider myself stigmatized
or different from other students."
For more information, write to Virginia Uribe, Fairfax High School,
7850 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90046.
Shaw, Marvin, Gay pride in high
school.. Vol. 59, The Progressive, 07-01-1995, pp 13(1).