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MARY-ELLEN SAUNDERS
TELEGRAPH-JOURNAL

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Speak Up

ST. ANDREWS - High school officials in Charlotte County have changed their mind about inviting gay author Alex Sanchez to speak to students, says Jay Remer.

Remer, a gay man from St. Andrews and a member of the Charlotte Country Rainbow Support Group, says the group decided to bring Sanchez, award-winning author of novels aimed at youth, to the area to speak to youth about the struggles and challenges homosexual youth deal with growing up and being accepted by peers and the community.

Remer said the group hoped that by giving youth an understanding of what it is like to grow up gay, it would inspire tolerance and acceptance and make it easier for anyone who is seen as an outsider to fit in.

"The school system has made real progress but there are still small pockets where education is critical," said Remer.

"There are still people that believe sexual orientation is a choice. In isolated areas there tends to be less tolerance in general to alternative life styles and the result is deeper feelings of isolation because you have no where to turn."

Remer said Sanchez was scheduled to speak to high school students in St. Stephen, St. Andrews and St. George on Oct. 21, but after members of the community opposed the lecture it was pulled out of the schools and will be held at a different location for the general public.

"These are people that feel sexual orientation is a choice, these people did not want their children exposed to this discussion," said Remer.

Remer said he and other members of the group visited the schools to talk about the logistics of the speech and found out that members of the community, including the clergy, were encouraging the school not to host the event.

"The concerns the schools have are very legitimate," said Remer. "A lot of progress has been made in teaching tolerance to the students and instilling tolerance and in the end we decided it could have a negative impact on the progress. Parents could protest and stir up a hornet's nest with media and it could turn out to be a negative situation, which could do a lot of damage with the programs implemented so far."

After speaking with school officials, Remer said the group agreed to cancel the assembly and have Sanchez speak at the Wesleyan United Church at 7 p.m. on Oct. 20.

Lynn Farmakoulas, principal of Fundy High School in St. George, said the school received both positive and negative feedback from the community and clergy about the event.

In the end, she said it was not the public feedback that determined the outcome, but rather a scheduling issue.

Farmakoulas said because students have missed school time with Thanksgiving and other days off, having had to attend other events, and will miss class-time for immunization, there was no room in the school schedule for the speech.

"We made a decision that we couldn't take any more time away from the learning of students," said Farmakoulas. "That was the reason we decided not the have the speaker in."

The principal said when other speakers come to the school, they provide an outline of what they will be speaking about and the schools did not have that from Sanchez and did not know what would be discussed. She said that also played into the school's decision.

Farmakoulas said the school continues to work with students to be tolerant and accepting of others and to understand what it is they are saying before they say it. She said the school will be hanging posters, making announcements and making sure students know about the event.

Remer said while the people who need to hear the speech the most will likely not turn up at the event, he hopes community leaders will attend and deliver the message back to the community.

"I think there is no doubt the community will become tolerant of all of its citizens," said Remer. "This is part of the educational processes needed to meet that need."