[HeartStrongList] Participate in our Letter Writing Campaign

[heartstrong at heartstrong.org]

Hi Everyone,

Unfortunately its been a very busy week for our students.  Fortunately,
HeartStrong is here to provide support.

There has been an ongoing battle in Texas over a student who was refused
re-enrollment at an Episcopal school due to the fact that he has two moms.
 This happened some time ago and the family now lives in a much better
environment in Canada.

However, the student's godmother, Kim McLaughlin, has been relentless in
her pursuit of social justice for this issue.  To the point, where the
school is now being investigated by the Southwestern Episcopal School
Association.  (The SESA does not have written policies to enforce non
discrimination and non harassment but they do have a non written implied
policy of intolerance for discrimination.)  So the investigation by the
Association is a good thing.  Except for one detail.

The school, formerly known as The Episcopal School of Wichita Falls,
changed its name and school affiliation.  They are now known as Christ
Academy and are seeking accreditation with the Association of Christian
Schools International, a well-known, anti-glbt organization.

It could be perceived from their actions that they attempted to avert any
interference by the SESA by changing their name and association.

However, for HeartStrong, we see a great opportunity to shed more public
light on this incident but addressing the school administration AND by
encouraging the Fort Worth Episcopal Diocese to use this as an opportunity
to do the right thing and implement a written and enforced non
discrimination and non harassment policy for all of their educational
institutions.  It's impossible to know if they would even consider such a
step but now in the precise moment to tell them that they need to do it.

YOU can help us in this project.  Go to the front page of
http://www.heartstrong.org and click on the link in the news section.  You
will then be directed to a page with two options for signing and
submitting letters.  One letter is for the school itself and the other
letter is for the Diocese.

We need EVERYONE to sign and submit these letters.  In fact, forward this
email to everyone you know and encourage them to do the same.

As we have done for more than ten years, advocacy is as much a part of our
work as education and support.

We will have another letter writing campaign in the next day or so
involving a trans teacher from a religious school.  You will receive
another email like this to tell you how to participate.

If you have questions, please feel free to contact us at
heartstrong at heartstrong.org  Do not reply to this post, as your message
will simply disappear into cyberspace.  :)

We hope to hear from everyone!

Marc Adams
Executive Director