Romer Commission Report  
 

Steering Committee  
 
 

Appendix A:  "Justice and Respect: Our position and direction"  
 

Appendix B:  "The Bible and Dialogue"  
 

On March 29, 1998, the Bridges-Across project presented a workshop at the Midwest Conference of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). Tom Cole and other directors of reorientation ministries in Michigan told the conference goers that they stand ready to help GLSEN in its efforts to get all school boards in the state of Michigan to adopt anti-harassment policies. 

Their desire to do this comes from life experiences.  

Tom Cole: 

"I remember from a very young age that my mother told me if I would have been a girl my name would have been Debbie. I had rosy cheeks and long eyelashes and was often mistaken for a girl. My personality was such that I taught myself to read at the age of four. My interests were learning of the different cultures of our melting pot neighborhood and reading books about foreign and mythical lands. Needless to say my same-sex peers found me a little difficult to understand as did my father and mother.  
I became the object of much scorn and ridicule. As far back as I can remember I was called a fag, a queer, or a sissy. Although I did not fully understand the meaning of these terms, I began to identify with them.  I was chased from school and beat up nearly everyday of my elementary school life. Bitterness became my friend and I despised the males in my society with a vengeance. I vowed in my heart I would never be like them." 

"My remembrances of school are of being teased mostly. I was skinny and very non-athletic. So, to say the least I heard all the words--fag, queer, gay, etc. I dated girls as soon as I was old enough to even know what a girl was. As I hit puberty, this was when I realized I was attracted to boys.  

"Even though not athletically inclined, and a musician, I still kept up the facade of a boy in rural Illinois who didn’t play sports or go out and get stoned every weekend, but still enjoyed his women! I could NEVER let anyone know that the names and taunting were because I WAS gay, then, my life would have been over.  

"While no one was particularly violent to me and I never got beat up, school was a living hell for me every day, especially from Jr. High on. I was never as happy to not have to go back to a place as I was the day I graduated from High School."

"For me personally, growing up, I think my own timidity was my worst enemy. It kept me from having real friends, from taking real chances and from really growing. The classroom was a very safe place for me, and so I excelled through most of my pre-college school years, not so much because I had better skills, but that others did not apply themselves as much. After puberty, I do believe that my own gender confusion coupled itself with my well established sense of timidity, and significantly held me back in many areas of my life, in or out of the classroom.  
 

Thus, I am very sympathetic of anyone who is wondering about their own sexuality. What I could have used most growing up was just a few people that I could talk to honestly. Who would do a lot of listening, and be honest, transparent and vulnerable with me about their own life and about their own sexuality."

"The first workshop that I attended on Saturday was on the GLSEN/Detroit 1996 report entitled ‘Bruised Bodies, Bruised Spirits.’ The two presenters were very good and went through the basic questions asked of school administrators, counselors, and psychologists. To quote the study, ‘For consistency, GLSEN/Detroit has chosen to use the terms gay, lesbian and bisexual or gay to describe gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered youth, and youth whose dress or behavior does not conform to gender expectations. The report also includes youth who are heterosexual and have gay, lesbian and bisexual family members or friends and youth who are perceived by others to be gay.’ 
 

"I was glad to see the youth perceived by others to be gay included in the list. As they spoke I began to get a vision for both sides of the divide working together to make schools a safe place for ALL children.  

"I flipped to the back of the report. I read an example of a Student Anti- Harassment Policy and realized that no one should object to such a policy being introduced to their school. I say this realizing that many would object, but my understanding of the objections is unclear."

URLs 
GLSEN Workshop Report:  http://www.bridges-across.org/ba/tidh/tc_glsen_report.htm 
 

Tom Cole     http://www.bridges-across.org/ba/intros/cole_tom.htm 
Mike Jones   http://www.bridges-across.org/ba/intros/jones_mike.htm 
Dann Youle  http://www.bridges-across.org/ba/intros/youle_dann.htm