Gay and Lesbian Educators: Personal Freedoms, Public Constraints

Book info: Gay and Lesbian Educators: Personal Freedoms, Public Constraints (Hardcover, 380 pages) – Amethyst Pr & Productions, 1997. Language: English.

An examination of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) issues in American education focusing on both at risk students and teachers. Harbeck (attorney and activist) discusses the historical dimensions of statewide initiatives to discriminate against homosexuals in relation to the teaching profession and community moral standards. The outline includes profiles of students and educators who confronted the constraints on their personal freedoms through activism or legal recourses. The appendices reproduce California's Proposition 6, the Oklahoma Statute Title 70, and review the current status of sodomy laws in the US. Amethyst Press and Productions is at PO Box 249D, Malden, MA 02148. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or. Editorial Reviews From Library Journal This study of the history of legal precedent affecting gay and lesbian educators in America's schools fills a void in the literature on the subject of homosexuality and the law. Educator and lawyer Harbeck guides readers through a series of pivotal legal decisions and antigay campaigns, from the McCarthy era "outing" of known homosexual educators, to Anita Bryant's "Save Our Children" initiative, to the current debate over states' rights as it relates to the personal freedoms of gay and lesbian citizens. What emerges is an extensively researched chronicle of American legal and social history, illuminating the treatment of one of its minority groups. Unfortunately, some of the writing is awkward and tedious, specifically when the author adds loosely related social or political theories to her thesis. These sidetracks can be overlooked, however, as the analysis of the law is compelling, interesting, and unique. Recommended for research libraries and large public libraries with extensive law collections.?Karen Duff, Boston P.L.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.