News from the Pine Tree State
One hundred Pride flags
After at least four Pride flags were stolen from residences, a health care nonprofit and an art gallery in Hallowell, EqualityMaine donated 100 more in support of the city’s LGBTQ+ community.
“LGBTQ Pride flags offer a symbol of acceptance, celebration and protection to many of us within the LGBTQ community,” Alex Aucoin of the Hallowell Pride Alliance told CentralMaine.com. “Many members of the LGBTQ community, we have experienced harassment, discrimination and even physical violence in response to our identities. Because of that, when flags are stolen or vandalized, some may feel a sense of threat to their personal safety.”
The donated flags were quickly made available for free at The Rusticators Emporium antiques, located at 151 Water Street in Hallowell.
Vote to keep book in school
At a heavily attended school board meeting in September, the Bonny Eagle district school board voted in favor of keeping an LGBTQ-inclusive sex education book on its library shelves.
Some questioned whether to book was appropriate while others maintained the book’s value to youth, especially LGBTQ youth.
“In my evaluation about the book, I found it to be neutral in tone, strictly educational in nature and contextually appropriate,” said school board Member Erika Creutz, according to the Bangor Daily News.
Young people deserve to read books where queer and trans adults exist,” Buxton resident Emily Weyrauch said. “Young people deserve to read books where queer and trans adults thrive.”
A second book, “Gender Queer: A Memoir,” only available in the district’s high school, is also under review.
Politicizing school books
A national conservative group called The American Principles Project targeting LGBTQ issues in state races took aim at the American Library Association award-winning book “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe and other LGBTQ+ inclusive titles with a text message sent to Maine voters, according to Maine Public Radio.
The message, reports Maine Public Radio, told voters that Democratic Governor Janet Mills “put the disgusting content in Maine schools” and sends them to a YouTube ad, which accusing Democrats of “grooming our kids.”
Reported Maine Public Radio, a spokesperson for Mills’ reelection campaign, Scott Ogden, disavowed the ad, adding that “parents and school boards, not governors, decide what books will be made available in Maine libraries and classrooms.”
Donating ‘Gender Queer’
Despite their recent review committee’s unanimous approval of the award-winning memoir “Gender Queer: A Memoir,” by Maia Kobabe, Maine’s Regional School Unit 56 school board decided in a 7-2 vote to pull it from their library shelves, according to a Maine Public Radio report.
To get the book to teenage students in the district who want to read it, the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance is raising funds to distribute it.
“This is really in our wheelhouse,” the group’s associate director, Taryn Bowe, told Maine Public Radio. “It’s about books. It’s about expression. It’s about wanting to make sure that people value the diversity of stories that are out there, and they continue to be available.”
BIPOC LGBTQ+ youth leaders
Thanks to generous gifts from The Rocking Moon Foundation and Leonard-Litz LGBTQ+ Foundation, OUT Maine spearheads a year-long “action research project” led by BIPOC LGBTQ+ youth living in Maine.
The project aims to help the youth develop skills by engaging them in collaborative learning, research and data analysis. At the end of the project, the young leaders will create a set of recommendations on how to improve programming and spaces for BIPOC LGBTQ+ youth in Maine. The youth will meet in facilitated weekend retreats and monthly virtual meetings.
The BIPOC LGBTQ+ youth leaders represent a wide age range of teens through young adults (14 to 25 years old). The group is facilitated by Sultana Khan, a BIPOC youth development specialist with ties to the LGBTQ+ community and a background in curriculum development, social movements, and youth activism.
New leadership
Also at OUT Maine, cheers to Maura Derrivan LCPC and Katie Lutts for their recent promotions.
Derrivan has been promoted to mental health coordinator. She began her career at OUT Maine as their youth engagement coordinator. In her new role, Derrivan will develop programming for youth, parents and families, and school and training programs. She will also develop content for programs and resources related to mental health and the well-being of OUT Maine’s youth.
Lutts started at OUT Maine as the school engagement coordinator and now takes on the role of program director. As such, she will lead program development and strategy for the organization in consultation with the executive director. She will engage actively with Maine schools to encourage inclusivity and support for LGBTQ+ and all marginalized youth. Plus, Lutts will lead an organization-wide initiative to expand and deepen OUT Maine’s integrated school climate work.
More: outmaine.org
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