Views Clash on Homosexual Students Program

Nearly 100 hundred friends and foes of Project 10 aired their views Thursday on the Los Angeles Unified School District’s controversial counseling program for gay and lesbian students at the district’s downtown headquarters.

Speakers at the public forum, which erupted from time to time with boos and cheers, included Project founder and director Virginia Uribe, a teacher at Fairfax High School, and a representative of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles who read a statement from Archbishop Roger Mahony, condemning the program as “a camouflaged method to legitimize homosexuality” and an example of “blatant social engineering” on the part of the school board.

Uribe, who describes herself as a lesbian, said she welcomed the forum as an opportunity to express support for the program, which is open to any student in the school district who wishes to use it. “I’m sorry there’s an opposition,” Uribe said, “because, as part of a public school system, I feel that our commitment to equality extends to all children, including our lesbian and gay children.”

Among those speaking in favor of the project was Barbara Rosenkrantz of Calabasas, who said she wished a program such as Project 10 had been available to her teen-age son. In 1986, Robbie Rosenkrantz was sentenced to 17 years to life in state prison for killing a classmate who revealed Rosenkrantz’s homosexuality.

Others endorsing the program included City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky and Municipal Judge Rand Schrader.

Several ministers spoke against the program, including Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition.