Wichita district policy should protect LGBTQ students, says union leader

Wichita schools should do more to protect gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students and employees, a teachers union leader told board members last week.

“The 50,000 students in this district overwhelmingly don’t care who somebody loves,” said Steve Wentz, president of United Teachers of Wichita. “They are more concerned with how people are treated and how people treat one another.”

Wentz urged school board members to expand the district’s official non-discrimination statement to explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity or expressoin along with race, religion, and other protected categories.

The change would affirm the district’s “commitment to workplace equity and inclusion. … So I’d like to see that included. I think it’s time,” Wentz said.

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/news/local/education/article197103914.html