"Joe Szakos, executive director of Virginia Organizing Project (VOP), has launched a campaign to persuade the Charlottesville School Board to adopt a nondiscrimination policy that includes sexual orientation. He is collecting signatures for a petition to be presented to the board at some future date. The petition has been endorsed by the Charlottesville branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), as well as Amnesty International, ASG, and Live Arts"

"The campaign began in late December with a series of letters to the editor of the Daily Progress, and has encountered unexpected support within local high schools. Charlottesville High School and Tandem Friends School have started GayStraight Alliances, while the Albemarle High School chapter of Amnesty International has endorsed the VOP petition"

"The Charlottesville School Board most recently considered changing its nondiscrimination policy to include sexual orientation in 1998. After much debate, the Board rejected it by a 6-1 vote, 'Being active in Gay rights has been part of VOP since August 1995,' said Szakos. 'We've been a multi-issue, multi-constituency organization from the beginning'"

"For more information about the VOP petition drive, call (804) 984-4655. For more information on Gay-Straight Alliances in local high schools, or other services for GLBT Youth and Straight Allies, contact OutYouth of the Blue Ridge at (804) 984-OYBR" (Lamda Letter, March 2000).