Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Education and Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 71 entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to request a study of the demographics and needs of gay, lesbian, and transgender youth of Hawaii.

Your Committees received testimony in support of the measure from the Department of Education, Hawaii Civil Rights Commission, Hawaii State Teachers Association, Hawaii Safe Schools Coalition, Gay and Lesbian Education and Advocacy Foundation, Social Justice council of the First Unitarian Church of Honolulu, Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays-Oahu, Civil Unions –

Civil Rights Movement, Lambda Aloha, American Friends Service Committee Gay Liberation Program, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and three individuals.

Your Committees find that as the diversity of our student population increases we must be able to meet their educational needs by providing a safe, healthy learning environment. Teachers, as well as students, need to have the appropriate tools to meet the challenges created by the rapidly changing social and cultural environment in our schools.

Your Committees have amended the measure in light of the privacy provisions of the federal General Education Provisions Act which place clear restrictions on surveys that reveal information concerning a student's sexual behavior and attitudes. The substantially amended measure no longer restricts the study to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender youth but requests the Department of Education, in consultation with other parties, to determine the feasibility of a study of the demographics and needs of students who experience discrimination and harassment in public schools due to a range of causes, including sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, religion, or disability, and report back to the Legislature next session.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 71, as amended herein, and recommend its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 71, S.D. 1.