A Long Island parent-teacher-student group is little more than a week away from becoming the nation's first chartered PTA to focus on the interests of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students and their families.

The National Parent Teacher Association and its New York State branch have put aside concerns about the group originally using the PTA name without an official charter and are welcoming the Long Island Gay Parent Teacher Student Association into their network.

"We are kind of excited," said Maria Fletcher, president of the New York State PTA, based in Albany. "We are very much on board to try to formulate a curriculum that is sensitive to those students' needs. . . . The more people who are involved in the education of children, the better."

The Long Island group is to approve its charter and elect a slate of officers from Nassau and Suffolk counties at its April 19 meeting in Garden City South.

Fletcher said the group will be one of two community Parent Teacher Associations in the state that are not tied to an educational institution -- the other one is a countywide PTA in Queens -- and the only one focused on a specific population of students.

James Martinez, a spokesman with the National PTA in Washington, D.C., said his organization often works "with other groups that involve gay and lesbian parents" but did not know of a PTA unit set up specifically for that purpose.

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The Long Island group will work with Gay-Straight Alliances of students at school districts but also with parents, teachers and anyone interested in equality advocacy for LGBT students or those raised by same-sex couples.

"There was a need somewhere in the schools to reach out to families," said Laurie Scheinman, 49, of Sands Point, who has been nominated as the group's co-chairwoman. "While many of our schools are tolerant, they don't have a system set up for any issues if they are to arise."

Students encounter discriminatory behavior ranging from jokes to the use of demeaning terms and outright harassment, said her daughter, Rachael Scheinman, 18, president of the Gay-Straight Alliance at the Portledge School in Locust Valley.

"We've had many instances . . . where negative comments are said" and are ignored for lack of a better strategy, Rachael Scheinman said. "There is a lot that isn't accomplished and the PTSA will kind of remove those barriers between parents and schools."

A 2009 survey of secondary students, conducted by the Gay Lesbian & Straight Education Network of New York City, found that nine out of 10 students in the state had not only heard the term "gay" used negatively, but also reported the prevalence of slurs and sexist remarks in schools.

"I think people should be able to live their lives the way they are and not have to put up a front because they are afraid," said Susan Ruona, 57, a bank consultant from Seaford whose son is gay. "I hope the organization will provide others with some education."

The new Long Island group also wants to foster understanding and appreciation of their community, said David Kilmnick, the new group's director and chief executive of the Long Island GLBT Services Network.

"It's not about sex education, but about teaching about gay Americans who have contributed to American history," including slain San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk and Long Island poet Walt Whitman, Kilmnick said. "We want to teach about these accomplishments so we don't repeat the errors of history."

Survey: A need for teaching tolerance

A survey of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender secondary-school students found that while attending school in New York State:

97 percent had heard the term "gay" used in a negative way, 90 percent had heard homophobic remarks that included the use of slurs, and 94 percent had heard sexist remarks.

80 percent reported verbal harassment, and 30 percent reported physical harassment.

14 percent reported physical assault because of sexual orientation.

67 percent said they were sexually harassed.

53 percent experienced "cyberbullying."

59 percent never reported those incidents to school staff and 57 percent did not tell family members.

Source: 2009 National School Climate Survey by the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN)