Today marks the Day of Silence, when many students from middle school to college choose not to speak, in order to call attention to the silencing effect of anti-LGBTQ bullying and harassment. Doing so feels ever more necessary, even though this past week saw some progress towards addressing the issue.
Two weeks after the state of Arizona was sued for its anti-LGBTQ health curriculum in public schools, Governor Doug Ducey (R) signed a repeal of the law.
Arizona law currently bans any instruction in its HIV/AIDS health curriculum that “Promotes a homosexual life-style,” “Portrays homosexuality as a positive alternative life-style,” or “Suggests that some methods of sex are safe methods of homosexual sex.” Several LGBTQ advocacy organizations are suing to change the harmful, archaic, and potentially deadly law.
Connecticut’s newest “Kid Governor”—chosen by fifth graders last November as part of a statewide civics program—is 11-year-old Ella Briggs, who’s proudly lesbian and ran on a platform of LGBTQ Youth Safety. The Connecticut Mirror just did a nice profile and video of her, so have a look and meet one of the young LGBTQ leaders making change today.
France’s National Assembly has passed legislation that will require schools to use “Parent 1” and “Parent 2” on all school forms, instead of “Mother” and “Father,” in order to recognize the variety of families today.
“Children raised by same-sex couples do better in school, new study finds,” said yesterday’s headline in the Washington Post. Much as I would like to believe in our kids’ general awesomeness, though, there’s more going on here than first meets the eye. Let’s take a closer look.
In addition to being Martin Luther King Jr. Day, today marks the beginning of GLSEN’s annual No Name-Calling Week, when schools across the country will be having activities and events to encourage kindness and end name-calling and bullying. Did you know the event was started because of a book written by a gay dad?
Today marks the sixth anniversary of the deadly shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, that left 20 children and seven adults (including the shooter) dead. Are we making progress towards ensuring this never happens again?
A national organization for English teachers has established a new award for equity and inclusion in young adult literature. It will first be given to gay author Bill Konigsberg and named after him for future recipients.
The verbal harassment of LGBTQ students at school had been in decline for nearly a decade—but that decline has stalled, and the frequency of verbal harassment based on gender expression has actually increased in recent years, according to a new national survey from GLSEN.
