Today marks the 16th annual Day of Silence, an event sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) where students from middle school to college take some form of a vow of silence to bring attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment. Looking back at my posts from previous years for and around the event, however, I have to ask myself: Are things getting better?
(I broke this story a few weeks ago in my Mombian newspaper column, reprinted below. It’s about a lesbian teen making a difference—and underscores for me how much things have changed since I was a teen. Despite the horror stories we still hear about bullying, suicide, and other ills, there are more gay-straight alliance clubs,
(This ran as my newspaper column on March 16, 2010. A few of the details on the McMillen prom case are a tad out of date, but the bulk of the piece still holds.) The Lego castle was almost done. It was a complicated thing, one of the most intricate constructions my then-preschooler had ever
When Constance McMillen filed a lawsuit against her school district after they canceled the prom rather than let her bring a same-sex date and wear a tux, a federal judge ruled that she had a right to clothes and a date of her choice. He did not ask the school to reinstate the prom, however,
By now, you would have to have been living on another planet not to know the story of Constance McMillen, whose Mississippi high school canceled its prom after she told officials she wanted to bring her girlfriend and wear a tux. What most news channels have missed, however, is that Constance’s mother is also a
Schools and Youth A federal judge ruled that high school senior Constance McMillen had a First Amendment right to attend her senior prom with the date of her choice and wearing the clothes of her choice, although he said he wouldn’t force the school to hold the prom they canceled after McMillen requested to attend
Personal Stories Nina at Queercents discusses the various factors she and her spouse are weighing as they consider whether to have a second child. Schools and Education A federal judge ruled that the Gay-Straight Alliance at Florida’s Yulee High School can meet on campus, with the same privileges as other student groups, and does not
Both the Washington Post and Newsweek last week published articles about children who are coming out in middle school or high school, younger than ever before. Both focus on the dangers faced by these youth; Newsweek’s story, which made the cover, centers on Larry King, the eight-grader in Oxnard, CA, who was shot to death
