I wrote the other day about an escalating situation in Alameda, California, where some conservative parents are objecting to including materials about LGBT families in the elementary school diversity curriculum. This morning, at 11:15 a.m. Eastern, 9:15 a.m. Central, 8:15 a.m. Pacific, Brad Dacus, founder and president of the conservative Pacific Justice Institute will be
Lest you think Prop 8 was the only controversial LGBT issue in California: First, the Alameda School District became the target of irate right-wing parents who learned that school officials were creating elementary school lesson plans that “talked about teasing and explained the different definitions of family.” The lessons included And Tango Makes Three, a
The recent suicides of two young boys after repeated bullying at school have made many of us, myself included, wonder what we could do. One of the ways the HRC Foundation Family Project has responded is to push up the May release of its “Introduction to Welcoming Schools” guide, “An Inclusive Approach to Addressing Family
Another 11-year-old boy, Jaheem Herrera, has hanged himself after enduring repeated bullying. (The horrible news comes via Will at Pam’s.) There is some reporting that he was bullied with anti-LGBT taunts, among others. Just last week, after the suicide of Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, I asked “How many more children must die before we as a
Today marks the 13th annual Day of Silence, an event 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. Last year’s event was in memory of Lawrence King, the California eighth-grader shot to death by a classmate because of his
“It’s not just a gay issue,” said Sirdeaner Walker, mother of 11-year-old Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, who died by suicide last week after months of anti-gay taunts. “It’s bigger.” The Advocate has a long interview with Walker. It’s an emotionally tough read, but worth it. I mentioned in my roundup yesterday that GLSEN’s upcoming National Day
HRC has just compiled a very useful list of Scholarships for LGBT and Allied Students. Many of the scholarships, especially those from COLAGE, are open to children of LGBT parents. Thing is, though, some children of LGBT parents prefer not to be called allies, as Abigail Garner has explained. “Ally,” she wrote, implies someone who
Now available for streaming to your computer: many of the the award-winning films about diversity from Groundspark and Academy Award-winning director Debra Chasnoff. (Here’s my interview with Chasnoff about It’s STILL Elementary, her documentary about teaching LGBT inclusion in schools.) The films have been available for home use on DVD’s that run $30-50 each. A
After I published my story on the 20th anniversary of the Gay-Straight Alliance at Phillips Academy Andover, I received this letter from alumna and writer Robin Chotzinoff, who now lives in Texas. She shares not only her reaction to how times have changed, but also what her 11-year-old daughter is doing to support LGBT rights.
(Originally published in Bay Windows, February 26, 2009. I did this piece to cover a local event, but I thought it might be of wider interest. Phillips Academy Andover has the second-oldest gay-straight alliance in the country—though it is perhaps better known for being the school of George H.W., George W., and Jeb Bush. Stay
