What You Can Do
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© Patricia Williams for Human Rights Watch, 2001 |
Sample Letters
Write to your school board in support of inclusive antidiscrimination
policies. All school district policies should explicitly prohibit harassment and
discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. School
districts should also ensure that these policies are implemented fully,
providing training all staff and students.
Click here for a sample letter.
Write to your state lawmakers to urge them to enact laws to protect
students from harassment and discrimination on the basis of sexual
orientation and gender identity. States should also enact legislation to
protect school staff from discrimination in employment on the basis of
sexual orientation or gender identity.
Click here for a sample letter.
Write to your representatives in Congress to urge them to back federal
nondiscrimination legislation that explicitly prohibits discrimination on
the
basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Click here for a sample letter.
Resources for Action
- Printable flyers: Print our our LGBT factsheet (20k pdf) and How To Start a Gay-Straight Alliance at your school (16k pdf).
- Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere (COLAGE), http://www.colage.org, is a
national organization that supports young people with lesbian, gay,
bisexual,
and transgender parents.
- The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network is a national grassroots organization fighting to end anti-gay bias in K-12 schools in the United States. Visit their Web site at http://www.glsen.org to:
- For worldwide information on human rights abuses against lesbians, gay men,
bisexuals, transgender people, and people with HIV and AIDS, see the website
of
the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission,
http://www.iglhrc.org.
- The Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund Web site at http://www.lambdalegal.org is a good legal resource with lots of regional contacts. Check out their advocacy section on Youth and Schools at
http://www.lambdalegal.org/cgi-bin/pages/sections/takeaction/youth.
- MTV's Fight For Your Rights is a year-long campaign to educate you about hate crimes and discrimination, and empower you to take a stand against them. Visit their Web site at http://fightforyourrights.mtv.com
- The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Projects provides services to
individuals who are subjected to bias crimes because of their sexual
orientation or gender identity. You can find a directory of its members at
http://www.avp.org.
- The National Center for Lesbian Rights is a national, non-profit law firm dedicated to achieving full civil and human rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their families. For more information, visit http://www.nclrights.org.
- The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, http://www.ngltf.org, tracks local, state,
and local developments on issues relating to sexual orientation and gender
identity.
- The National Network for Youth's website, http://www.nn4youth.org, has general information about youth in risky situations, including information on the risks that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students face as a consequence of harassment and discrimination.
- OutProud is the National Coalition for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Youth
Their Web site at http://www.outproud.org has all kinds of information, including a library of resources tools to help make schools safe and supportive and information on finding local support groups
- OASIS Magazine is an online Webzine written by, about and for queer and questioning youth. Visit their Web site at http://www.oasismag.com.
- PFLAG, Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, has a section "Focus on Safe Schools" on its Web site at http://www.pflag.org/schools/ourhouse.htm and a good publication for educators "Just the Facts About Sexual Orientation and Youth: A
Primer for Educator, Principals and School Personnel."
Recommendations
Human Rights Watch calls for immediate action by school districts, the states, and the federal government to end these abuses. Such action should include the following steps:
All school district policies should explicitly prohibit harassment and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. School districts should also ensure that these policies are implemented fully; where gaps exist between policy and practice, they should take immediate measures to close the gap by training all staff and students.
State legislatures should enact laws to protect students from harassment and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
The U.S. Department of Education should monitor school districts for compliance with the principle of nondiscrimination, intervene where policies are failing, and include sexual orientation and gender identity in data collection tools measuring discrimination in education.
Federal and state government should enact legislation to protect administrators, teachers, counselors, other school staff, and all employees from discrimination in employment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Click here for more HRW recommendations.
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Testimonies
 | Dylan
N., Nevada |
| Matt
P., New Hampshire |
| Erin
B., Georgia |
| Anika
P., Texas |
| Dahlia
P., Texas |
| Eric
C., California |
| Wendy
Weaver, Teacher, Utah |
| Nikki
L., California |
| Alix
M., Midwestern United States |
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