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May 17, 2013 Matthew Beck is GLSEN’s 2013 Educator of the Year
The Educator of the Year award recognizes an exceptional education professional who has enriched his or her community by ensuring that all students, particularly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students, are safe from bullying and harassment. The award honors an educator who works not only to ensure safety, but impacts measurable change that is visible within that person’s school district and community. “As a professional school counselor who embraces children for who they are, I am thankful and honored to highlight our present and future work towards ensuring that all our students feel safe, secure, and welcomed,” said Matthew Beck. “GLSEN’s Educator of the Year award inspires me to lead educational conversations about respect and to prepare school communities to be the advocate and role model that all students deserve. I am proud and honored to work alongside Erie educators who model perseverance and hope to all youth when handling setbacks in life and ensuring children come first.” May 17, 2013 Recognizing International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia
In the resolution, statistics from GLSEN’s 2011 Climate Survey are even cited to emphasize the large population of students who felt unsafe at their schools. It means a lot to us to know that we have the support of Congresswoman Lee who, like us, believes that bigotry, hatred and discrimination are unacceptable.
Actions like that of Congresswoman Lee are small steps toward abolishing discrimination and ensuring schools are safe for everyone, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Rohan Mackle, GLSEN Student Ambassador & Policy Intern May 8, 2013 Speak out about your experiences!Do you identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ)? Are you between 13 and 18 years old? Are you in school currently (or have you been in school recently)? Then SPEAK OUT and help inform education policymakers and the public about what’s really going on in our nation’s schools. The 2013 National School Climate Survey is GLSEN’s eighth national survey of LGBTQ youth. It is a crucial tool in GLSEN’s mission to fight anti-LGBT bias in K-12 schools across the nation. The information gathered from this survey will help GLSEN to inform education policymakers and the public about the right of all students to be treated with respect in their schools. Many students in the past have also used the survey information to advocate with their teachers and principals for safer schools for LGBT students. The survey is completely anonymous. The survey is available in English and Spanish and asks questions about your experiences in school, including hearing homophobic remarks, being harassed because of your sexual orientation and/or how you express your gender and how supportive your school is of LGBT students. To take the survey, click here. If you have any questions about the survey, contact Dr. Neal Palmer, Research Associate, at npalmer@glsen.org. A report of findings from the 2013 National School Climate Survey will be available in Fall 2014. If you would like to see how GLSEN has used the survey information in past years, you can see key findings from our 2011 survey or read the full report by going here: 2011 National School Climate Survey.
May 2, 2013 Seeing the Game ChangeLiam Arne, a high school student, from Manassas City, Virgina is one of the winners of the Megan Rapinoe Changing the Game contest. Check out Liam’s winning entry, where he discusses his experiences with homophobia in sports.
Join us in congratulating Liam by posting your Selfie for Sports and tell us what you are doing to Change The Game! May 1, 2013 We can’t announce the winner…May 1-7, 2013 is National Sports and Physical Education Week. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to announce the winners of the Changing the Game with Megan Rapinoe Contest. As an out LGBT athlete, Megan Rapinoe is an amazing role model for all students and athletes. She serves as an example of someone working to Change the Game both on and off the field. Back in February, we worked together to create a contest to give away some signed Megan Rapinoe & Changing the Game swag and a $500 Nike Gift Card. We received an overwhelming response from student athletes all over the country. As we went through the submissions during the judging process, we kept coming back to one particular student.
When we hold a contest, we announce the winner via an email announcement, blog posts, Facebook, Twitter and a press release. We knew there would be attention focused on the winners and wanted to ensure that it would be okay to contact their schools and celebrate their win. The student winning the grand prize was concerned about the attention having a negative impact on their life both inside school and on the soccer field. While they appreciated the gesture, they declined the spotlight. There are many reasons why a young person may not want to disclose their sexual orientation. The National School Climate Survey reports that 63% of LGBT youth do not feel safe at school. It is understandable why a student may second-guess this kind of attention, even when it is in a positive light.
We would love to announce the grand prizewinner of the Megan Rapinoe for Changing the Game contest… but we can’t. At GLSEN, we value safety and respect for students, which means, allowing students the space to come out at their own pace. Instead of using this opportunity to feature the grand prize winner, we are going to break the silence around LGBT issues in sports by featuring blog posts from other student athletes involved in the Megan Rapinoe for Changing the Game contest in honor of National Sports and Physical Education Week (May 1-7th). We will be bringing you the stories of several student athletes in their own words. Stay tuned…
April 25, 2013 “Fag” tweeted 14,563 times todayHelp us reach our goal of zero. Share GLSEN’s Twitter Counter on Facebook or tweet about it.
GLSEN is launching a revamped tool, part of our ThinkB4YouSpeak Ad Council campaign, to demonstrate how shockingly often anti-LGBT language is used on Twitter.
The #ThinkB4YouSpeak Twitter Counter shows in real time the number of tweets containing anti-LGBT language, with a live feed showing actual tweets containing “fag,” “dyke” or “so gay.”
“Fag” was casually tweeted 14,563 times today.
“Dyke” was casually tweeted 25,065 times this week.
“So gay” was casually tweeted 279,540 times in April
April 22, 2013 How was your Day of Silence?Last Friday was another GREAT Day of Silence, and we at GLSEN were so happy to hear your success stories all day long! Below are a couple of stories we received. If you’d like to share your Day of Silence experiences, we’d love to hear from you!
April 19, 2013 You are loved & supported: Day of Silence selfies in support of LGBT youth
What’s better than taking a selfie? Taking a selfie for a good cause!Your selfies are flowing in on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram, and through our website. It’s inspiring to see so many people showing their support–showing your support. I started putting together a slideshow of the selfies (it’s playing on the screen in our conference room!) Do you want to join in?Grab a sign, take a pic, and share it. You can post it on your own social network and tag it with #DayOfSilence, submit it to our Tumblr, or send it in to us. We’d love to see it! April 19, 2013 Day of Silence on YouTubeThis year at GLSEN, we decided it was time that Day of Silence really got into the YouTube scene.
And we’re not the only ones. So many of you have been taking to YouTube to raise awareness about Day of Silence and the harassment and violence that LGBT students still face in schools. Inspired by all of your amazing videos, I started a playlist on the GLSEN YouTube channel collected #DayOfSilence videos from around YouTube. Check ‘em out. What about you? Have you created a video for Day of Silence? April 18, 2013 Day of Silence is TOMORROW!The Day of Silence is finally here! Are you prepared? Take the time this afternoon/evening to double check your to-do list with your GSA advisor and/or fellow organizers. Make sure you haven’t put anything off until the last minute because once you get to school you will want to be able to hit the ground running in order to make the biggest impact. Here are some things to remember as you finalize your arrangements for your Day of Silence event: LIST: Make a to-do list of final tasks and think of people who could take on some of those tasks for you. Get started with the items on this list! REGISTER: If you haven’t already, be sure to CLICK HERE to register your participation in the Day of Silence and be counted among the hundreds of thousands of other students nationwide participating in the Day of Silence. CONNECT: The night before your event call, email or text all of the people helping you organize to make sure everyone is on the same page. Also make sure to stay connected on social media, like facebook and Twitter! PRINT: Be sure you have all the materials you need, and extras to hand out, such as: Speaking Cards, Lambda Legal: Freedom to Speak (Or Not) 2013, ACLU: Letter to Principal or Educator, Stickers, and cut, fold, or label these materials as needed. GATHER: Get all Day of Silence items and materials in one place to ensure that they are clean and organized (shirts, buttons, stickers, pamphlets, speaking cards, posters, etc.) CHARGE: You want to take pictures, right? Text? Tweet? Make sure your camera, phone and computer batteries are all charged up and ready to go in the morning! DOUBLE CHECK your to-do list: It never hurts to be extra careful! REST: You’re gonna need it for your exciting day of taking action! We are so excited to hear about how your day goes! Don’t forget to post your pictures and thoughts on facebook, Twitter or via e-mail. We love to hear from you. Have an great and empowering day, Juliann DiNicola |
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