The 49ers were quick to repudiate Culliver’s earlier remarks and Culliver did apologize, but perhaps the most important thing about Culliver’s story is how seriously out of step he is with current momentum in the world of sports. Consider the other following developments from only the past two weeks:

GLSEN supporter and star NBA player Kenneth Faried of the Denver Nuggets appeared alongside his two moms in a video supporting marriage equality;

AOL recently released a video with US international soccer star Megan Rapinoe in support of GLSEN, No Name-Calling Week and Changing the Game: The GLSEN Sports Project;

Vancouver Canucks’ goaltender Cory Schneider shared the ice with 16-year-old transman and fellow goaltender Cory Oksam for a birthday celebration the young man is unlikely to ever forget. The story was featured in the team’s fan newsletter the very next day.

Years of brave and trailblazing advocacy of athletes from Billie Jean King, Greg Louganis and Billy Bean to Faried, Schneiderand Rapinoe means that players like Culliver no longer have license to spout hateful thoughts at will and without comment.

Now, we’re witnessing this inclusive message of sportsmanship transform school gyms and athletic fields. School coaches in places like Bethesda, Maryland are leading student-athletes to take the GLSEN’s Team Respect Challenge. And Washington’s Interscholastic Activities Association has adopted trans-inclusive policies to guide high school interscholastic sports in the entire state.

GLSEN is proud to have had the support of so many of the individuals who helped bring this change about, most recently on the incredible Advisory Board for Changing the Game. And while incidents like Culliver’s hurtful remarks continue to surface, we are grateful to count upon your support to affect change from the football field to the school gym.

Our work remains largely undone, especially in school-based sports and physical education, but together, we can keep up the momentum to ensure schools are safe and healthy places for our youth.

Although the yearbook’s student staff and faculty advisors felt the article was a perfectly legitimate and inclusive depiction of life at the school, members of the school board were vocal in their opposition. “I don’t think that that type of material has any place in a yearbook,” said Board member Glenn McNish. Board Vice Chairman Rick Chadwick added, “It should not have been put in the yearbook, and it split our community, and we are going to straighten it out.”

The story highlights the challenges facing many LGBT students who attend schools in rural and small town areas, but also points to a resiliency and determination to use the resources available to them to make their schools safer for everyone. It is this complex reality that we see reflected in GLSEN’s new report on rural and small-town LGBT students.

Strengths and Silences: The Experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Students in Rural and Small Town Schools underscores the need for educators and policymakers to do more to address the safety risks for LGBT students in rural and small town schools. Rural LGBT students are far less likely to have access to LGBT-related resources at school. Nonetheless, they benefit substantially when such resources are present. GLSEN will continue to do all we can to bring those critical in-school supports to every community in the country. As familiar as this call may now be, it will continue until all students, in every type of school and of every demographic, have access to the school-based supports that can transform the LGBT student experience and enable every student to thrive.

For many years, GLSEN has provided technical assistance and capacity-building support to organizations from around the world interested in creating safer schools for all in their own countries, in ways appropriate to their local contexts . In Rio and since, it has been amazing to see the advances that are beginning to happen in many places, on their own terms and timetables.

Tomorrow, I and many of my GLSEN colleagues and our partners will be at the United Nations headquarters in New York City for a celebration of International Human Rights Day entitled “Leadership in the Fight Against Homophobia.” The event will feature remarks from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon about the UN’s commitment to truly universal human rights. It is thrilling to be part of this work at a time when there is the prospect of significant progress with each passing year , and I am heartened to see that the issues close to GLSEN’s heart, safe and affirming schools for all, are being addressed in the global arena.

Rio Statement on Homophobic Bullying and Education for All

10 December 2011

Today marks the tenth annual observation of International Human Rights Day, when the global community celebrates the anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.

Among the human rights codified in this document is the right of universal access to education of high quality. This right is further articulated in subsequent international conventions, including the Convention of the Rights of the Child, the Dakar Framework for Action on Education for All, and the Millennium Development Goals. In addition, the Yogyakarta Principles specifically make clear that this right must not be curtailed by discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

A number of governments around the world have already mobilized in support of the principle of Education for All. However, widespread violence and systemic discrimination and stigma against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people undercut these efforts and limit their impact for many learners. Every day, students around the world are routinely denied the basic, universal human right to education because of discrimination and violence they experience in school on the basis of their actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender expression and gender identity. Research from many nations and regions consistently documents the high levels of verbal, physical and sexual harassment, abuse, and violence experienced by young people in schools. Homophobia and gender-based bias also limit learners’ access to accurate information regarding health and sexuality, and diminishes the visibility of LGBTI people in other areas of the curriculum.

Studies repeatedly confirm links between homophobic bullying and bias – including lack of access to accurate information regarding health, sexuality and other aspects of the curriculum – and negative social, educational and health outcomes, including increased vulnerability to HIV, mental health consequences and suicide. These studies also indicate concrete steps which schools, education authorities, young people, communities, policy-makers and governments can take to prevent the negative effects of homophobic bullying and ensure the full enjoyment of the universal right to education.

We, the participants gathered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the first-ever United Nations consultation on homophobic bullying in educational institutions, organized by UNESCO, are here to review the scope and impact of this urgent problem and discuss best practices in programming and policy to address it. We come from countries on all seven continents and represent non-governmental organizations, education ministries, UN agencies, academia and other development partners. Among us are current learners including young people, teachers, and parents.

We call upon all governments to live up to their responsibility to provide universal access to a high quality education by eliminating the barriers created by homophobia and transphobia, including the unacceptable and devastating prevalence of anti-LGBTI bias and violence in elementary, secondary and tertiary levels and settings of education around the world. Education for All must be realized through measures to ensure:

• Safe school climates free of anti-LGBTI bias and violence;
• Access to accurate health and sexuality information relevant to the needs of all learners, including LGBTI people;
• Teachers and school staff prepared and willing to maintain learning environments truly accessible and productive for all; and
• Mechanisms of periodic review by which educational institutions, systems and governments consult with development partners and all education sector stakeholders in order to hold themselves accountable to these principles.

The Statement is also available on UNESCO’s site here: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/hiv-and-aids/our-priorities-in-hiv/gender-equality/anti-bullying/

It has been a great year for GLSEN and the safe schools movement, full of benchmarks and achievements. To give you a sense of some of our successes this year, GLSEN has put together a short montage capturing many of our 2012 highlights. I hope you will take a minute to watch.

Everything we have achieved this past year has been possible because of you. And everything we hope to achieve going forward will be as well.

On behalf of all of us at GLSEN, and the hundreds of thousands of LGBT and allied students we serve every day, thank you.

P.S. For other great videos from this past year, visit the GLSEN YouTube channel.

Today is the International Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), a day to reflect on the violence and loss caused by anti-transgender fear, discrimination and hatred. We remember those lost, and re-commit ourselves to building a better world.

For me and my GLSEN colleagues, the commitment to the safety and well-being of transgender students is core to our purpose of building true cultures of respect in K-12 schools. Sadly, it is also one of the most urgent and challenging elements of our current work.

GLSEN’s report, Harsh Realities: The Experiences of Transgender Youth in Our Nation’s Schools – the first national report on transgender student experiences – found that a shocking 53% of transgender students had been physically harassed and 26% had been physically assaulted at school in the past year because of their gender expression. For adult transgender people, the threat is even greater: 264 transgender people were murdered in hate crimes worldwide in the past year. The price of difference, of not conforming to gender norms, is far too high.

Changing this dire reality means building respect for difference, and for transgender and gender nonconforming people specifically, from the ground up.

Earlier this year, we published Ready, Set, Respect! GLSEN’s Elementary School Toolkit to provide the tools for elementary educators to better understand how gender roles and expectations can contribute to a hostile school climate. Released in partnership with the National Association of Elementary School Principals and the National Association for the Education of Young Children, Ready, Set, Respect! provides K-5 teachers with developmentally appropriate, standards-aligned lesson plans on bias-based bullying, gender roles and the full measure of respect.

Students are also leading the way on this critical issue. Today, GLSEN is partnering with Gay-Straight Alliances and student leaders across the country to enlist broader support for transgender students among their peers with a special pledge.

It’s a message for all of us:

I pledge to support transgender and gender nonconforming youth by making a commitment to:

• Not use gender-biased language or transphobic slurs.
• Not assume anyone’s gender identity and ask respectfully how a person identifies.
• Respect the diversity of all gender identities and expressions.

You may not currently be in school or work in a school, but these are certainly steps we can all take, and I encourage you to take the pledge here as well.

Please check out our action page to find other ways to get involved and to learn about other GLSEN resources designed to create safer, more affirming schools for transgender youth, like our Model District Policy on Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Youth (pdf) created in partnership with the National Center for Transgender Equality.

Schools must be safe spaces for EVERY child. Difference must be valued in our schools and in our society. And the scourge of violence perpetrated against transgender people of all ages must become a thing of the past. Thank you for committing to take a critical step forward on this day of remembrance, and for your continued support of our work.

• Tammy Baldwin became the first out Senator ever;
• Marriage equality won popular votes in Maine and Maryland, and is currently leading in Washington state, the first time ever that same-sex couples won the right to marry at the polls;
• An effort to ban same-sex marriage in Minnesota was defeated at the polls;
• A pro-marriage equality Justice of the Iowa Courts was reelected despite being targeted by anti-LGBT forces;
• The nation reelected a President who endorsed marriage equality, LGBT students’ rights, and LGBT-inclusive bullying-prevention legislation; repealed Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and refused to defend the “Defense of Marriage Act”; led federal agencies that have sought to act in the interest of LGBT people, particularly youth; and appointed LGBT people, including GLSEN’s founding Executive Director Kevin Jennings, to a remarkable number of positions in his administration.

These victories for equality – whatever one thinks of the results of the Presidential election – underscore changing attitudes toward LGBT issues in our society that are the result of decades of hard work to change laws, to reach hearts and minds, and to integrate the lives and needs of LGBT people into policy and practice in this country wherever possible.

And all of that change was possible only because of coalition-building and years of effort to build strong partnerships for equality and justice across communities and lines of difference.

If you’ve made it this far, I ask you to pause for a moment and reread that previous sentence. That idea can become a cliché, stripped of meaning from overuse. But this election and the internal debates now looming for the Republican Party underscore powerfully what those concepts – coalition-building and partnership – really mean.

This was brought home for me powerfully this morning when I heard a conservative commentator respond to the suggestion that the Republican Party might need to rethink its approach to an increasingly diverse electorate in order to build a new majority. Current Republican strategy has its roots in the late 1960s, when a young Pat Buchanan suggested to Richard Nixon that the party could divide the country in half and win by retaining the “larger half.” In other words, no need to broaden your base, just create a sharp, dividing line, and motivate those who agree with you by any means necessary.

Asked if the party might need to do more to bring new communities into its base, the commentator replied: “Ideas trump all. When you broaden the base, you weaken the foundation. You begin to lose sight of what you stand for.” His comment efficiently killed a discussion of alternative Republican approaches to advancing conservative ideas.

In a way, he succinctly articulated the polar opposite of a coalition and partnership-based approach: a commitment to ideological purity over the kind of strategic clarity that powers great coalitions and effective partnerships. An approach that says “This is what you must each believe and act on” rather than “this is what we intend to accomplish together and let’s agree on how we will work together to achieve that goal.”

For twenty years, GLSEN has stood firmly for a coalition and partnership based approach to the long, hard work of change. Sometimes we have sought power from others in alliance, sometimes we brought our own power to bear on a common goal. Always, we have tried to do the listening and thinking and negotiating required to bring people and organizations together on common ground for a common purpose. Our mission statement articulates GLSEN’s commitment to valuing difference itself for the contribution it makes to a diverse and healthy society. Last night we saw the incredible power of difference assembled for a common purpose to drive victories for equality and justice. The power to bring us closer to the day when each member of every school community learns to respect and accept all people regardless of sexual orientation, gender expression or gender identity.

It is our youth who still struggle, in the hallways and classrooms where they spend their days, for the very basic tenet of equality – respect. That is why GLSEN has made passage of the Safe Schools Improvement Act and Student Non-Discrimination Act a priority. I am hopeful that the historic nature of yesterday’s election will help bring passage of these important bills closer to reality, and help ensure safe environments for every student to thrive.

That’s why GLSEN is hard at work year-round, fighting for the rights of LGBT students. We envision a future where all students can attend school in an affirming, safe, respectful environment free of bigotry, bullying and hatred.

We cannot do it alone. We need your support.

Please make a special contribution to GLSEN today.
Help us continue the fight to end LGBT bullying and bias!

I recently met a young student, Margaret, an out lesbian, who told me about how she once had to sit in class while her teacher asked every single student in the room if they thought she was going to hell because of her sexual orientation.

Can you imagine how different she would have felt if an Ally spoke up on her behalf?

Stories like Margaret’s re-affirm the need for programs like Ally Week, ensuring that young LGBT students have strong, visible support.

GLSEN is helping Margaret get that support, making sure she has an Ally, making sure she has hope.

Help bring hope to thousands of students like Margaret.
Make a special contribution to GLSEN today!

Together we can create the future that our students deserve — together we can make a change!

As I start year twelve of my GLSEN tenure, I’m proud to say that we now have the clearest evidence yet that GLSEN’s 20+ years of championing LGBT issues in education is working.

The 2011 National School Climate Survey provides us both the snapshot of a school year and a window onto the progress and process of change. For many years, GLSEN has worked to increase the presence of critical school-based supports and resources in K-12 schools nationwide. In 2011, the level of these supports continued to rise across the country. The report also demonstrates how these supports are improving LGBT student experience, in terms of both individual well-being and educational opportunity.

But the report, the only national study that has consistently examined the experiences of LGBT students in America’s schools over time, also tells a bigger story. Its graphs and figures document the progress of a fundamental struggle – the effort to reduce the levels of bias and violence experienced by LGBT students. Looking back across a decade, we now can see a sustained pattern and the beginning of a downward arc.

You can read the full report or executive summary here.

Knowing that the solutions we offer are working creates an even greater sense of urgency – we must reach those communities where change has not yet taken hold. While we are encouraged by progress, much work remains. More than 8 out of 10 LGBT students still experience harassment at school each year because of their sexual orientation and nearly 2 out of 3 because of their gender expression.

More change must happen and we need your help. Please join our campaign to educate principals about the simple actions proven to fundamentally change LGBT students’ school experiences. We’ve created an email you can send to let administrators know how they can be a part of the solution.

With your help, GLSEN will achieve our goal of safe schools for ALL students! Thank you for your commitment to helping us make history.

These Olympic high points feature great role models who have openly stated their support for a K-12 sports world free of anti-LGBT bias and violence, as well as some world-class athletes who are out as lesbian, gay or bi. Basketball standouts Diana Taurasi and Tamika Catchings, among other Olympians, appear on GLSEN’s Changing the Game website as WNBA players who have taken our “Team Respect Challenge.” Same for Seimone Augustus, WNBA league MVP in 2011, who happens to be out. And breakout Olympic soccer star Megan Rapinoe, who came out just before the London games, has spoken in support of GLSEN and Changing the Game, citing the “freedom to be herself” as one of the sources of her game-changing creativity on the pitch.

All of these great athletes are tremendous role models for young people everywhere but there are athletes who serve as role models in local schools and communities as well and GLSEN’s Changing the Game Advisory Board Member Jeff Sheng is helping to share their stories in image and word. Over the last nine years, Jeff has been photographing “out” high school athletes as part of his “Fearless” Project. This powerful work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally and this year the project has been a feature at the London Olympics Pride House. You can see the presentation here  and you can support Jeff’s efforts create a print edition of this important work here.

“I am proud to be part of GLSEN’s Changing the Game initiative because together we are focusing on making our schools safer for our LGBT high school student athletes.” Jeff describes the students he has photographed as some of “the bravest individuals” he has ever met – students who even though they face the prospect of being bullied, harassed or beaten up by their fellow teammates, have had the courage to instead say, “I’m going to be who I am.’ Changing the Game is helping to create climates in K-12 sports and athletics where students do not have to face the kind of anti-lgbt bias that sidelines so many and where all LGBT students can participate as fully as possible in an environment of respect and inclusiveness.

You can get in the spirit of these games by promoting GLSEN’s Team Respect Challenge to high schools in your area. Share the challenge on Facebook and Twitter to remind students and educators about the importance of respect, inclusion and sportsmanship among teammates, regardless of race, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression or religion. Simply click the links above to share!

The announcement was an amazing high-water mark for a record-setting day. It also signaled how far the Day of Silence has come, with students’ voices and students’ demands reverberating right up to the highest office in the land.

In addition to President Obama’s important endorsement, this year’s Day of Silence also reached new levels of influence. Hundreds of thousands of K-12 students from over 9,000 unique schools participated in the Day of Silence, which is the highest recorded number of participants yet! Aside from record breaking participation, the Day of Silence was covered by media outlets such as ABC, MTV News, The Huffington Post, and many others. In addition, numerous organizations and influential individuals tweeted their support for the Day of Silence, and GLSEN greatly appreciates their encouraging words.

Though the Day of Silence was a big day in terms of media, numbers, and legislation, nothing resonates louder than the words of the student participants. GLSEN Staff spent the day online in contact with and providing support to students who chose to take the vow of silence for all or part of the day. Their feedback is priceless.

One student tweeted, “My mom told me she was proud of me for standing up for what I believe in. #BestDayofSilenceEver.” 

Another student posted on our Facebook page, “Today, so many of the people that I was worried about hating me because I thought they would think less of me stood with me on the Day of Silence. I don’t think that I’ve ever felt this accepted or supported in my life. It just goes to show that there is hope for everyone out there. Whenever times may seem tough, or you are being harassed, just stop and look around. Remember that you are not the only one in the world, and that the people around you are always there for you. Happy Day of Silence, and may the future bring you many good times, freedom, and happiness.”

For 16 years now, student leaders have made silence one of the loudest calls to action. We are so proud to support their efforts in achieving safe and affirming schools for all. Their actions were loud enough to inspire the President to offer his support for two bills vital to the progression of the safe schools movement. Thank you to all of the brave students that used their silence to bring awareness to the harmful effects of anti-LGBT bullying and harassment, thanks to the communities and families that heard their message and thank you for helping us make important actions like the Day of Silence possible.

P.S. GLSEN’s ability to provide critical programs is dependent on the ongoing help of supporters like you. I’d like to invite you to become a member of GLSEN’s Dean’s List today. Members are monthly donors who provide reliable support for our core programs to combat anti-LGBT bullying, harassment and more. Join today with a tax-deductible gift of $10, $20 or more. Thank you.