In advance of this year’s awards, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand recorded a special message about the critical need to create safe schools for LGBT students, and of course about GLSEN’s groundbreaking work in that area.

Take a look.

If you would like to attend GLSEN’s Respect Awards — New York, click here to buy your tickets. Tickets will be available through this Friday.

If you are unable to attend the event, would you consider a donation of $350, or any amount, to support GLSEN’s work to create safe schools? You can make a tax-deductible donation securely online.

SOCO came at a very busy time of my life; on top of being a GLSEN chapter chair, I teach 9^th grade English and am finishing my master’s degree at UCLA.  SOCO was scheduled the weekend of my sister’s wedding and the week before my master’s thesis was due.  Coming to SOCO meant taking time out of my busy schedule and buying my sister an expensive wedding present. Nonetheless, I committed myself to the weekend summit because I knew it was important – and I am glad I did!

As a participant in the chapter ally track I learned SO much.  One of my favorite workshops was titled, Conditions Facing LGBT Youth of Color: the School to Prison Pipeline.  As an educator I am familiar with the school to prison pipeline, but it was not until this workshop that I began to realize how a student’s sexual orientation and gender identity might push them into this system.  It made me reflect on my own practices and school policies.  There was even a workshop on self-care and dealing with stress.  When I arrived at the conference on Friday to say I was stressed would be an understatement.  This workshop gave me practical tips for identifying stress and dealing with it in positive ways.  All of the workshops and speakers were amazing, but for me the best part of SOCO were the participants.

I am glad to have had the opportunity to network with other GLSEN chapters and chapter allies.  The ability to talk about common projects and share resources was tremendously helpful, but youth participants and their bravery were the most inspiring part of the weekend. Throughout the weekend I was able to hear many of their stories and it made me thankful for GLSEN and the work they do to create places like SOCO.  Every afternoon all of the youth would cram together to eat lunch at one table.  I remember noticing how happy everyone was and it gave me a new sense of dedication to GLSEN’s mission.

I came to SOCO exhausted, but I left with 40 new friends and ready to continue the work of GLSEN by sharing what I learned at SOCO with others in Los Angeles.

Jason Navarro
Co-Chair
GLSEN Los Angeles

When this draft was released, GLSEN was disappointed to find that the plan did not include any strategic goals designed to support lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students. As we know, students across the country encounter adversity and discrimination due to their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. Education Secretary Arne Duncan and the Department of Education have taken a leadership role in combatting bullying and discrimination against LGBT students in the past, and we were concerned about the notable absence of goals to further this work.

GLSEN partnered with thirty-three other education and civil rights organizations—including the National Association of School Psychologists, National Education Association, National Black Justice Coalition, National Center for Transgender Equality, Japanese American Citizens League, and Family Equality Council—to send a letter to Secretary Duncan and his leadership team. We urged them to continue their commitment to providing LGBT students with safe and supportive school environments by including specific goals related to such efforts in their strategic plan for the next four years.

On April 2, the Department of Education responded to our requests and released its final strategic plan, which included new commitments to LGBT students. Specifically, the Department updated the list of characteristics in its goal to “ensure and promote effective educational opportunities and safe and healthy learning environments for all students regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, age, sex, disability, language, and socioeconomic status” to also include “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.” This is important because we know that students are often placed at a disadvantage in school because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation.

In addition, the Department updated its goal for the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to enforce federal civil rights protections in schools to include “gender-based harassment and sex-stereotyping.” Under Assistant Secretary Russlynn Ali’s leadership, OCR has used existing federal protections to combat harassment and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and it is crucial that the Department remain committed to doing so.

All students, regardless of individual characteristics, deserve to feel safe and secure at school. Such security often plays a critical role in determining students’ classroom success, and far too often LGBT students are not afforded the same protections that other students enjoy. We are very happy that Secretary Duncan and the Department of Education recognized the challenge we face and committed to work toward creating safe and supportive environments for all students in the United States.

Find the strategic plan here: http://www2.ed.gov/about/reports/strat/plan2011-14/plan-2011.pdf

Here’s an excerpt from The Advocate.

Though she’s only a freshman in high school, Amelia Roskin-Frazee’s résumé of activism is hefty. She established her middle school’s GSA, she’s one of 18 student ambassadors for the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, and she founded her own LGBT organization.

“I was going to my current school’s library and I found that there were pretty much no books about sexual orientation or gender expression,” Roskin-Frazee says. The dearth of LGBT literature inspired her to establish the Make It Safe Project, which provides schools with queer literature. Through her fund-raising efforts, she’s purchased books like It Gets Better and Queer: The Ultimate LGBT Guide for Teens and distributed them to school libraries.

“I’ve given around 20 boxes of books to schools and youth homeless shelters that otherwise didn’t have these resources,” she says. While she sees herself eventually being an “underpaid writer-teacher,” Roskin-Frazee says LGBT advocacy will always be part of her life.

Read the full article on Advocate.com.

If you will be in grades 8 – 12 next school year, you’re invited to apply to GLSEN’s Student Ambassador Program.

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.

Last week was the Day of Silence. A few words to those who participated: This day is supposed to be difficult. You should struggle. You should be frustrated. This day is about being audacious, defiant and most of all, empathetic. You are an important proponent of change and you matter. Anyone can participate in the Day of Silence, but the only person you can change is yourself. You have the power to be not just a better person, but an amazing human being.

Anyone can participate in the Day of Silence, but the only person you can change is yourself.

I have been organizing the Day of Silence since I was in the 7^th grade. I started with a bundle of crumpled flyers underneath my arm, awkwardly written, that were painfully tossed into garbage cans when given out. Over the years, I have accumulated more wisdom and experienced more much more heartbreak in concurrence with this event.

One cannot convince a student to stop being homophobic or transphobic overnight. We have been influenced by systems and institutions of oppression that teach us, from a young age, to celebrate that which is heteronormative and gender binary. As an activist, I cannot just scream the same, ineffective message to my peers that they have heard their entire lives; “Don’t be a bully”.

Instead, we must deconstruct our social norms of hate, ignorance and hostility towards queer youth. We must no longer demean, patronize or belittle the complexity of gender or sexual identity. This is not an easy task; it cannot be pre-packaged and sold. It cannot be taught in a classroom or preached from an intercom.

We as individuals must become both the educators and pupils, the sages and warriors, “to be the change that we want to see in the world”.

My generation is fueled by communication; however, pixels on a screen are not enough to make us change. We are influenced the most by our friends and by those we look up to, which often makes organizing the Day of Silence very difficult for those in schools with stringent cliques of oppressive motivation. To be a successful activist, you must boldly approach those who are different from you and reach out to students of all social groups. Diversity is the key to revolution.

Not all of us can be brave. But we can hope.

Hope cannot be bullied. Hope is a suit of armor that is embedded in our skin. It cannot be washed away by hate.

Sometimes, we forget this as young people. So, as Harvey Milk said, “You gotta give them hope”.

Our goal should not be to create safe space. It should be to create liberating space.

And we shouldn’t have to settle for life to get better after High School.

Emma Petersky is a student, activist, and educator living on the Eastside of Seattle, Washington. She is dual-enrolled as a Junior at Interlake Senior High School and as a Freshman Bellevue College. In her High School, she is the co-president of her school’s Queer Straight Alliance. Outside of school, she is a facilitator of a queer youth discussion and support group called B-GLAD (Bi, Gay, Lesbian, Adolescent Drop-In). She is also a professional public speaker and peer educator to reteach gender and sexuality through the organizations OUTSpoken Speakers Bureau and Youth Eastside Services. She considers her most important work to be her position on the Board of Directors of the non-profit ThreeWings. In the future, she would like to either a social worker, a K-12 teacher, or a writer.

In a statement released just before the White House screening of “Bully,” President Obama officially endorsed his support for the Safe Schools Improvement Act (SSIA) and the Student Non-Discrimination Act (SNDA). Two bills that GLSEN and the National Safe Schools Partnership believe are critical pieces of federal legislation that address the issues of bullying and harassment of LGBT students.

From the White House,

“The President and his Administration have taken many steps to address the issue of bullying.  He is proud to support the Student Non-Discrimination Act, introduced by Senator Franken and Congressman Polis, and the Safe Schools Improvement Act, introduced by Senator Casey and Congresswoman Linda Sanchez.These bills will help ensure that all students are safe and healthy and can learn in environments free from discrimination, bullying and harassment.”

For those of us here in the GLSEN office this was a celebratory event; complete with congratulatory staff emails, “Breaking News” Facebook posts to friends and exclamations like, “How about that!” and “What a day!” heard over the cubicle walls. This supportive gesture meant a great deal to GLSEN and to everyone dedicated to making schools safer for all students, including those very students the bills would protect.

On the heels of this monumental occasion, GLSEN Student Ambassador Carly F. created a four-part informative video about the importance of safe schools policies from her viewpoint as an outspoken ally and provides specific examples of how we concerned citizens can fulfill our civic duties from the comfort of our homes.

Take action. Become a part of the change.

1. If you are a student leader in grades 8-12 for the 2012-2013 school year and want to join GLSEN in making schools safer for LGBT students, apply to become a GLSEN Student Ambassador.
2. If you are a student or adult who would like your representatives to support the Safe Schools Improvement Act, let them hear from you.

Have you participated in Day of Silence in years past? Share some of your memories in the comments below!

This year, students in every state, the District of Columbia, and nearly 60 countries are participating in events at their school for the Day of Silence!

Join us in the action! We invite you to follow our blog – blog.glsen.org – as we post student stories and messages from supporters throughout the day.

Don’t forget to join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #DayOfSilence and following @glsen!

If you encounter any resistance to your participation in Day of Silence, go to http://dayofsilence.org/legalhelp/ to report it.

If you’re unsure about whether or not you’ll participate in Day of Silence today, we invite you to participate in whatever way feels right for you: not talking at all, remaining silent for a portion of a day, or using your voice to raise awareness of the bullying & harassment LGBT students face.

If you haven’t already, please take a moment to register your participation so we can count you in our numbers! Let’s make this year the biggest year yet!

Together, we’ll keep working until that’s a reality!

Being a student and an organizer can be a lot! Frequently we hear from organizers who have been planning for the Day of Silence for weeks only to find themselves unprepared on the morning of their event.

So, take the time this afternoon/evening to double check your to-do list with your 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:

1. 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!
2. 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.
3. 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!
4. 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) 2012, ACLU: Letter to Principal or Educator, Stickers, and cut, fold, or label these materials as needed.
5. 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.)
6. 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!
7. DOUBLE CHECK your to-do list: It never hurts to be extra careful!
8. REST: You’re gonna need it for your exciting day of taking action!

Ready, set, go!