November 12, 2009

>Guest Column in Bangor Daily News: Making Schools Safe, Welcoming

>The marriage referendum in Maine sparked a lot of controversy, but more than the unrest over marriage equality is the outrage at the tactics taken by the anti-LGBT community to smear the efforts of organizations working to prevent hostile and hateful school environments.

Peter Rees, a retired psychologist, educator and GLSEN Downeast Maine chapter leader, wrote a guest column in The Bangor Daily News about the diligent efforts taken to improve school climate, despite critics who question it’s importance.

We know that students who someone thinks may be gay are more likely than most other students to be targeted for frequent and often vicious harassment, sometimes including physical violence.
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Safety for all must not mean all except the gay ones, even though, as the very recent referendum has shown, anti-gay attitudes are still widespread in our society.
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Unless the anti-gay groups admit that they believe it is a good idea to harass and bully children they should agree to cut it out. It’s not open season on kids.

Providing safe, healthy learning environments for students isn’t something that can or should be put to a vote and then quickly swept under the rug. Further, child safety isn’t just an issue for select parents or the citizens of Maine, it is an issue that affects our society as a whole and we should all be taking part in the fight.

   

About Elizabeth Free

       

Elizabeth Free is the communications manager at GLSEN--the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network. Elizabeth joined GLSEN in 2009 to make schools safer for all students and says one of the best parts of her job is working with GLSEN's Student Ambassadors. She is originally from Texas and has a B.A. in Public Relations and Advertising from the University of Houston.