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February 6, 2013 GSA Day is today!The second annual GSA is today, February 6th, 2013!GSA Day is a day to encourage GSAs to be visible, celebrate their successes, and raise awareness in their school about how they are an effective tool in combating hostile and unsafe learning environments for all students. Use GSA Day as a mid year reminder to students about the amazing work your club is doing at your school! Check out more resources and ideas for participation here. Are you planning on participating? Let us know in the comments below! Get connected with other GSAs around the country by participating in a LIVE Tweet chat with GLSEN, GSA Network, Campus Pride and Iowa Pride Network at 3PM PST today! Join the conversation here!
February 5, 2013 Lautenberg, Holt reintroduce the Tyler Clementi Act
On Monday, the Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act was reintroduced in the 113th Congress by Senator Frank Lautenberg and Congressman Rush Holt of New Jersey. This legislation would, for the first time, require publicly funded universities and colleges to establish enumerated anti-harassment policies. The bills would also provide funding to universities and colleges to either create or expand anti-harassment policies, and would also officially recognize cyber-bullying as a form of harassment. The legislation is named in honor of Tyler Clementi, an 18 year old freshman at Rutgers University who tragically took his own life after two students streamed video of him with another male and continued to harass him about the incident. Senator Lautenberg and Congressman Holt released the following statements:
GLSEN thanks Senator Lautenberg and Congressman Holt for their leadership on this important issue, and support them in the fight to make universities and colleges safer places of learning and growth for all students. February 3, 2013 Why I May or May Not Have Cried During No Name-Calling WeekThis post by Marissa was originally posted on her Tumblr.
This picture is of my principal, assistant principal, and I during No Name Calling Week. I got my GSA to do this thing where we wore shirts with names crossed out that we dislike when used out of context, with negative connotation, or just to hurt others intentionally. We knew what had to be done in order to get our point across, but we were still pretty nervous about wearing our shirts to school. I got a lot of weird looks and a few whispers as I made my way to my first class, which was expected. But what I didn’t expect were the high fives I received after explaining to a few curious students why I was wearing the shirt. I definitely did not anticipate the hug from one of my classmates, and the genuine “Thank you” that accompanied it. More and more questions arose about why we were wearing the shirts, and where we had gotten them. I told a few kids that our sponsor helped us make them, and that she had paint in her room. Long story short: the idea caught on. By my third class, I had seen several random kids at my school who weren’t even members of the GSA wearing shirts they had made. Some had names they’d been called personally (like “Gay Bitch” and “Slut”). It completely took me by surprise, and the whole event turned out to be just…surreal. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The next day, my principal stopped me by my locker, wearing a shirt that he had made. Apparently, he asked the sponsor of our GSA about the outbreak of shirts in his hallways and decided to make one of his own, along with the assistant principal. He told me that he supported the GSA 100%, and that he was proud of me. I may or may not have broken out in tears. That’s not important. The important part is that I had just been about to completely give up trying to make this Gay-Straight Alliance work. I felt like I was letting my babies down. We had started it ourselves …but it was going nowhere. We wanted to make a difference, but we felt like we weren’t even close to getting through to our peers. This event opened everyone’s eyes to who we are and what we are capable of. I am so glad that our hard work hasn’t been in vain and I couldn’t be prouder. Marissa is a 17-year-old senior from Chicago, Illinois who is president of her school’s GSA. She loves acting, books, and the world of musical theater. January 31, 2013 How We’re Winning Respect in SportsIf you heard about San Francisco 49ers player Chris Culliver’s Super Bowl press conference today, you learned that he was “just kidding around” earlier this week when he made shocking homophobic comments. 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. January 25, 2013 What a (No Name-Calling) Week It’s Been!
Brock Road Elementary especially made a difference to their students by having a Spirit Week type theme for NNCW. Each day of the week was a theme dress up day reminding students of the impact of name calling and bullying. For example, on Tuesday, students wore two different shoes to remind them what it is like to “walk a mile in someone else’s shoes”. Students learned empathy for others and thought about how someone else feels when they are being disrespected. Laurel Springs School in Ojai, CA showed their support for No Name-Calling Week by hosting a variety of activities including a book club discussion centered around The Misfits by James Howe. Laurel Springs also hosted a live interactive webinar for their 6th through 12th grade students about bullying prevention. The 10th No Name-Calling Week is nearing an end today, but that doesn’t mean that we should forget the messages of respect and inclusivity for all young people. Continue building a safe school climate throughout the year with GLSEN’s resources and don’t forget to let us know how you participated! January 23, 2013 GLSEN and HRSA Partner for No Name-Calling Week
Through initiatives like No Name Calling Week, we can connect local leaders to the resources they need to get active and prevent bullying in their community. Whether you work in the classroom or the clinic, everyone plays a role in bullying prevention and HRSA has developed free training resources that go beyond the school environment to help you organize a community event or town hall, including:
No Name Calling Week is about more than simply building awareness — it’s about taking action to prevent bullying in your neighborhood and community. Whether you’ve been active for years or just started yesterday, take action by learning about and organizing bullying prevention and response efforts in your community. Download the Training Modules at: http://www.stopbullying.gov/communityguide
January 22, 2013 Enter to win: Signed soccer balls, Nike gift card
Megan Rapinoe is a game changer and you can be one too by showing your support for Changing the Game! All you have to do is complete and submit the form on this page, telling us why you want to join Megan in this effort to support GLSEN. We will be featuring many of these stories on our website and if we select your story, you’ll be eligible to win one of the many items Megan has provided us including signed soccer balls or t-shirts or a $500 NIKE Gift Certificate. January 21, 2013 Kicking off No Name-Calling Week!
In collaboration with our partners, GLSEN has developed a planning guide, lesson plans, promotional materials such as stickers and posters, and a website at www.nonamecallingweek.org. The No Name-Calling Week listserv now has over 17,500 registrants, who run the gamut from teachers to students, guidance counselors to school administrators, librarians to youth workers. Register this year to help us to keep an accurate count of how many participants there are each year. As we go through the week, we would love to hear your stories of success, drop us a note and tell us how No Name-Calling Week is going in your community. January 18, 2013 Let’s Get Real about No Name-Calling Week!Only 3 days until No Name Calling Week! Check out Let’s Get Real, a short film produced by GLSEN’s long-time organizational partner, GroundSpark. Let’s Get Real doesn’t sugarcoat the truth or feature adults lecturing kids about what to do when kids pick on them. Instead, it examines a variety of issues that lead to taunting and bullying, including racial differences, perceived sexual orientation, learning disabilities, religious differences, sexual harassment and others. The film not only gives a voice to targeted kids, but also to kids who do the bullying to find out why they lash out at their peers and how it makes them feel. The most heartening part of Let’s Get Real includes stories of youth who have mustered the courage to stand up for themselves or a classmate. At GLSEN, we recommend this excellent short film to use with your students in grades 5 – 9. Let’s Get Real is widely hailed as one of the best tools for opening up meaningful, life-changing dialogue in schools today. As a special offer for No Name Calling Week, GroundSpark is providing free streaming of Let’s Get Real the entire week. To order your copy of the DVD and guide and to take advantage of the 50% No Name Calling Week promotional discount, please visit our distributor, New Day Films and use promotional discount code XDVF5M. January 17, 2013 Need Ideas for No Name-Calling Week?No Name-Calling Week is rapidly approaching! No Name-Calling Week is an annual week of educational activities aimed at ending name-calling of all kinds and providing schools with the tools and inspiration to launch an on-going dialogue about ways to eliminate bullying in their communities. Here are some ways you can celebrate!
We would love to hear what you have planned; click here to let us know what you are doing to celebrate No Name-Calling Week. |
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Thank you so much for your support of No Name-Calling Week 2013! It is because of our partners and supporters that No Name-Calling Week has such an impact on schools, providing them with the tools to start an ongoing effort to end name-calling and bullying. Each of you have made a huge contribution to GLSEN’s anti-bullying efforts by participating. This year, educator participation has increased with 13,655 educators registered and over 18,000 fans on Facebook. With hundreds of thousands of educators visiting our website for resources, we know you are making a difference.
GLSEN is proud to collaborate with The Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). As part of the Federal Partners in Bullying Prevention, HRSA and eight other federal agencies are working to raise awareness for bullying prevention while supporting 
Today marks the start of GLSEN’s 10
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