2009 National School Climate Survey: Nearly 9 out of 10 LGBT Students Experience Harassment in School

Openly Gay Johnson & Wales Student Raymond Chase Commits Suicide; Campus Pride Demands National Action to address LGBT Youth Bullying, Harassment & Suicide
In the wake of two college Suicides Tyler Clementi of Rutgers University& Raymond Chase of Johnson & Wales, Campus Pride reissues findings and recommendations from the "2010 State of Higher Education for LGBT People" released last week at a U.S. congressional briefing on Capitol Hill (Providence, RI) Campus Pride, the nations leading Non-profit organization working with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) and ally college and University Students, offers its condolences and...

School Bullying: A National Pandemic Disease
But LGBT Bullying won't end if we separate it from Bullying suffered by other Students. With Gay History Month starting, it's a good moment to put our demographic Suicide problem into a bigger perspective. School Bullying is a contagious social Cancer that is invading America's whole body. Now that we know Cancer can be caused by viruses, we can say that Bullying is a national pandemic, no less lethal than AIDS or a fulminating flu. The Suicides it causes are threatening the lives of thousands...

The Truth About GLSEN’s School Climate Report
So is it any surprise that one of the conclusions and recommendations from the latest National School Climate Survey is for schools to have more inclusive Curriculum featuring Homosexual and Transgender themes? But lack of objectivity isnt the only problem. The data collection methods are also substandardfalling far short of offering a truly objective, national representation of how Bullying affects millions of Students. The gold standard for this type of research includes...

Lessons From Gay Pride
I have vocally supported my Gay brothers and sisters. I spoke at a Protest when Proposition 8 passed in California. I have written and encouraged readers to fight against Homophobia. I have preached about the need to become open and affirming communities of faith. With all of that being said, I have been a hypocrite. Until Saturday, I had not been to the Gay Pride Parade in Durham, NC I wish I could say it has been due to some conflict in schedule. Not the case. I would be dishonest if I said it...

Why did Tyler Clementi die?
Durham, North Carolina (CNN) -- What made Rutgers University freshman Tyler Clementi jump off of a bridge to his death? Was it to escape utter panic and humiliation after his roommate, Dharun Ravi, 18, allegedly set up spy cameras in his dorm room, went to fellow freshman Molly Wei's room and fired up the livestream recording of Clementi making out with another Young man, as the Middlesex County prosecutor has charged? The video was distributed over the Social Networking site Twitter. A life...

Dan Savage Starts YouTube Project To Reach Out To LGBT Teens: 'It Gets Better'
A great new project started by Dan Savage that urges LGBT adults to pick up a video camera and tell LGBT teens to hang in past High School, because it gets better. You might know a kid or parent who needs to see this, so spread it around. From Dan's column: Another Gay teenager in another small town has killed himselfhope you're pleased with yourselves, Tony Perkins and all the other "Christians" out there who oppose anti-bullying programs (and give actual Christians a bad name). Billy Lucas...

In wake of anti-lgbt youth climate, Focus on the Family attacks GLSEN
 . . . 7,261 middle and High School Students found that at School nearly 9 out of 10 LGBT Students experienced harassment at School in the past year and nearly two-thirds felt unsafe because of their Sexual Orientation. Nearly a third of LGBT Students skipped at least one day of School in the past month because of safety concerns. Naturally, Cushman and Focus on the Family disputes this. To make a long story short, Cushman is claiming that GLSEN's report is inaccurate because it:  ....

In wake of anti-lgbt youth climate, Focus on the Family attacks GLSEN
crossposted on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters Candi Cushman of Focus on the Family just released a critique of GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network)'s recent School climate report. GLSEN's report found that in 2009:  . . . 7,261 middle and High School Students found that at School nearly 9 out of 10 LGBT Students experienced harassment at School in the past year and nearly two-thirds felt unsafe because of their Sexual Orientation. Nearly a third of LGBT...

Log Cabin Republicans see "Pledge" document as a win
R. Clarke Cooper, the Executive Director of the Log Cabin Republicans, says he wants his party’s politicos to at least stop the Anti-gay Rhetoric, even if they can’t embrace Civil Rights for LGBT Americans. That view may have tempered the party’s “Pledge to America,” a document outlining what the GOP wants to do if it wins control of Congress in the mid-term Elections, according to a report in the Washington Post : Social Conservatives wanted an affirmation in the...

Homophobic bullying takes another child's life
Matthew Shepard was beaten to death in Laramie, Wyo. Yet, the Homophobia that took his life continues to claim the lives of others. But the Victims are getting younger. This month alone three boys, ages 13, 13 and 15, took their own lives because they were bullied at school by kids who thought they were gay. One kid, Seth Walsh, 13. who lived in Tehachapi, outside of Bakersfield, Ca. , hanged himself from a tree in his back yard after years of being bullied. He died Tuesday...

Gay Teen Suicide, Homophobia, Bullying and the Elephant in the Room: Religious Bigotry
A number of Bloggers and commentators have skirted around the issue without addressing the force that is the underlying force behind all of the Homophobia and Bullying: religious belief. And in particular, Conservative Christian religious belief which has come to hold special rights in what is supposed to be a Secular society and a governmental system that grants no special privileges to any particular religious denomination or dogma. These special rights take many forms ranging from prayers...

Cyber bullying and suicide
Suicide of Gay teens as a result of homophobic Bullying has been in the news recently, sadly around a spate of deaths . One death that's made headlines was of Tyler Clementi , a Rutgers freshman who jumped off a bridge after his roommate live-streamed via a hidden Webcam Clementi having Sex with another man. Pam Spaulding explains : While they may find acceptance by loving parents and be encouraged by a culture increasingly embracing their identity , these Young People find that "being...

The Real American Terrorist
I also took into consideration something I heard while listening to NPR yesterday. They were talking specifically about Tyler Clementi and the commentator was placing the blame on the parents of the bullies. He basically said that Bullying is often times a learned behavior and even if the parents aren't bullies themselves, they're failing to teach their Children that it's not OK to harass someone who you perceive as different. Was he right? I think to an extent, he absolutely is...

Insane Stalker Assistant AG Takes Leave Of Absence To Spend More Time With His Hate
Where “too little, too late” meets “better than nothing” and “it’s about time,” we have the announcement that Michigan’s unhinged, obsessed, homophobic Assistant AG is finally taking a leave of absence , probably to devote himself full-time to his stalking career: AfterMichigan Attorney General Mike Cox spent Wednesday night on CNN defending Shirvell’s right to maintain the blog, his office said today that Shirvell’s leave...

Does Focus On The Family Stand By Its Campaign Against Anti-Bullying Initiatives?
Back in August, Focus on the Family launched “True Tolerance,” its campaign to stop schools from implementing anti-bullying plans that include protections for LGBT Students. Since the start of the school year, there have now been five reported cases of teens who have committed Suicide following Anti-gay Bullying. GLSEN has been documenting Anti-gay Bullying, and according to a 2009 survey , the vast majority of LGBT Students reported being verbally harassed, and “40.1%...

3 suicides, 3 cases of anti-gay bullying
NEW YORK — Asher Brown, Seth Walsh and Tyler Clementi came from different parts of the country, but they're bound by a single tragic thread that has reverberated through the headlines over the past week -- all three young men committed Suicide after being bullied for being Gay. Walsh, 13, passed away yesterday after his parents withdrew the teenager from Life Support. Walsh, of Tehachapi in Central California , had been in a coma after hanging himself from a tree in the backyard of his...

Ellen DeGeneres Records Passionate Message For Teenage Bullying Victims
The Suicide of Tyler Clementi has received a large amount of press coverage in the past few days but, unfortunately, it’s actually only one of a handful of tragic Deaths related to teenage Bullying and harassment that have occurred lately. A number of public figures have been trying to help like advice columnist Dan Savage who created the It Gets Better Project , in which people can upload videos to YouTube offering hope to LGBT despairing teenagers. Meanwhile, Ellen DeGeneres ...

Johnson and Wales University student Raymond Chase hangs himself in dorm room
How can we make these tragedies stop? It's heartbreaking. Notice no commentary from this White House about a national call to action regarding this relentless string of youth Suicides, particularly those tied to Bullying. For an administration that puts out Press Releases for planting a tree or some minor event, the silence is deafening. (via Perez Hilton ): It is just devastating for us to report that we have learned that Raymond Chase, an Openly Gay sophomore at Johnson and Wales...

Bullying Drives Student to Suicide
May be a screen capture JPG that links to the video player, or an embedded video from an external source like YouTube.com May be a screen capture JPG that links to the video player, or an embedded video from an external source like YouTube.com --> Billy Lucas, a 15-year-old High School freshman from Greensburg, Ind., took his own life Thursday following a period of antigay Bullying from classmates that went unaddressed. Lucas was found dead inside his familys barn Thursday, where he had...

NJ student's suicide resonates on campus, beyond
"To this poor kid, it's better to be dead than to have people know he's gay," said Jean-Marie Navetta, a spokeswoman for Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. "Therein lies the real tragedy here." Clementi's death was part of a string of Suicides last month involving youngsters who were believed to have been Victims of Anti-gay Bullying. Fifteen-year-old Billy Lucas hanged himself in a barn in Greensburg, Ind. Asher Brown, 13, shot himself in the head in Houston. And 13-year-old Seth Walsh...

Ms. Mary Mack Mack Mack, don't send her back, back, back
Please consider chipping in to Mayor Steve Pougnet for Congress on ActBlue for today's end of quarter deadline So I was at a Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund dinner last night (they raise money for Openly LGBT Candidates). Speaker Pelosi came and spoke, and talked about how much progress she made by telling a story. She said David Cicilline, who is the Openly Gay mayor of Providence, RI and seemingly a lock to be elected to replace Patrick Kennedy, came to her office and said, "Madame Speaker,...

The 'Gay' Deathstyle

The Myth of the Spurned "Centre"
Clive Crook, columnist for the Financial Times, urges President Obama to betray his Base , and lead from the centre. Brits offering political strategy for American presidents are a bit like Americans telling Italians how to improve their pasta. And Crooks analysis is as divorced from U.S. realities as his spelling. But it represents what will be a cacophony of similar cant and is worth dissecting. Crook argues that Obamas Economic policies have been good enough; its his...

Latinos and Gays Face Same Foe on November 2nd
Californians Pride themselves on a state that even in hard times abides by an ethic of live and let live. But political campaigns and electoral outcomes often mock and undermine this ideal. Few groups in California have felt the sting of contradiction more sharply than Latinos and the Lesbian , Gay , Bisexual, and Transgender ( LGBT ) community. The statewide election on November 2 is a perfect chance for both populations to send a message that picking on us will be punished. The passage...

Dan Savage Video Love Letter to Desperate LGBT Teens: 'It Gets Better'
Many in the LGBT Nation have been shaken by the recent rash of Gay teen suicides . Popular Savage Love Gay columnist Dan Savage and his normally camera shy husband Terry decided to do something to help, creating a It Gets Better channel on YouTube where people who have been bullied can post their own videos to give hope to those in despair. Heres the video Dan and Terry made. You could also ask YouTube/Google to feature It Gets Better on their YouTube Homepage...