Articles tagged with: Anti-bullying
“Out in the Silence”, award-winning docco on bullying & discrimination in smalltown America: Sunday at Out North
The United Gay-Straight Alliances of Anchorage are sponsoring a free showing on Sunday evening, November 6 of Out in the Silence, a 50-minute documentary which addresses bullying and discrimination against LGBT youth in rural and smalltown America. This is a free, all-ages event at Out North, though a donation of $3 at the door is suggested to help Anchorage GSAs develop anti-bullying initiatives in their schools.
Special thanks to The Family at UAA, Spectrum at APU, as well as Out North Contemporary Art House for their support as well as the many youth working to make this showing a success!
The aim of Out in the Silence is to expand public awareness about the difficulties that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people face in rural and small town America and to promote dialogue and action that will help people on all sides of the issues find common ground.
This is a community event and all ages, orientations, etc. are welcome to attend! There is a suggested $3 donation at the door, with all proceeds going to support Gay-Straight Alliances across Anchorage to develop anti-bullying initiatives within their schools.
- Date/time: Sunday, Nov 6, 7:00 to 9:00 PM
- Location: Out North Contemporary Art House, 3800 DeBarr Road Anchorage, AK (see map)
- Cost of admission: Free; suggested $3 donation at the door to benefit Anchorage-area Gay/Straight Alliances (GSAs).
- Further info: see Facebook events page, the Out in the Silence website, or the Out in the Silence Facebook page
Schools are making headway in addressing anti-LGBT bullying, the AP reports (Bent News 10/24/11)
Progress in addressing anti-LGBT bullying in the nation’s schools; a brutal murder in Scotland might have been an antigay attack; and 100 black icons for LGBT History Month in this edition of Bent News.
Based on @bentalaska tweets and Facebook shares from October 23, with supplementation.
Schools are making progress in addressing anti-LGBT bullying
@tlrd: AP survey of last year’s anti-bullying sentiment in WaPo is well written, balanced, will aggravate many http://t.co/6TWH0oLS #- AP story in WaPo: A year after teen suicide spate, more gay students are speaking out, schools taking action http://t.co/B5f6cmRS #
Associated Press reporter Christina Hoag’s story on how schools have bee addressing anti-LGBT bullying since last year’s spate of suicides appeared in the Washington Postand other newspapers. The gay blog Towleroad summarizes it as “a well written, balanced, succinct piece of work, and it’s probably doomed to aggravate a lot of people.” Both the original piece (second tweet & link) and Towleroad’s commentary (& its readers comments) are worth a full read. Most important is that schools and students around the nation have been working to address anti-LGBT bullying, and the attention paid to it is also leading to broader acceptance of LGBT people.
But the work is far, far from over. And so another tweet from yesterday:
- Miami Herald: on the death by suicide of bullied youth Jamey Rodemeyer, which led actor Zachary Quinto to come out. http://t.co/AkD0THir #
The Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) had anti-bullying resources.
Murder in Scotland
- Hotel manager Stuart Walker beaten & burned alive in Scotland may have been murdered for being gay | Mail Online http://t.co/PW0YZOSg #
Stuart Walker, 28, was beaten, burned alive, and left at the side of the road to die in Ayrshire, Scotland in what some now believe may have been an antigay attack, though at this point police are saying there’s no proof. Stuart Walker was clearly murdered, in any case, whether out of antigay bias or for some other reason. There’s more coverage at The Telegraph, and gay blogs in the U.S. are also commenting, including Towleroad.
More icons for LGBT History Month
- 50 black gay men & 50 black lesbians (besides Wanda Sykes) that you should know: video montages by Alvin McEwen http://t.co/Nu5i6LNh #
“Wanda Sykes Is Cool, But What About All The Other Great Black Lesbians?” asks Queerty. YouTube user comingoutblaq has a video of 50 black gay men you should know, and two videos which between them also introduce you to 50 black lesbians you should know — besides Wanda Sykes. Here’s one of them:
Bent News, 10/22/11: Michigan bill would void local nondiscrimination measures
A proposed bill in Michigan would negate local LGBT non-discrimination ordinances in several Michigan cities; October 20th celebration of Spirit Day against bullying; and more in this edition of Bent News.
Based on @bentalaska tweets and Facebook shares from October 21, with supplementation. We apologize for neglecting the news lately: Bent’s editor is overwhelmed with a whole lotta stuff at the moment, & is working to catch up.
Michigan bill aims to negate local nondiscrimination ordinances
Michigan bill would negate cities’ LGBT non-discrimination laws, including Lansing, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo. http://t.co/ezOGARLr #
A proposed bill in Michigan would negate cities’ LGBT non-discrimination laws, including Lansing, Grand Rapids, & Kalamazoo, whose One Kalamazoo campaign has been an inspiration for the One Anchorage campaign. Anti-LGBT legislators in Tennessee succeeded with a similar ploy in May, negating Nashville’s local antidiscrimination law.
Bent Alaska has been told that provisions in Alaska law would prevent social conservatives in the Alaska Legislature from pulling the same thing on Anchorage should the One Anchorage campaign succeeds. One Anchorage is currently collecting signatures to place a ballot measure on the Anchorage municipal ballot in April 2012. If successful, it would add sexual orientation and transgender identity to Anchorage’s equal rights code.
Spirit Day against bullying
- Bent Alaska & friends weren’t the only ones to go purple against bullying for #SpiritDay – so did lots of celebs. http://t.co/rs0w2lFS #
- … but #SpiritDay ended w/ Senate committee FAIL on addressing bullying in education bill. What did Lisa do? http://t.co/iIMLyO53 #
October 20 was Spirit Day, which asks people to wear the color purple to show support for LGBT young people who are victims of bullying. Purple is the color representing spirit on the Rainbow flag. Spirit Day was first celebrated in 2010, created by Canadian teenager Brittany McMillan as a response to the young people who had taken their own lives, and is now publicized by GLAAD. Bent Alaska’s Facebook wall turned positively purple with spirit on Thursday, with friends tagging Bent on their purple pictures. Even the White House took part.
Unforunately, the Senate Health, Education, Education & Pensions (HELP) Committee failed to even consider the antibullying Student Non-Discrimination Act or Safe Schools Improvement Act on Thursday as it passed the Elementary & Secondary Education Act (ESEA) bill by a vote of 15 to 7. Senator Lisa Murkowski sits on the HELP Committee, and Bent had been urging Alaskans to call her to urge her to support the antibullying measures.
Other news tweets
- LA Times: # of gay/lesbian couples who adopt tripled over last decade despite some states discrimination. http://t.co/oykPClgI #
- The @glsen Respect Awards are tonight! Follow #RespectLA for livetweets or visit http://t.co/og60raET for a list of honorees.#
What it would sound like if all queer students and their allies were silenced
Today is GLSEN’s 2011 Day of Silence.
“Hundreds of thousands of students at thousands of middle schools, high schools and colleges will take some form of a vow of silence to bring attention to anti-LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools.”
Why?
- Because nearly 9 out of 10 LGBT students experience harassment in American schools each year.
- Because 60% of LGBT youth feel unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation.
- Because nearly 1 out of 3 LGBT youth missed school in the past month because of safety concerns.
Think about the voices you’re not hearing today.
Gay teen from Wasilla was assaulted, tires slashed, rejected by parents but looking ahead
Cody had a horrible coming out. His college buddies at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks and his brother and parents in Wasilla all reacted badly, only his sister is supportive. But he won’t let them ruin his life.
The “I’m From Driftwood” team interviewed LGBT Alaskans for their national story project, and the first video from Alaska was uploaded on Monday. The story is from Cody James, raised in Wasilla. Watch:
How sad that their son was assaulted and, instead of helping him, they caused him more harm. Hopefully, they will learn to love and support him as the wonderful young gay man that he is.
And what kind of university would allow a student to be harassed for 4 months?
The main perpetrator got a slap on the wrist, 24 hours in jail and some community service hours, Cody told Bent Alaska. The others got off. The city and campus police wouldn’t do anything to stop the bullying, so he fled Fairbanks and moved to Anchorage. When he explained to his family why he left college, they rejected him for being gay.
The University of Alaska, Fairbanks and the Fairbanks police owe Cody an apology, at the very least, and assurance that they will protect other students from being bullied out of an education. [Hint: Get an LGBT-inclusive anti-bullying policy, and enforce it.]
Cody wants to put this bad time behind him and move forward. But he could have called the FBI to investigate the assault under the federal Hate Crimes law passed in 2009. They have the authority to step in when local officers won’t take an anti-gay attack seriously.
Why the FBI? Because we aren’t protected by Alaska’s hate crimes law, and a bill adding LGBT Alaskans is currently stuck in the Finance committee.
Please contact the legislators today and tell them to approve SB 11, the Alaska Hate Crimes bill. We obviously need it.
Thanks to I’m From Driftwood for including Alaska in their story tour and collecting this important story. And thanks to Cody for being brave, finding support and sharing his story. May his life get much better and stay good.
Stand Up! against anti-gay bullying (video)
This anti-bullying message is from BeLonG To Youth Services for their annual Stand Up! LGBT Awareness Week in Ireland. The campaign promotes friendship among young people as a way to combat homophobic bullying.
Watch the video:
More about Stand Up! LGBT Awareness Week:
“Many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) young people develop their sexual and gender identities within supportive families and communities and are leading happy lives. However, many other LGBT young people experience serious levels of homophobia, transphobia and exclusion in their schools, youth clubs and local areas.
Stand Up! Week will provide an annual focus for promoting positive awareness of LGBT young people, tackling homophobia and homophobic bullying, and building allies among young people and youth workers.”
This year’s Stand Up! Weeks are April 4 – 15, 2011.
