The stakes are high: An adverse ruling would negatively affect educators and students across the country. The U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing several circuit court cases that will decide whether LGBTQ employees — including all LGBTQ educators — are protected under federal law from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The stakes are … Continued
Educators are on the leading edge of campaigns, initiatives and legislative efforts to create safe and affirming schools and support LGBTQ student rights. Below are summaries of some of the myriad ways educators are standing with LGBTQ students, and working to ensure they feel supported and welcome in our schools and communities. 1. Fostering … Continued
Bayard Rustin was a gay African-American activist who worked alongside Martin Luther King, Jr., and a leading organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Despite Rustin’s key role in the civil rights movement, and his work as an outspoken advocate of LGBTQ rights in the 1970s and 1980s, many remain unaware … Continued
Some male elementary students in the Oakland Unified School District used to have a tradition they called “Slap Ass Fridays.” It was so pervasive, according to a 4th-grade girl at one Oakland school, that she and all her friends would stand with their backs against a wall every recess and lunch period in order to … Continued
With incidents of discrimination and harassment based upon race, religion and national origin on the rise in schools across the country, more and more educators say they consider their roles in combating hate and intolerance to be as difficult — and as important — as ever.
“We have come up in the age of the murders of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray and many other youth of color. Calls for an end to gun violence, which low income communities of color have been making for years, must include a demand for an end to police violence.”
“Sexual orientation and gender diversity provide the world with a variety that is special and should be acknowledged.”
Listen, process and do your research. This is happening in Flint, but there are communities across the country where students are affected by toxic levels of lead.
“The concept of “neutrality” is not only unsatisfactory, but damaging. Classrooms need to reflect the level of equity we hope to create within society.”
It’s time for our country to sit up straight and listen the youth who are providing a master class in social change by building a mass multiracial movement to redefine safety and challenge structural racism.