Since 1999, Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) has released a biennial survey of the climate for LGBT students. It shows that from 2007 to 2013, LGBT students have reported a steady decline of incidents of verbal and physical harassment and of physical assault.
Though this is important progress for LGBT youth, nearly 56% of LGBT students still reported that they felt unsafe in school because of their sexuality or gender identity in 2013. This, alongside data showing 74% of LGBT students were verbally harassed and 56% said that their school had anti-LGBT policies – all of which can result in absences from school and depression. Read More
Brazil: Proposal for LGBT inclusive education generates controversy
The Municipality of Macapa will vote on the Municipal Education Plan, outlining goals and deadlines for the educational sector of the capital for the next 10 years. Before the parliament code consider the bill, controversy erupted among the evangelical branch over proposed goal of inclusive education for LGBT.
The debate resulted in the revision of the text by the Education Commission. Though vote is expected to come there is the possibility of submission of an amendment to the original text by evangelical bench to remove LGBT inclusive education. Read More
US: Teacher, assistant principal step down over gay fairy tale controversy
A teacher and an assistant principal at North Carolina's Efland-Cheeks Elementary have stepped down following the backlash over the teacher's reading of a gay children's book in the classroom. Third-grade teacher Omar Currie sparked uproar this spring when he read the book, "King & King," to his class. The book, which was given to Currie by Assistant Principal Meg Goodhand, tells the story of a fictional prince who defies the pressure to marry a princess and weds a man.
Currie wanted to teach a lesson after one student was repeatedly bullied and called "gay" in a derogatory manner. "My reading of 'King & King' was the 100 percent right thing to do," he said. "It's obvious Orange County Schools is lacking leadership right now."
A handful of parents expressed anger, arguing Currie was forcing his opinion on the children, although many LGBTQ advocates, as well as Goodhand, came to Currie's defense in a heated public meeting last month. Read More
Italy: Venice bans children’s book about gay penguins
Books which teach about same-sex and single-parent families will be banned in schools in Venice. The moves comes after Luigi Brugnaro was elected the city’s mayor earlier this month.
Brugnaro made the pledge to purge the city’s nurseries and primary schools of books about gay partnerships and gay adoption. “We don’t want to discriminate against anyone and at home parents can call themselves daddy number one and daddy number two, but I have to consider the majority of families, which have a mum and a dad,” he told La Repubblica newspaper. Read More
Norway: Proposal to extend transgender rights to children
Norway’s government proposed that children as young as 7 should be allowed to change their legal gender with parental support, among the lowest ages in the world for transgender rights. The suggested overhaul includes personal decisions without medical diagnosis.
“Today’s rules in this area are unacceptable and have been unchanged for almost 60 years,” Health Minister Bent Hoie said in a statement, to be debated by experts before any formal bill goes to parliament. “The proposal is historic in that it will no longer be the health service but the individual who decides if he or she has changed sex,” he said.
The draft would affect everything from social security numbers to passports. Anyone aged 16 or above could apply themselves. The proposal only affects legal documents - surgery can only be performed on those over 18. Anyone who applies for a legal change of gender can reverse it if they later regret it. Read More
UK: Roses are red, condoms are blue... if you have syphilis
Three UK teens may have found a way to help couples test for STDs in the privacy of their own home. They've invented a condom called the S.T.EYE that changes color when it comes into contact with the pathogens -- green for chlamydia, yellow for herpes and blue for syphilis. The condom -- created by 14-year-old Daanyaal Ali, 13-year-old Muaz Nawaz and 14-year-old Chirag Shah from the Issac Newton Academy in London -- won top honors in the healthcare category at the TeenTech Awards.
The design is still in the conceptual stage, but the teens have already reportedly been approached by a condom manufacturer about improving their invention and possibly turning it into something headed to a drug store near you. This isn't the first we've seen of color-coded personal products. Last year, a nail polish company unveiled a product that could test for the presence of date rape drugs such as Rohypnol, Xanax and GHB in drinks. Read More
The Girl Scouts Support Trans Girls, Even When It Costs
A $50,000 donation is cause for celebration at the Queen Anne offices of the Girl Scouts of Western Washington. “We have these little clapper thingies, and the clappers go mad when we get that kind of gift,” says the council’s CEO, Megan Ferland. So when Ferland came back to the office earlier this spring and announced that she’d just landed a $100,000 donation, the place went mad. Not only did it represent nearly a quarter of the council’s annual fundraising goal, it would pay to send 500 girls to camp. “We were thrilled,” Ferland says.
Except there was a catch. In late May, as news of Caitlyn Jenner’s transition was blowing up your Facebook news feed, she received a letter from the donor with a brief request: Please guarantee that our gift will not be used to support transgender girls. If you can’t, please return the money.
Ferland chooses her words carefully when discussing the donor, whose identity she won’t reveal out of respect for their privacy. “The relationship is complex,” is all she’ll say. But she does admit to being “very sad” upon receiving the letter. Shortly after that, though, she made up her mind about how to respond: In a short letter, she informed the donor that she would, in fact, be returning the money. Read more
Italy: Over 300,000 rally in Rome against gay marriage
People travelled from all over Italy and Europe yesterday to protest against the proposed legalisation of gay marriage, and the teaching of ‘gender theories’ in schools. Gathering in the San Giovanni Square in Rome, with estimates of participants running from 300,000 to a million people, the protest put the ‘anti-Austerity’ protests held in London on the same day to shame, for sheer volume of people and absence of criminal behaviour.
Attendees held aloft banners reading “The family will save the world” and “Let’s defend our children”, as Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi tries to push a civil union bill through parliament. The call for Italy to keep pace with its western European neighbours on the issue has grown stronger since Ireland voted overwhelmingly in favour of gay marriage last month.
Massimo Gandolfini, spokesman for the “Defend our children!” committee said: “We are asking for families based on marriage be respected, and stressing the central role parents play. We forcefully reject the attempt to sneak into the curriculum projects which aim to destroy children’s sexual identities”. Read More
US: Father of bisexual teen who died by suicide: 'It’s the worst pain you can ever imagine'
For the father of bisexual teenager Adam Kizer, the pain is still fresh, days after his son was taken off life support last weekend following a suicide attempt. He was 16.
According to the Post Democrat, on May 17, Contra Costa, Calif., "sheriff’s deputies took [Adam] for a mental health evaluation,” but released him claiming he wasn’t a risk to himself. On May 26, not 10 days later, Adam killed himself.
Adam came out as bisexual six months ago, to a supportive family and to friends. However, his father said, “I don’t think the boy went a whole week without somebody messing with him.” School officials told the local media they were oblivious to the bullying.
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Australian Archbishop Denis Hart lobbies parents to support 'the meaning of marriage'
Children at Catholic schools have been sent home with glossy booklets that oppose gay marriage following a request by the Archbishop of Melbourne. The 15-page booklet, "Don't Mess With Marriage" said redefining marriage would have "far-reaching consequences". "All marriages would come to be defined by intensity of emotion rather than a union founded on sexual complementarily and potential fertility."
The Safe Schools Coalition, which works to create a safe environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender students, urged principals not to distribute the material. The coalition's co-ordinator, Roz Ward, said the material could damage the mental health and wellbeing of same-sex attracted young people, by suggesting their relationships were unnatural or not as important.
"At school it is particularly important that they can feel they can be themselves and valued for who they. In a situation where you feel that is not valued, everything else becomes more difficult." She said same-sex families who sent their children to Catholic schools would see this as a "direct attack on their existence as gay Catholics". Read More
Gay High School Valedictorian Gets Second Chance At Graduation Speech He Was Banned From Giving
Evan Young was not permitted to speak at graduation after school officials found out he was planning to come out as gay during his speech. He had the opportunity to read his full speech, as intended, on Sunday at a fundraising event.
According to Young, he received several edits to his planned speech from the school’s principal, BJ Buchmann, all of which he was fine with making — except for the edit asking him to remove the section in which he discloses his sexuality.
“One of my themes is that I was going to tell everyone my secrets,” Young told Daily Camera. “Most of the things were stupid stuff — books I never read that I was supposed to, or homework I didn’t like. But then I gradually worked up to serious secrets.” Read More
Amsterdam: "Inside Out - Portraits of Cross Gender Children"
In the last twelve years, the Dutch photographer Sarah Wong has documented life and experiences of a group of children suffering from gender dysphoria , they had passed the stage of transition - or were going through - to the conquest of self. See More