Bullying

Hundreds of thousands of students at thousands of schools around the world on Friday are participating in GLSEN's (the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) 18th annual Day of Silence by taking a vow of silence to draw attention to the anti-LGBT harassment and discrimination in schools. [ Read more → ]

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. -- A 12-year-old middle school student was branded with a homophobic slur in the latest school bullying incident, in which his mother describes as the "last straw." [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.) on Thursday re-introduced The Safe Schools Improvement Act in the U.S. House, a bill to help ensure a safe learning environment at schools nationwide and provide necessary resources to prevent school bullying and reduce the rising drop-out rate. [ Read more → ]

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- A Minnesota House committee has given its initial backing to a bill meant to crack down on bullying in schools. [ Read more → ]

LA GRANDE, Ore. -- Speaking before a crowd of about 200 people Wednesday, the father of an Oregon teen who died Sunday after he hanged himself two weeks earlier, said that he loved his gay son, and accepted him for who he was. [ Read more → ]

During a dedication ceremony Monday of the Tyler Clementi Center at Rutgers University in New Jersey, U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, (D-N.J.) announced that he U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) have reintroduced legislation in Congress that would require colleges to implement anti-harassment policies. [ Read more → ]

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Freshman state lawmaker, Rep. Brian Sims (D-Philadelphia), the first openly gay elected member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, is leading efforts in the state House to gain bipartisan support for an anti-bullying bill known as the Pennsylvania Safe Schools (PASS) Act. [ Read more → ]

CHICAGO — It really does get better for gay and bisexual teens when it comes to being bullied, although young gay men have it worse than their lesbian peers, according to the first long-term scientific evidence on how the problem changes over time. [ Read more → ]

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Rutgers University has announced it has named a new student named for Tyler Clementi, a gay student who jumped to his death in 2010 after his roommate used a webcam to record Clementi in an intimate encounter with another man. [ Read more → ]

The officials are calling the impending death of young Jadin a “suicide”. It was not a suicide; it was the destruction of something innocent, something beautiful, something of supreme contribution exposed to an environment that valued it not at all. The facts support their word perhaps. No argument. A 15 year old boy took a rope to a playground and without assistance from any visible being, hung himself. [ Read more → ]

LA GRANDE, Ore. -- A 15-year-old teen has been taken off life support and is in critical condition after hanging himself over what family members describe as anti-gay bullying. Jadin Bell of La Grande, Ore., went to the playground of Central Elementary School on Jan.... [ Read more → ]

FENTON, Mich. -- The parents of a Michigan high school student who took his own life last week believe anti-gay bullying is to blame. [ Read more → ]

MESA, Ariz. -- Two Arizona high school students were forced to hold hands in front of their classmates as punishment this week for fighting. Critics are calling the discipline a form of bullying because it subjected the students to taunting and name-calling, and evoked anti-gay sentiments. [ Read more → ]

Mission America’s Linda Harvey has consistently claimed that anti-bullying efforts that include preventing bullying against LGBT and LGBT-perceived students will lead to discrimination against straight, Christian students at the hands of “destructive” and “criminal” activists in the “gaystapo.” [ Read more → ]

My parents are grateful I didn’t kill myself while in school. The truth is that they didn’t know how close I came. Six out of ten teenagers, in 2011, witness bullying at least once a day in school. Those who are bullied are 2 to 9 times more likely to consider suicide than non-victims. When you add those numbers together, there are a lot of children in our school systems who are isolated and alone and hurting... [ Read more → ]

Today -- over 2 years after that awful summer day when I first learned about the bullying and harassment that Justin faced in school on a continuous basis, and confronting the Anoka-Hennepin school board for my first time at a public meeting about what my son and other gay students like him have endured in the schools -- my family is still not able to heal the way we should have been able to... [ Read more → ]

COON RAPIDS, Minn. -- The parent of a gay teen who committed suicide as a result of bullying is speaking out over the decision by the Anoka-Hennepin School District to appoint a leading gay rights opponent to its newly created anti-bullying task force. [ Read more → ]

NEW YORK -- After a spate of teen suicides in the Fall of 2010 as a result of anti-gay bullying, one Canadian high school student decided that she was going to make a difference. [ Read more → ]

I have hated you almost every day since we first met. But for different reasons altogether than you might expect. I still remember the terror I felt, every time I approached the soccer field. It was junior high, a difficult time for almost everyone, but for me, especially so. You see, I’d always known I was gay... [ Read more → ]

Millions of LGBT people and their allies will dress in purple on Friday -- both in person and online -- to mark the third annual Spirit Day, a day demonstrate support for LGBT youth and to speak out against bullying. [ Read more → ]