Cyber-bullying

BOSTON — Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has signed a bill designed to build on the state’s 2010 anti-bullying law by strengthening protections for LGBT students and students with disabilities.

Children who are bullied — and especially those who are frequently bullied — continue to be at risk for a wide range of poor social, health, and economic outcomes nearly four decades after being victimized, according to new research by King’s College London.

Hundreds of thousands of students at thousands of schools around the world on Friday will participate in GLSEN’s (the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) 19th annual “Day of Silence” by taking a vow of silence to draw attention to the anti-LGBT harassment and discrimination in schools.

ST. PAUL — Less than 24 hours after clearing the Minnesota state House, Gov. Mark Dayton on Wednesday signed Safe and Supportive Minnesota Schools Act into law, a bill aimed at strengthening the state’s anti-bullying law.

ST. PAUL — The Minnesota House voted early Wednesday to pass a bill aimed at strengthening the state’s anti-bullying law, sending the measure to Gov. Mark Dayton to sign.

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Senate has overwhelmingly approved a bill designed to build on the state’s 2010 anti-bullying law by strengthening protections for LGBT students and students with disabilities.

Hostile school climates pave the way for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, or LGBT, youth to spend less time in school and more time on the streets, thus increasing the likelihood of entering into the school-to-prison pipeline.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Long before gay rights activists in Minnesota launched a successful campaign to legalize same-sex marriage, they were aiming for another high-profile goal: a state law protecting children from school bullies.

BOSTON — The Massachusetts House has approved a bill designed to build on the state’s 2010 anti-bullying law in part by strengthening protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students and students with disabilities.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota lawmakers are planning to try again this year to strengthen a state law aimed at preventing bullying in schools.

JACKSON, Miss. — A lawsuit filed Tuesday says LGBT students are routinely bullied in a south Mississippi school district, including a lesbian who was forced to sit alone in the middle of a classroom when others were split into groups of boys and girls.

I have a vague memory of hearing announcements and seeing posters for it on the walls. I remember wanting to go. I hadn’t yet come out at this point but I had the sense that I would find support and understanding in this club, and I wanted to be a part of it so badly. But there was a barrier in my mind that prevented me from being able to attend the club. I graduated without going to even one meeting…

DETROIT — A former assistant attorney general for the state of Michigan who was fired after expressing hostility toward a gay University of Michigan student government president has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the state’s current attorney general and his predecessor.

FORT LEE, N.J. — The family of the Rutgers University student whose suicide sparked a national conversation about the treatment of young gay people paid their first visit Sunday to the bridge where he took his life.

TIPTON, Iowa — NBC Nightly News on Sunday profiled 17-year-old Jake Stallman, a once bullied gay teen from eastern Iowa who decided he no longer could suffer in silence and now helps other kids who are bullied.

OGDEN, Utah — Gay rights leaders in Utah say a new law requiring schools to notify parents when their child is a victim of bullying could potentially do more harm than good.

GLASGOW, Scotland — A Scotland man accused of using Twitter to call a former school headmaster and adviser to the Scottish government a pedophile because she campaigned for marriage equality, has been ordered to pay her £40,000 (about $61,000 USD) in damages.

Bullying can happen at home or at school, or both, and each case is unique. Some of the time, bullies themselves have been victimized and opt to use their feelings of hate or frustration and project it on others. Part of the You Will Rise Project’s goal is to create an avenue for expression that prevents kids from continuing that cycle.

NEW YORK – LGBT youth experience nearly three times as much bullying and harassment online as non-LGBT youth, but also find greater peer support, access to health information and opportunities to be civically engaged, according to a new report released today by GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network.

LONDON — The Archbishop of Canterbury has announced a campaign to stamp out anti-gay bullying in Church of England schools, acknowledging that attitudes toward sexuality have changed.