We all remember what being in high school was like. I can’t say that I know a lot of people that have incredibly fond memories. It’s a rough time, having to deal with parental oversight, teacher expectations, peer pressure and let’s not forget – hormonal imbalances. Put that all together and it probably leads to embarrassing stories or being the target of endless jokes. For LGBT students, throw in the confusion of budding sexuality and its not-so-‘normal’ feelings and you’re got yourself the recipe for disaster. That meant that LGBT students got picked on or worse when we were going to school. But society’s changed, right?
It appears that things haven’t. GLSEN just released its annual National School Climate Survey and they found that almost NINE out of ten LGBT students have experienced some sort of harassment. While the majority of harassment took the verbal route, that doesn’t make it OK – especially at that age. You can read the full report (PDF – 1 MB) on their website.
GLSEN isn’t standing on the sidelines – they’re using the media to get out the news of hurtful speech towards LGBT individuals. Think B4 You Speak, the new GLSEN public service announcements, take aim at the more subtle verbal abuse in schools and in our society. Although geared for the younger generation, the message still resonates with people of all ages.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWS0GVOQPs0[/youtube]
