News & Commentary

No student trying to visit the website for the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) from a school computer should be confronted with a stop sign.  But that's precisely what happened to a student in Virginia, which spurred our "Don’t Filter Me!" campaign.

"I want to thank my colleagues in the Senate for taking this important step forward to ensuring that schools have the necessary tools to prevent any young person from being bullied, harassed or worse because of their sexual orientation, gender identity and expression. As a former teacher, I know how important it is for our students to feel safe at school. We have a moral duty to our youth to prevent bullying and Seth’s Law will help schools protect students, and prevent and respond to bullying before a tragedy occurs.” said Assemblymember Tom Ammiano. “Public schools have tremendous power and responsibility to protect students from bullying and harassment," said James Gilliam with the ACLU of California, and director of the Seth Walsh Students’ Rights Project at the ACLU of Southern California. "Better school procedures and policies to prevent and address bullying will make a safer environment for students who are suffering." “All students deserve to receive an education without fearing for their safety because of who they are,” said Roland Palencia, Executive Director of Equality California. “Seth’s law is an important step forward in ensuring schools have the knowledge and tools they need to prevent bullying. We thank Assemblymember

This is the last in a series of posts written by our summer LGBT Project legal interns. The other posts are "LGBT Human Rights Gone Global", “The Roots of Homophobia“, and “Calling It ‘Marriage’ Isn’t the End of the Story."The first step is admitting we have a problem. And we do: students that stand by and allow bullying to occur, as well as teachers that either don’t know how to -- or choose not to -- respond to anti-LGBT bullying. Most LGBT students say they’ve experienced bullying behavior in school, but don’t report it. We have to change the widespread attitude that “bullying is just part of growing up”.

Ron Wallen Testifies at Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Defense of Marriage Act This blog post is third in a series written by our summer LGBT Project legal interns. The other posts are "LGBT Human Rights Gone Global", "The Roots of Homophobia" and "Changing the Culture of Bullying".When my partner came out to her ninety-two-year old grandmother and announced her plan to marry me, the reaction wasn't great. Not because of a fire-and-brimstone lecture about immorality and the evils of lesbianism. She was worried that, on top of the gender wage gap, we'd be facing an uphill battle just to get the same legal and economic protections under the law as opposite-sex married couples. (If only every grandmother were as awesome as she!)

This blog post is second in a series written by our summer LGBT Project legal interns. The other posts are "LGBT Human Rights Gone Global" "Calling It 'Marriage' Isn’t the End of the Story", and "Changing the Culture of Bullying".As James Gilliam blogged last month, Tehachapi middle schooler Seth Walsh was the subject of severe bullying from the time he came out as gay in the sixth grade until his suicide two years later. The Departments of Justice and Education launched an investigation into the circumstances that led to Seth’s suicide, and part of my work as a summer law clerk at the ACLU/SC has been to analyze the results of that investigation.

This blog post is first in a series written by our summer LGBT Project legal interns.  The other posts are "The Roots of Homophobia", "Calling It 'Marriage' Isn’t the End of the Story", and "Changing the Culture of Bullying".Although I had traveled 6,000 miles to attend the conference, I was informed of the conference venue’s address just three days before it started. The organizers of “Justice In The Balkans: Equality For Sexual Minorities (.pdf)” were so concerned with the safety of those attending that they kept the conference location secret until the last minute. The disconnect between public and private was reinforced even in our conference swag. We were provided with two different canvas bags: The bag meant for use in public had conference sponsors printed discreetly in black. The other bag, emblazoned in purple with “Equality For Sexual Minorities”, was to be used only within the confines of the conference space.

The ACLU of California is strongly urging the state agency that regulates mental health counselors to immediately remove the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) from its list of approved organizations from which California counselors can obtain continuing education credits (CEUs). The agency, the California Board of Behavioral Sciences (CBBS), requires licensed educational psychologists, marriage and family therapists and licensed clinical social workers to take CEUs in order to renew their licenses.  

  This week marks the 42nd anniversary of the iconic Stonewall Riots, which mark the symbolic beginning of the LGBT civil rights movement and gave birth to the Pride celebrations that continue today.

AB 9, authored by Assemblymember Ammiano and sponsored LGBT equality organizations, seeks to create a safer school environment for California students