News & Commentary

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.  

I have this thing about myths. I like to know the difference between Reality and, well, Not-Reality. I spend a lot of time on Snopes.com, I avoid Fox News, my grandfather was even one of those guys who went on an expedition looking for Noah’s Ark (seriously). So I’m pleased to say that the myth of California’s death penalty is widely being exposed, as more and more people realize that a functional and efficient death penalty system belongs firmly in the Not-Reality Column.

Today the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education reached a significant settlement with the Tehachapi Unified School District, following an investigation into harassment of Seth Walsh based on his non-conformity with gender stereotypes.  Seth Walsh killed himself in September 2010 after enduring years of bullying and harassment at school. (Please see the DOJ press release here.) The DOJ & DOE investigation in the Tehachapi Unified School District confirmed that Seth Walsh was targeted for harassment at school for two years and that the school district did not fulfill its responsibilities to protect him from this harassment. As a result of the settlement, the school district will implement a series of specific policies, procedures and training that will better protect students from sexual harassment and harassment based on gender stereotypes. This settlement is one of the first of its kind in the country, and perhaps the most comprehensive, under the DOE definition of gender stereotyping that includes sexual orientation. "The findings from the DOJ and the DOE send a clear message that protection of students in public schools is of paramount importance. When it comes to stopping harassment based on sexual orientation and gender perception, schools need to get it right or face the consequences,” said James Gilliam, Director of the Seth Walsh Project at the ACLU of Southern California. “Better harassment policies save lives and make a safer environment for all students. No student should feel threatened for being who they are.”

  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

Tehachapi Teenager’s Suicide Underscores Urgent Need for Schools to Uphold Legal Obligations to Protect LGBTQ Students from Harassment

LOS ANGELES – The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California (ACLU/SC) announced today that its deputy executive director James Gilliam will be honored by KCET and Union Bank as part of an inaugural class of  ‘Local Heroes’ in celebration of LGBT Pride month.  The Local Heroes Awards recognize the recipients’ leadership and contributions in shaping the neighborhoods in which they work and live and will be presented Thursday, June 9, 2011 at KCET in Los Angeles.