Lambda Legal Launches First National Education Campaign Aimed at Making Schools Safer for LGBTQ Youth

(New York, Tuesday, September 28, 2004) — Lambda Legal, the nation’s oldest and largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender legal rights advocacy organization, launches its first national youth education campaign today in an effort to make the nation’s schools safer for LGBT and questioning (LGBTQ) youth.

A national survey¹ of LGBTQ students found that 77.9% heard remarks such as “faggot” or “dyke” frequently at school and that 39.1% had been physically assaulted at school because of their sexual orientation. Of those same students, 64.3% felt unsafe in their school because of their sexual orientation.

“Many of our nation’s schools simply aren’t safe for gay students — we know that from the research but mostly from calls we get every day from young people all across the country,” said Kevin Cathcart, Lambda Legal’s Executive Director. “We’ve won powerful court rulings in recent years that make it absolutely clear that schools have to protect gay youth and treat them equally. This campaign is putting those court victories to work in schools nationwide by telling students what their rights are and what to do to make sure those rights are enforced.”

LGBTQ students having knowledge of their legal rights has proven to be a key factor in creating safer schools. Lambda Legal’s new campaign, “Out, Safe and Respected,” provides in-depth information on a range of rights, along with specific steps to take to make sure those rights are respected. Areas covered include:

• Tips to ensure basic safety at school
  
• Legal and practical help for gay-straight alliance groups
  
• Tips for heterosexual students or adults to be allies for LGBTQ youth
  
• Negotiation tactics to use with adults in schools
  
• Concrete steps for making schools LGBTQ-friendly
  
• Background on laws protecting LGBTQ students

Several recent court rulings resulting from Lambda Legal’s efforts set precedents and created tangible rights for students to engage in activities — most notably establishing gay-straight alliance groups — that proactively promote tolerance and combat anti-gay harassment in schools.

The first phase of Lambda Legal’s “Out, Safe and Respected” campaign will run through the end of the year and will feature broadcast and print PSAs, a website with in-depth information and action tips, a kit with information you and adults alike can use to make schools safer and outreach to organizations nationwide. This effort marks the beginning of Lambda Legal’s increased focus on using the internet as channel to reach LGBTQ youth — a group with a higher-than-average percentage of online users.

1. See GLSEN National School Climate Survey (2003), available at http://www.glsen.org.