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For years, Charlie Pratt’s classmates in his upstate New York school district attacked him relentlessly with antigay and sexist slurs, physically harassed him and threatened him with violence. Even staff members taunted Charlie for being gay. The principal suggested Charlie “tone it down” to avoid harassment and refused to let him form a gay-straight alliance (GSA). Years later, when Charlie’s sister, Ashley Petranchuk, also requested permission to form a GSA, administrators again refused. In April, Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit against the Indian River Central School District on behalf of Charlie and Ashley. Days later, school officials took a first step toward improving the climate for LGBTQ students by agreeing to allow the GSA. Lambda Legal is pressing forward with other claims.

The New York Times - by Charles M. Blow

On April 6, just before dinner, Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, a Massachusetts boy who had endured relentless homophobic taunts at school, wrapped an extension cord around his tiny neck and hanged himself. He was only 11 years old. His mother had to cut him down.

On April 16, just after school, Jaheem Herrera, a Georgia boy who had also endured relentless homophobic taunts at school, wrapped a fabric belt around his tiny neck and hanged himself as well. He too was only 11 years old. His 10-year-old sister found him.

Two beaming little boys, lost. To intolerance? Too tragic.

The sad ends to their short lives shine a harsh light on the insidious scourge of the homophobic bullying of children. Children can’t see their budding lives through the long lens of wisdom - the wisdom that benefits from years passed, hurdles overcome, strength summoned, resilience realized, selves discovered and accepted, hearts broken but mended and love experienced in the fullest, truest majesty that the word deserves. For them, the weight of ridicule and ostracism can feel crushing and without the possibility of reprieve. And, in that dark and lonely place, desperate and confused, they can make horrible decisions that can’t be undone.
To read the rest of this article go to:
http://blow.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/two-little-boys/

This past Tuesday Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) introduced important safe schools legislation in the House of Representatives. The Safe Schools Improvement Act will strengthen current federal anti-violence policies for schools and districts receiving federal funds. The Family Equality Council is particularly proud to support this legislation, as it is the first time the bill has included language aimed at protecting LGBT families. We’re proud to work with our partners at the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and the National Safe Schools Partnership, who are leading our community’s efforts to pass the bill.

The U.S. Department of Education has concluded that bullying and harassment affects nearly one in every three American school children in grades six through ten. Schools and families need guidance and support to address this terrible fact. Please support and co-sponsor the Safe Schools Improvement Act of 2009, the most comprehensive federal safe schools introduced to date.

SAN FRANCISCO — The state Supreme Court left intact Wednesday a lower-court ruling that said a private religious high school wasn’t covered by California civil rights law and could expel students it believed were lesbians.

Over Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar’s dissent, the court denied review of an appeal by parents of two girls who were expelled from a high school in Riverside County. A lawyer for the parents said the ruling, which is binding on trial courts statewide, would allow private schools to discriminate against students on any basis they chose, including sex and religion.

The girls were juniors at California Lutheran High School in the town of Wildomar when the principal, Gregory Bork, called them to his office in September 2005 and questioned them separately about their sexual orientation, after another student reported postings on their MySpace pages.

Bork suspended the girls based on their answers, and the school’s directors expelled them a month later. The girls, who later graduated from another high school, have not been identified and have not discussed their sexual orientation, said their parents’ attorney, Kirk Hanson. The parents sued under the Unruh Act, a 1959 state law that forbids discrimination by businesses. It was amended in 2005 to include bias based on sexual orientation and someone else’s perception of sexual orientation.

State education law also prohibits anti-gay bias, but that applies only to public schools.