US: South Carolina campaign aims to educate about anti-gay bullying in schools
A new campaign has launched in the US state of South Carolina, aiming to provide resources on anti-LGBT bullying in schools.
The ‘Know Your Rights’ campaign was launched by SC Equality this week.
The new section of its education and resources website aims to respond to regular questions from LGBT people about legal information.
The new section, number 3: ‘Safe & Just Schools’, draws attention to the fact that 90% of LGBT youths in the state report experience harassment at schools.
It covers the rights of students in the state to form gay-straight alliances
Randy Moore, the project leader for the Know Your Rights campaign, said: “Sometimes even the Principal doesn’t know all the right answers. Educated and empowered young people are powerful advocates for their own rights.” Moore continued “LGBT youth have a right to form GSAs in their schools, express who they are, and also have their privacy protected.”
Ryan Wilson, Executive Director of SC Equality added: “Unfortunately, only a handful of school district bullying policies in South Carolina explicitly protect gay and transgender youth from bullying or harassment. We are actively reviewing policies in each district in our state and will soon be contacting school board members and superintendents to make recommendations on steps they can take to protect and support LGBT youth in their schools.”
“The SC Gay-Straight Alliance Network, a project of SC Equality, is currently supporting and empowering students from 14 high school GSAs, 18 college/university GSAs, and 4 graduate school GSAs in South Carolina.”
More sections of resrouces will be added each month until June this year.
Each section features fact sheets, links to national resources, sample legal forms, and recommended questions to ask an attorney or other professionals.
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