For immediate releaseAugust 5, 2013
Contact: Matthew
Wilson
253.671.2838
[email protected]
Safe Schools Coalition’s Gabi Clayton honored by USA Network’s
Characters Unite
Seattle, WA – When any
one of us faces an unimaginable personal tragedy, it changes us
forever. For many it means permanent depression, withdrawal
and hopelessness. But a few extraordinary individuals are able
to channel their grief into passion and they become dedicated,
unstoppable forces working to spare others the same suffering and
loss. Gabi Clayton, a longtime leader in Safe Schools
Coalition, is one such hero—so much so that she has been recognized
with an Honorable Mention award for her work by Characters Unite,
USA Network’s award-winning public service program which honors
extraordinary individuals who are champions for civil and human
rights in their communities.
Her life changed in 1995
when her openly bisexual 17-year-old son, Bill, committed suicide
after a violent hate crime in which he was assault by four youths on
the grounds of Olympia High School. Over the 18 years since, Clayton
has dedicated her life to protecting gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgender youth from bullying and violence. “I don’t want any
child to go through the horror that Bill did, any parent to lose a
child to hate, or any community to be forever changed by acts of
bigotry and hate like ours was.”
Clayton, a mental health
counselor, taught herself web design within a year of Bill’s death
and published a single page with a dedication in memory of her son.
Today, she maintains the now robust site and has heard from
thousands of people around the world who face harassment,
intimidation, bullying and hate crimes, and those who are working to
end the hate and are working for equality and justice.
Much of Clayton’s work
has been as a leader in Safe Schools Coalition (SSC) — an
international public-private partnership in support of gay, lesbian,
bisexual, transgender and gender nonconforming youth. SSC
helps educators, youth and parents make schools around the world
safe places where every child can learn, regardless of gender
identity or sexual orientation. Its roots go back to an ad hoc
"Advisory Committee on Gay/Lesbian Youth and Schools" convened by
the Seattle Commission on Children and Youth formed 25 years ago,
which was the first public effort in the United States to address
the issue of LGBTQ bullying, harassment and violence in schools.
Clayton has been an
active leader in SSC almost from the beginning. She created
the organization’s web site in 1996. The site which she
continues to maintain has grown to over 900 pages, and in the
12 months ending in February 2013 it served over 350,000 visitors
from more than 100 nations and every U.S. state, with more than
600,000 page views.It contains resources for
educators, youth, parents and concerned allies ranging from
discussion guides to emergency contacts to curricula for K-12
teachers, music, films, law and policy information and more. “SSC
really started the conversation around anti-LGBTQ bullying that is
now part of our national dialogue, and we did that largely through
our website. And that would not exist without Gabi.
There is no telling how many lives she has touched, changed and even
saved through her incredible dedication,” stated Matthew Wilson,
chair of the Coalition.
She serves on Safe
Schools Coalition’s leadership team and Law and Policy Committee.
That Committee, and Clayton’s testimony, was instrumental in passing
our state’s Anti-Bullying Law. She represents Safe Schools
Coalition on the Washington State Harassment, Intimidation and
Bullying Work Group.
Clayton also co-founded
Families United Against Hate (FUAH) to support victims and survivors
of bias-motivated crime, serves on the board of Youth Guardian
Services, an international on-line support group for GLBT youth, and
is active with the Olympia chapter of PFLAG (Parents, Family and
Friends of Lesbians and Gays).
Clayton was nominated for
the Characters Unite Award by Jim Musslewhite of Olympia who said:
“Gabi lost her son to
suicide at about the same time that my partner took his own life.
Since learning of our shared past, I have often been heartened by
the positive way in which Gabi and her family have responded.
This is especially true of Gabi’s long-running work with the Safe
Schools Coalition. Gabi’s work on (the Safe Schools Coalition) site
has allowed her to extend the reach of her commitment and compassion
to students, families, and educators around the globe.
“To nominate her to the
Characters Unite Awards was as obvious and as natural as anything
I’ve ever done.
“I knew there would be
heavy competition from lots of great entries and wasn’t sure that I
could get Gabi’s story, and son Bill’s, into 500 words or less. It
is a complex, true tale of a family’s reaction to harassment and
intolerance, and of their subsequent outpouring of compassion and
love. It could easily fill a small book.
I am gratified that the
Characters Unite Awards have honored Gabi in this way. She
deserves this recognition — and more. And the same is true of the
Safe Schools Coalition!”
Clayton said, “I am
flattered by the award, but more important to me is the recognition
of the kind of work that Safe Schools Coalition does and of the
on-going need for it — which means Safe Schools Coalition, like so
many organizations in these tight financial times, need donations
and volunteers. I hope my story will inspire others to do
whatever they can to end the hate and protect queer youth from the
kind of torture that lead Bill to take his life.”
For more
information visit:
www.safeschoolscoalition.org
www.charactersunite.com/initiatives/characters-unite-awards/award-winners
www.charactersunite.com/initiatives/characters-unite-awards/award-winners/gabi-clayton
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