Subject: strictly fyi: press releases, blogs & opinion columns
From: Julie Parmenter <jparmenter@brighthorizons.com>
Date: 12/2/2011 5:37 AM
To: NEWS@safeschoolscoalition.org
CC: Julie Parmenter <jparmenter@brighthorizons.com>

Dear Safe Schools Coalition Members and Friends:

PRESS RELEASES, BLOGS & OPINION COLUMNS

1.     An LGBT book project based in California is headed by 14-year-old

2.     Pioneering study finds GSAs prevent depression, bullying and suicide

3.     Reaching Out to Homeless Youth

4.     Bullying on the School Bus is on the Rise

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1).  The Make It Safe Project donates books about sexual orientation and gender identity to K-12 schools, school Gay-Straight Alliance clubs, and LGBT-inclusive youth homeless shelters which would otherwise do without.  Many young lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) teens only hear the word "gay" when it is used to mean "bad," as in the phrase, "That's so gay." Schools rarely have books about being LGBT and most health curricula overlook LGBT relationships, sending a message to their LGBT students that they are not worth as much as their straight peers. As a result, startling numbers of LGBT teens have been bullied to the point where they have taken their own lives.  Read more.

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2).  Results from a groundbreaking American study on gay-straight alliances (GSAs) have confirmed A school with a GSA has a lower drop-out rate and produces students who are more likely to attend college or university. GSAs also help educate students and community members by spreading a message of love, acceptance and equality.

These are just some of the findings in High School Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) and Young Adult Well-Being: An Examination of GSA Presence, Participation, and Perceived Effectiveness, a new study by Caitlin Ryan, a San Francisco State University faculty member and director of the Family Acceptance Project.  See more.

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3). A number of studies of homeless youth in big cities put forth a startling statistic: Depending on the study, somewhere between 30 and 40 percent of homeless youths identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.  It's largely because gay youths are more often kicked out of their homes than straight youths. And even if they are not kicked out, they may feel so uncomfortable that they leave.  Read more.

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4).  In a survey of school transportation directors and bus drivers, nearly 72 percent of them say bullying — from repeated name-calling to physical assault — is a serious problem on their buses, according to the National Association for Pupil Transportation.  Though most bullying happens inside schools, according to a 2007 survey of students by the U.S. Department of Justice, about 8 percent of it happens on buses, though among sixth graders, who report being bullied the most, it happens about 15 percent of the time on buses.  See more.

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Co-Chairs:

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Mo Lewis, King County Sexual Assault Resource Center

Matthew Wilson, Oasis/Pierce County AIDS Foundation

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