GLSEN

[GLSEN]

5 Tweets All LGBTQ Youth Should See

Last Friday was GLSEN’s Day of Silence, when thousands of students across the country pledged to remain silent for the day to symbolize the silencing effect of anti-LGBT bullying and harassment. Alongside these students, supporters took to social media to champion the cause.

Although some state legislatures across the country are working to limit the rights of LGBT students, especially transgender students, there are countless people who care about improving school climates, and we want to make sure all LGBT youth know that so many people have their back. Here are just five of these people.

Read more on the GLSEN Blog!

[GLSEN]

Unapologetically Silent 

When we gather together and sanctify a day in the name of vulnerable silence, we bless the voice with a significance beyond measure. Yes, LGBTQ youth often don’t have a choice of whether or not to be silent, but on GLSEN’s Day of Silence, we recognize this. We hold a memorial for all the words unsaid. We mourn the suppression of LGBTQ voices. Silence is ours — and when we show that silence is a tool of oppression, we reject the idea that it is normal, it is acceptable, for us to be shut up by our environments. We claim our voices, and we reclaim our silence.

This year will mark my sixth Day of Silence. In some ways I am still that nervous queer kid I was in 2010 — every year, I still struggle to maintain composure throughout the day. I still need lots of support.

But in recognizing the importance of my voice on that day in April so many years ago, I forever altered my future. I unapologetically broke the silence again and again — no matter how far away I was pushed from the general public, I would not be quiet.

Read more on the GLSEN Blog!

[GLSEN]

teenvogue.com

59 Things Your LGBTQ Friends Want You to Know

In honor of GLSEN’s National Day of Silence.

Vera Papisova

Thanks, Teen Vogue!

Today, thousands of students across the country, with the support of educators, Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) and GLSEN chapters, will participate in GLSEN’s Day of Silence, an annual international event that brings attention to the name-calling, bullying, and harassment experienced by LGBTQ youth in schools.

Students take a vow of silence as a symbol of the silencing effect of anti-LGBTQ language and bullying. This year, the theme is “Silence is Ours,” and the focus is on reclaiming this silence, shifting it from something forced upon LGBTQ students to a strategic tool they use to advocate for safe and affirming schools.

GLSEN’s Day of Silence is one of the largest student-led actions in the country, with students from more than 8,000 middle and high schools, colleges, and universities in every state and 70 countries around the world having participated in the past.

According to GLSEN’s most recent National School Climate Survey, one of few surveys on the school experiences of LGBTQ middle and high school students in the country, 85% of LGBTQ students were verbally harassed at school in the past year and nearly two-thirds heard homophobic remarks frequently or often. LGBTQ students who experienced discrimination, bullying, and harassment at school were more than three times as likely to have missed school in the past month as those who did not, had lower GPAs than their peers, and had lower self-esteem and higher levels of depression.

This is unacceptable.

Today, Teen Vogue supports GLSEN’s National Day of Silence by asking students who have been marginalized for their gender and/or sexuality to share what allies need to know in order to eliminate the anti-LGBTQ language and bullying that exists in classrooms around the world.

[GLSEN]

Gear up for GLSEN’s Day of Silence 

Save 30% on temporary tattoos and more for GLSEN’s Day of Silence when you use the discount code SILENCE on the GLSEN Shop!

Register for Day of Silence here!

[GLSEN]

Take Your Day of Silence to the Next Level - Join the Day of Silence Street Team!

As an official GLSEN Day of Silence rep, you’ll join a passionate community of people committed to making schools safer for LGBT students. We’ll be counting on you to spread the word about GLSEN’s Day of Silence however you can. Whether it’s collecting online registrations, writing a letter to the editor of your school newspaper, or sharing our mission on social media, your participation is instrumental in making this the biggest Day of Silence ever. In exchange, you’ll get exclusive access to Day of Silence resources, chances to win free stuff, and more! 

[GLSEN]

“As bad as bullying can be at all schools, it seems to be amplified in the South and magnified in rural communities. But GLSEN has given me the materials and strength to work for change in my community.” - Morgan, Tennessee 

Strengths and Silences is the first in-depth look at the significant challenges faced by LGBT students in rural areas and small towns. 

Rural LGBT students feel less safe, face heightened victimization and have fewer supportive resources than LGBT students in suburban and urban areas, according to Strengths & Silence. And yet, their stories offer glimpses of remarkable resiliency.

View the findings & download the full report at http://www.glsen.org/ruralreport

[GLSEN]

[breakableradio]

Day of Silence! My high school yearbook did a half page spread on me for this, I had to type my interview!

[glsen]

Congrats on your interview and yearbook spread! That’s awesome!