The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a suit against the Lake County School Board over their efforts to block the formation of a Gay Straight Alliance at Carver Middle School. To view the full press release, please go here. To view the complaint which was filed at the U.S. District Court in the Middle District of Florida, go here. Needless to say, I am thrilled at this development and am hopeful that justice will prevail for Bayli Silberstein and LGBT youth everywhere.
An Open Letter to LGBT Youth, My name is Katy. I live in Seattle. I am a writer, a jazz singer and the proud mother of a wonderful gay teenage son. You don’t know me. We’ve never met. But I am writing today to deliver this message: YOU MATTER You matter a lot. You are important. You are perfect just the way you are. You have a right to live with pride and dignity. You deserve your spot on this planet. By virtue of…
On any given day at any given school, a tween or teenager is being harassed because he/she is gay or perceived as such. They slam him against a locker and call him “faggot.” Taunts about her sexuality are scrawled across the walls in the girls’ bathroom. When they walk down the hallways of the school, they are subjected to mean commentary and vicious ridicule. With hormones run amok and ever shifting social dynamics, life for a young person coming of age is hard enough. But…