Rep. Sanchez Introduces Safe Schools Improvement Act

Contact:
Dustin Kight, Communications Manager, Family Equality Council, 617.502.8700 x 288, dustin.kight@familyequality.org

Rep. Sanchez Introduces Safe Schools Improvement Act
Family Equality Council supports strength and inclusivity of the bill

Statement from Executive Director Jennifer Chrisler
Media Interviews Available

Boston, MA — Today Representative Linda Sanchez (D-CA) introduced the Safe Schools Improvement Act (SSIA), which will strengthen current federal anti-violence policies for schools and districts receiving federal funds. The SSIA enhances current policies by expressly including "bullying and harassment" alongside "violence" as causes of concern. More specifically, the SSIA supports safe schools by increasing incidence reporting, policy and procedure transparency, and resources available to educators to address violence, bullying and harassment in schools. The bill also makes clear that acts of violence, bullying and harassment against students most commonly targeted, including those targeted because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity, are unacceptable.

The U.S. Department of Education has concluded that bullying and harassment affects nearly one in every three American school children in grades six through ten. According to a 2008 report issued by the Gay Lesbian Straight Educators Network (GLSEN) in partnership with Family Equality Council and the Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere (COLAGE), forty percent of children with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) parents report verbal harassment at school because of their family makeup. The 2009 version of the SSIA specifically protects children with LGBT parents for the first time.

The Family Equality Council is proud to support the SSIA in partnership with the GLSEN and the National Safe Schools Partnership. At introduction the Safe Schools Improvement Act had 40 cosponsors in the House.

Statement of Jennifer Chrisler, Executive Director, Family Equality Council:

"With the recent bullying-induced suicides of eleven-year-olds Carl Joseph Walker Hoover and Jaheem Herrera, it's way past time for the federal government, states and individual school districts to step up and address bullying, harassment and violence head on," said Jennifer Chrisler, executive director of Family Equality Council. "These tragic deaths illustrate so clearly why legislation like the Safe Schools Improvement Act is needed. Both boys were taunted for being 'different', including being called anti-gay epithets, despite the fact that neither of them identified as gay. Both boys' schools had anti-bullying programs or resources available to them, but clearly they were not effective or enforced enough to save these young lives. Both families sought help from school officials, who were not as responsive as these situations called for. And both instances would have gone little noticed had safe schools advocates not encouraged the media to pay attention to these lost lives. LGBT parents are acutely aware of the impacts bullying has on children, as our children are sometimes targeted when their peers don't understand our families. Safe learning environments are essential to children's growth and learning. If we can invest in green energy to save tomorrow's climate, if we can invest in infrastructure to grow tomorrow's economy, we must invest the time and resources necessary in today's troubled schools to create the healthy, successful Americans of tomorrow."

EDITORS: To book an interview with Jennifer Chrisler, executive director of the Family Equality Council, please call or email the media contacts listed above.

About the Family Equality Council
The Family Equality Council works to ensure equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender families by building community, changing hearts and minds, and advancing social justice for all families. For more information, visit www.familyequality.org.