WASHINGTON, D.C. – After Target announced it was pulling some Pride merchandise from stores in response to extremist threats, Family Equality, GLSEN, and other leading LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations released a statement calling on the business community to rise up against anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric.
Since then, right-wing media outlets have spread harmful and vicious lies about GLSEN — and these intentional and heinous attacks have spurred an onslaught of hateful messages and threats to their mission and the physical safety of their staff.
Family Equality unequivocally stands with GLSEN and all our coalition partners in light of these attacks. We call on all our allies, advocates, and supporters to join us in standing strong alongside GLSEN. Caving to extremist ideologies is an abdication of responsibility to stand by values of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Here are the facts about GLSEN’s work and mission:
- GLSEN’s work is grounded in racial justice, disability justice, and gender justice.
- GLSEN’s Rainbow Library provides age-appropriate, inclusive literature — none of which is sexually explicit. Books are selected based on reviews from major journals, such as School Library Journal, Kirkus, and Booklist Reviews, along with feedback from hundreds of educators and school librarians.
- All students deserve dignity and respect, and GLSEN believes that educators and administrators should call students by their preferred names and correct pronouns.
- Supportive educators are a lifeline to students who do not have the freedom to be exactly who they are safely, and GLSEN will always fight back against policies that force educators to jeopardize student safety.
- 81.8% of LGBTQ+ students report feeling unsafe in schools because of one of their actual or perceived characteristics.
- GLSEN research has shown that LGBTQ+ youth are more likely to skip school due to feeling unsafe, have lower GPAs and academic achievement, and report less of a sense of belonging in school when they experience hostile school environments and are denied access to supportive teachers and inclusive curriculums.
- 41% of LGBTQ+ young people seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year; the work that GLSEN does alongside partner organizations saves lives.
About Family Equality
Family Equality advances legal and lived equality for LGBTQ+ families, and for those who wish to form them, through building community, changing hearts and minds, and driving policy change. Family Equality believes every LGBTQ+ person should have the right and opportunity to form and sustain a loving family, regardless of who they are or where they live. Learn more at familyequality.org.
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Press Contact
Tonya Agnew,
Chief Communications Officer
(765) 490-4709 / tagnew@familyequality.org