“Disney Channel’s “Good Luck Charlie” broke new ground on Sunday with the inclusion of a lesbian couple, the cable network’s first openly gay characters in a series.
In the episode “Down a Tree,” Amy and Bob Duncan set up a play date for their daughter Charlie and one of her new friends, Taylor — who just happens to have two moms.”
-Via Lgbtqnation
Via Lgbtqnation
“An independent think tank that studies the progress of the movement on equal rights for LGBT people released its latest report Tuesday, and the assessment is surprisingly “mixed.”” Some other facts included in the report where:
via salon.com
The presence of gay-straight alliance (GSA) groups in schools reduces the risk of suicide among both LGBTQ and straight teens, according to a study published in the International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies and funded by the Canadian Institute of Health Research.
Using data from the 2008 British Columbia Adolescent Health Survey for grades 8-12, the study found that in schools where gay-straight alliance groups have been in existence for three or more years:
Gay-straight alliance groups stem back to the late 1980′s, when discussions of sexuality were much less open than they are today. GSA’s have proliferated in universities and secondary schools since then, with the goal of creating safe spaces on campus for all students–regardless of sexual orientation.
“We know that LGBTQ students are at higher risk for suicide, in part because they are more often targeted for bullying and discrimination,” said Elizabeth Saewyc, lead author of the study, to the University of British Columbia press. “But heterosexual students can also be the target of homophobic bullying. When poliices and supportive programs like the GSAs are in place long enough to change the environment of the school, it’s better for students’ mental health, no matter what their orientation.”
In addition to documenting the benefits of GSA presence on schools, the study also found that on campuses where anti-homophobic policies have been in place for 3+ years:
The findings may lend more credence to LGBTQ activists in the United States who are struggling with conservatives to control the conversation about sexuality in public schools.
In 2011, a bill outlawing the discussion of any sexuality except the hetero variety passed the state Senate in Tennessee, and was debated for two years before dying in the House. The most onerous feature of the bill’s final incarnation was a provision that would have compelled teachers to notify parents of students they suspected were gay.
Legislators in Missouri also passed an ill-fated “Don’t Say Gay” bill in 2012 similar to the one killed in Tennessee, and though it went nowhere, one of its main sponsors was later tapped to head the Missouri House Education Committee in 2013.
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The Zebra Coalition opened its new office in Orlando to serve at-risk gay and lesbian teens.
When students from Goodman Middle School in Gig Harbor decided to exercise their free-speech rights before Tuesday’s election, they got a peek into the reality of political campaigning.
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning and Ally Program at the University of Texas at Arlington will host Pride Week for its first time.
More than 600 University of Notre Dame faculty and staff have signed onto a statement urging the Roman Catholic school to add sexual orientation to its nondiscrimination clause.
The Big Spring School Board voted to approve plans to create a gay-straight alliance club at Big Spring High School this fall.