Ian Thompson, Washington Legislative Office

On Wednesday, GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network) released a new report on anti-LGBT bias, homophobia and gender nonconformity in elementary schools across the country. The report, Playgrounds and Prejudice: Elementary School Climate in the United States, was based on national surveys of 1,065 elementary school students in grades 3-6, as well as 1,099 elementary school teachers in grades K-6.

Some of the report’s key findings include:

• “Nearly one in 10 of elementary students in 3rd to 6th grade indicate that they do not always conform to traditional gender norms/roles. Either they are boys who others sometimes think, act or look like a girl, or they are girls who others sometimes think, act or look like a boy”;
• “Gender nonconforming students are less likely than other students to feel very safe at school, and are more likely than others to indicate they sometimes do not want to go to school because they feel unsafe or afraid there”;
• “Gender nonconforming students are also more likely than others to be called names, made fun of or bullied at least sometimes at school”; and
• “Less than half of teachers indicate that they feel comfortable responding to questions from their students about gay, lesbian or bisexual people. There was a lower level of comfort found among teachers responding to questions from their students about transgender people.”

The report, the first to take a national look at anti-LGBT bias in elementary schools, offers valuable insights into the foundations that are often laid quite early in students’ school lives that later can take on far more serious and tragic implications if left unaddressed.

Harassment and discrimination against gender nonconforming and LGBT youth, as well as those presumed to be, is clearly not something that only surfaces in middle school and high school. It’s really never too early for schools and teachers to work to foster an environment where all students feel safe and welcome. This might help to explain why, according to a recent San Francisco Chronicle article, the number of Gay-Straight Alliances in middle schools nationwide currently stands at roughly 500 (up from a mere few dozen just three years ago).

The report also shows that LGBT and gender nonconforming students are a vulnerable population in our nation’s schools, including those at the elementary level. This is a nationwide problem, impacting students coast-to-coast. As such, the solution needs to be national in scope.

The Student Non-Discrimination Act, legislation currently pending in Congress, would have a profound impact in improving the lives of LGBT students in the U.S. by ensuring that discrimination and harassment of students on the basis of their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity has no place in our country’s public elementary and secondary schools. Please stand with the ACLU in support of LGBT students by urging your members of Congress to support the Student Non-Discrimination Act today.

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Tuesday marked a historic commitment by the United States to the cause of LGBT international human rights. First, President Obama issued a memorandum directing all federal agencies engaged abroad to ensure that U.S. diplomacy and foreign assistance promote and protect the human rights of LGBT persons. The memorandum represents the first-ever U.S. government strategy dedicated to combating human rights abuses against LGBT persons abroad.

Specifically, the memorandum directs agencies to:

• Combat the criminalization of LGBT status or conduct abroad;
• Protect vulnerable LGBT refugees and asylum seekers;
• Leverage foreign assistance to protect human rights and advance nondiscrimination;
• Ensure swift and meaningful U.S. responses to human rights abuses of LGBT persons abroad;
• Engage International Organizations in the fight against LGBT discrimination; and
• Report on progress.

Later in the day, in recognition of International Human Rights Day, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton delivered a landmark speech before the U.N. in Geneva on the importance of LGBT international human rights. For those who haven’t seen the speech, it really is a must-see. You can watch the entire speech by clicking here.

The speech is remarkable on many levels. What comes across throughout is the depth of commitment to this issue that is unmatched by anything preceding it. As Secretary Clinton states clearly upfront:

Like being a woman, like being a racial, religious, tribal, or ethnic minority, being LGBT does not make you less human. And that is why gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights.

She calls the struggle for LGBT human rights one of the important “remaining human rights challenges of our time.” Throughout the speech, Secretary Clinton described basic truths for LGBT around the world, but truths that are rarely heard from such a prominent international figure on a global stage. For example: ,

…gay people are born into and belong to every society in the world. They are all ages, all races, all faiths; they are doctors and teachers, farmers and bankers, soldiers and athletes; and whether we know it, or whether we acknowledge it, they are our family, our friends, and our neighbors.

Listening to the speech, I was thinking about what this commitment from the U.S. will mean to LGBT activists and advocates around the world, particularly those like Frank Mugisha from Uganda, who often do this critical work at great personal risk. In a recent interview with TheRoot.com, Mugisha described some of these risks:

If you are an activist, then you have to calculate and decide, "Should I take that street, should I go to that shopping mall, should I do this today, even?” Because you don’t know where the harassment will come from.

Tuesday’s memorandum and speech follow adoption, for the first time ever, of a resolution by the U.N. Human Rights Council in June condemning violence and discrimination against those who are LGBT. It was the first U.N. resolution to focus solely on LGBT persons.

Tuesday’s developments were a great step forward for LGBT international human rights. We certainly hope it is a sign of further progress to come in the trend toward a greater global recognition that LGBT rights are really core human rights. That is the position that the ACLU will certainly be working to advance here at home.

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