Student Non-Discrimination Act: Jared Polis, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Reintroduce Anti-Bullying Bill
Bayli Silberstein, an eighth-grade student in a Florida public school, saw it firsthand.
Her friends, she said, were routinely bullied for their sexual orientation. "Watching it tear apart my friends is what scared me the most. It's not right, I don't like it, and I don't see my friends going through it."
But when she tried to start the Gay-Straight Alliance in her school, Bayli was rebuffed by her principal, sparking a school board debate about whether all extracurricular clubs should be banned.
For Becky Collins, a Chillicothe, Ohio, mother, it took involving the American Civil Liberties Union for her school to expel the student who beat up her son, Zach, for being openly gay. "He [the principal] said it was just a school yard fight, and I'm like, 'either you call the sheriff or I will call 911,'" Collins said. "The principal says, 'I don't have any problems with any other student but [Zach].'"
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender students report alarmingly high rates of bullying and harassment in
Her friends, she said, were routinely bullied for their sexual orientation. "Watching it tear apart my friends is what scared me the most. It's not right, I don't like it, and I don't see my friends going through it."
But when she tried to start the Gay-Straight Alliance in her school, Bayli was rebuffed by her principal, sparking a school board debate about whether all extracurricular clubs should be banned.
For Becky Collins, a Chillicothe, Ohio, mother, it took involving the American Civil Liberties Union for her school to expel the student who beat up her son, Zach, for being openly gay. "He [the principal] said it was just a school yard fight, and I'm like, 'either you call the sheriff or I will call 911,'" Collins said. "The principal says, 'I don't have any problems with any other student but [Zach].'"
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender students report alarmingly high rates of bullying and harassment in