I’m a LGBT ally! Are you?

Happy National Coming Out Day, everyone! In honor of this day, in which we celebrate coming out as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) or as an ally, I wanted to take a minute to highlight our resources on existing federal protections for LGBT students. Plus, I’ll give shout-outs to a couple of important laws that the National Women’s Law Center is working hard to get passed, along with our allies at the Human Rights Campaign, GLSEN, the ACLU, and others.

Before I do that, though, take just a second to review a few of the latest stats showing the extent to which bullying and harassment of LGBT students in schools is a serious problem.

• More than 8 out of 10 LGBT students had experienced verbal harassment (being called names or threatened) in the past year because of their sexual orientation.
• LGBT youth are twice as likely as their non-LGBT peers to say that they have been verbally harassed and called names at school.
• Youth who are out at school are more likely than students who are not out to have been called names involving anti-gay slurs, and to experience verbal harassment at school “frequently.”

In some cases, this conduct is more than just “bullying,” it’s sex-based harassment that’s prohibited by Title IX. In honor of National Coming Out Day, we hope you will read these NWLC resources and blog posts so you can learn more.

• New NWLC FAQs on Title IX protections from bullying and harassment for LGBT and gender nonconforming students
• NWLC FAQs on cyberbullying
• The Departments of Justice and Education reached a historic consent decree to resolve claims that middle and high schools in the Anoka-Hennepin School District outside Minneapolis failed to address pervasive bullying and harassment in schools.
• Our take on a huge legal win for transgender rights.

Plus, there are two crucial federal bills pending —the Student Non-Discrimination Act (SNDA) and the Safe Schools Improvement Act (SSIA)—that would increase protections for LGBT students. SNDA would outlaw discrimination in public K-12 schools based on sexual orientation or gender identity/expression, and SSIA would require schools to undertake efforts to prevent bullying and harassment, including that which is based on sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. President Obama has endorsed both!