Win A $50 Gift Certificate to Amazon.com!
GLSEN Connecticut's Board of Directors would like to get a better understanding of the needs of GLSEN members throughout Connecticut. Please take a few minutes to respond to this survey by clicking here. Once completed, you'll be entered into a drawing to receive one of three $50 gift certificates to Amazon.com!
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Come get to know GLSEN Connecticut Sunday October 3rd!
Join us in Fairfield County from 4:00pm - 7:00pm for a casual and fun afternoon filled with GLSEN Connecticut Board Members and supporters. Please feel free to bring any interested friends or colleagues - we'd love to chat with you! For more information just email Liane Roseman. |
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LGBT Youth Needed to Help GLSEN
Online
GLSEN is looking for LGBT youth to participate in an Internet survey about how you use the Internet and what your experiences are like online.
Thank you for helping GLSEN and others create better online resources and supports for LGBT youth! |
GLSEN Research Learning Series: Fall 2010
Webinars
For 10 years GLSEN has been documenting the school experiences of LGBT youth in the National School Climate Survey (NSCS). The NSCS assesses the educational experiences of LGBT youth and remains one of the few studies to examine the school experiences of LGB students nationally and is the only national study to include transgender students.
Wednesday, September 15th
3 - 4pm EST
Please join GLSEN's Research Department and the National Collaboration for Youth for a free webinar series to discuss the experiences of LGBT students from the most recent NSCS, the 2009 National School Climate Survey.
Click here for more details. In our next issue we will bring you information on upcoming webinars. Stay tuned! |
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Greetings!
Welcome back to school! We here at GLSEN Connecticut have been working hard over the summer to ensure that you have the resources you need to make your school safer this year. We look forward to supporting you and to hearing about the successes and challenges you have in your organizing this year.  As you start planning your organizing this year, whether by yourself or with a Gay-Straight Alliance or other student club, don't forget about the below resources. We'll be letting you know more about each of them throughout the year as well. Back-To-School Guide for Creating LGBT Inclusive Environments - While preparing for the school year, keep in mind the simple things you can do to ensure that your classroom or school is a safe and inclusive space for all students, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. Here are 7 easy steps you can take.
Safe Space Kit - you can download or purchase this kit designed to help educators create a safe space for LGBT youth in schools.
Jump-Start Guide for GSAs - Are you starting a new GSA? Trying to re-energize an inactive GSA or at a loss for how to start the year? Check out the eight sections of the Jump-Start Guide for tips and activities to get you off to a strong start. Ally Week - October 18 - 22, 2010, A week for students to identify, support, and celebrate allies against anti-LGBT language and bullying and harassment. No Name Calling Week - January 24 - 28, 2011, Aimed at ending name-calling of all kinds and providing schools with the tools and inspiration to launch on-going dialogue about ways to eliminate bullying in their communities. Day of Silence - April 15, 2011, Students take a vow of silence in an effort to encourage schools and classmates to address the problem of anti-LGBT behavior. Sa fe Schools Improvement Act - Is your school one of the many that doesn't have an anti-bullying policy that really works to make schools safer for all students? SSIA would make sure that nearly all public schools have policies in place that will make a difference! Happy Organizing! Please be in touch if you need anything!
Peace,
Leif Mitchell and Liane Roseman
Co-Chairs, GLSEN Connecticut
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GLSEN in the News: Anderson Cooper and Fox News Radio
Some of you may have seen the article in the Denver Post last weekend about Focus on the Family's claims that GLSEN is pushing a gay agenda in schools. The discussion is continuing in a couple of venues and we wanted to be sure you have the information.
Last week Eliza Byard, GLSEN's Executive Director, was on Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN debating Focus on the Family's Candi Cushman about the reality of bullying in schools. The video from her appearance can be found here.
She was on the Alan Colmes Show on Fox News Radio. Listen to the discussion here. |
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Attention High School Students
GLSEN Connecticut is searching for energetic, committed, and collaborative individuals to join our new Jump-Start Student Leadership team.
Our Jump-Start team is a group of student leaders that works to create safe schools for all, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.
To achieve this goal, our team will organize educational programs and actions in the community to promote inclusion, safety, and respect for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and ally students. If you are interested in joining our student leadership team, please email Student Coordinator Layne Gianakos or Adult Coordinator Alberto Cifuentes, Jr. We look forward to hearing from you, and hope you will join our team! |
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A Note from our GSA Coordinator
My goal this year is to create a network for GSAs in Connecticut. At the True Colors Conference last March, some of you completed information telling us about your needs and wants. From this, we learned that networking with other GSAs in Connecticut is one of your priorities.
We hope to provide just such information in our newsletter as events occur at your various schools. Let us know what's happening at your school and we'll post it here. Or if another school can contact you for support, let us share that information here. Please Note: Under separate email, we are contacting you to further identify your school and contact information, so please answer our email!
We all work so hard and are so committed that sometimes seemingly small steps towards our goal get lost in our bigger visions. This year, let's remember to celebrate the little successes as well as the big ones: Two more students in your GSA - great! One teacher asks you, the GSA Advisor, for help on how to support LGBT students - awesome! A teacher reads your Day of Silence card after ignoring it last year - success. A teacher posts a "Safe Space" sticker in their room - celebrate. We make a difference every day just by holding with what we know is right. And with Ally Week taking place next month, remember this event is about celebrating the allies you have just as much as it is about finding new ones."
GSA Coordinator |
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"Bullied" - A Film from Southern Poverty Law Center
 GLSEN would like to make our partners aware of a new documentary film and teaching kit from the Southern Poverty Law Center aimed at ending anti-LGBT bullying in schools. Bullied: A Student, a School and a Case that Made History tells the story of Jamie Nabozny, a student who stood up to his anti-gay tormentors and filed a federal lawsuit against his school district.
The suit led to a landmark court decision finding that school officials could be held accountable for not stopping anti-LGBT harassment. The SPLC's Teaching Tolerance program will begin distributing the film, with its teaching guide, free of charge to educators in September. More details can be found here.
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GLSEN Connecticut is a member of Community Works of Connecticut, a progressive workplace giving program.
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Please Note: This electronic message from GLSEN Connecticut contains information and opinions deemed relevant to ending anti-LGBT bias in schools and other items which may be of interest to the LGBT community and its valued allies. Not all opinions expressed are those of GLSEN Connecticut. | |
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