Are you lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ)? A new school law Is In effect to protect you!

Did you know that 86% of LGBTQ teens have experienced bullying in some way or another? And that nearly 9 out of 10 LGBTQ youth reported being verbally harassed while IN school!!

Alarming right?! But not to worry- things are soon going to change. A new California law goes into effect on July 1^st, 2012 that protects the LGBTQ youth in California schools. This law requires:

• school employees (staff, faculty, etc.) to take immediate action when bullying is occurring
• that every bullying complaint be processed and specific action must be taken

Even better news is that the bullying does not need to happen during school (cool, right?). School administrators must take the same specific actions as if the bullying occurred at school, or if it involves cyber-bullying.

What if your school administrators don’t do anything about the bullying of an LGBTQ student?

If the school doesn’t protect you from bullying nor any action was taken on a complaint, this new law states that the person being bullied has the option to transfer to a new school district.

You don’t need to stay in the same school and face bullies on a daily basis!

This is all thanks to Seth’s Law and AB1156. The new law was named in memory of Seth Walsh, a 13-year-old gay student from Tehachapi, CA, who took his life in September 2010, after facing years of relentless anti-gay harassment at school.

More information:

http://iknowschoollaws.com/

http://www.nclrights.org/site/DocServer/AB_9_Fact_Sheet__2_.pdf?docID=8361