Bullying: Where Are We After a Year?

We've all seen the news in the last year--numbers of gay teenagers or those perceived to be gay committing suicide after being taunted and bullied in their schools.  I wrote a blog entry about it a few weeks ago.

At a recent meeting of my school's Gay-Straight Alliance a student was commenting on how frustrated they were becoming with all of these students committing suicide.  Since all of these deaths, have we moved forward on this issue in any way?

A recent AP article in the Washington Post would suggest we have, slowly but surely.  What I think is interesting is that a lot of these changes are being championed by teenagers themselves.  Some are joining their school's GSA's, others are asking history teachers to include LGBT history in civil rights lessons.  Schools are re-evaluating bullying programs and training staff and faculty as well as students as well as removing internet filters that used to prevent students from looking at pro-gay websites.

If, as a school counselor, you want to help promote your office or school as a "Safe Space" for LGBT student, click here for more information.