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Hi. My name is Rudy, I’m 27 years old, and I live in Philly.
I’m *** and I am a survivor of school bullying. Sometimes I was able to stand up
to my bullies, and other times I found supportive teachers and administrators to help me out. I was lucky.,
but the fact is, you shouldn’t have to be lucky just to make it through school alive.When Dan Savage
created the It Gets Better Project in response to the wave of teen LGBT suicides last year, I was glad to
created the It Gets Better Project in response to the wave of teen LGBT suicides last year, I was glad to lend my time to making a video.
But more important than spreading the message that it gets better was finding ways to actually
make it better, and that’s what I’m here to do today. However, I can’t do it without your help.
Basically, there are two GREAT bills being considered by Congress right now that would improve the lives of school age LGBT
folks all across the country. I’m asking you to call your elected officials and
ask them to pass these bills. It’s super easy, and will take less than ten minutes of your time.
Seriously. Less than ten minutes, and it will improve and even save lives.The first
bill is the Student Non-Discrimination Act. This bill would expand current civil rights legislation
to ensure that LGBT students aren’t discriminated against by teachers
or administrators. As somebody who has had to sit through a class with a teacher making gay jokes,
I can tell you that sometimes the people who should be protecting us are actually our bullies.
This bill would make that illegal, and hold anyone who did discriminate fully accountable.
The second bill is the Safe Schools Improvement Act, which would ensure that every school in America
had a clear bullying policy, and that it was inclusive of LGBT students.
It would also ensure that students had a way to report bullying, and that the schools
tracked these reports and shared them annually with students and guardians.So,
now that you know exactly what these two bills will do, here’s how to take action.
If you already know the names of your reps in Congress, great, then you’re ahead of the game.
If not, just click the link that’s up now to the Capitol switchboard in DC.
This page will give you the option of either calling the switchboard and asking for your representatives,
or, you can use your zip code to find the names of all three.
I think this option is easier, since you’ll want to get the contact info for both Senators
plus your Representative in the House and call all three of them.
Once you have the numbers you’re ready to go. All you have to do is call the offices
of your three elected officials and tell them that you support the Student Non Discrimination
Act and The Safe Schools Improvement Act. I even have a link up with scripts to use
that include the bill numbers to make it an easy call. So, don’t wait. Hit
the links now and let Congress know that his is a no brainer. Whether you’re a Democrat, a
Republican, or anything in between, making schools safe for all children is an easy
choice to make. Finally, when you’re done, pass this along.
Post it on your Facebook, email it to your Aunt Sue, heck, tweet Lady Gaga and
ask her to lend her voice as she did with the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. We can
pass these bills and protect all of our children and teens, but only if we raise our voices together.