GLSEN Responds to Change in West Virginia's Civil Rights Team Project

Deputy Attorney General Fran Hughes State Capitol Complex 1900 Kanawha Boulevard, East Charleston, WV 25305-0220

Dear Deputy Attorney General Fran Hughes:

I am writing on behalf of GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, to express deep concern with the recent decision to remove certain materials from West Virginia’s Civil Rights Team Project. According to press reports, after suggestions that the anti-bullying program “promoted homosexuality”, your office has decided to remove from the program all publications that referred to hate crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people or that encourage peer support for LGBT students.

Such a step seriously undermines the efficacy of the project. While you have been quoted as saying that the state does not want “to single out specific groups” in its anti-bullying efforts, the fact is that LGBT students are “singled out” for bullying and harassment every day. Not facing that fact directly is shortsighted, and does a grave disservice to the students of West Virginia.

Several studies, including The Youth Risk Behavior Surveys for Massachusetts, Wisconsin and Seattle; the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent health; and GLSEN’s 2002 National School Climate Survey, have shown marked differences in the school experiences of LGBT students and their heterosexual peers. For example, Massachusetts YRBS data found that LGBT students were more than twice as likely to have been involved in a physical fight at school and more than three times as likely to have been threatened or injured with a weapon at school. Studies also indicate that these differences are reduced as support systems for LGBT students flourish and educators are trained and empowered to identify, address and prevent LGBT-specific bullying, harassment and violence. Studies confirm what we at GLSEN hear on a daily basis: LGBT students are disproportionately singled-out for attack and, in the absence of specific information and guidance, teachers and students do not take action to stop such harassment.

We share your vision of safe schools for all. For this reason, we ask that you reconsider the elimination of crucial information from The Civil Rights Team Project. Additionally, if you plan to include conservative organizations like the American Family Association in the re-design of the program, we urge you to act responsibly and include professional education associations and anti-violence experts in your work.

All students need to understand the true scope and nature of the bullying and harassment aimed at various sectors of the student body. Armed with that information, they can take constructive steps toward creating communities founded on the respect of our common humanity that you so rightly identify as the ultimate goal. I look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,

Eliza Byard Deputy Executive Director GLSEN

cc: \tGovernor Bob Wise \tAttorney General Darrell V. McGraw, Jr. \tState Superintendent of Schools Dr. David Stewart