FAQs: About Ally Week

Sep 26, 2006

During Ally Week, students and clubs will help kick-off the school year by identifying and supporting Allies who are committed to addressing anti-LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) bullying and harassment in America’s schools.

Students plan events appropriate to their school community. These may simply include passing out stickers to allies who sign the pledge. Others may take part in larger community events and rallies. Many students will encourage their peers and school staff to sign an Ally Pledge which states:

By signing this pledge, I am taking a stand for a safe and harassment-free school for all students, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity/expression. As an Ally, I pledge to:

1. Not use anti-LGBT language and slurs
2. Intervene, when I feel I can, in situations where others are using anti-LGBT language or harassing students
3. Actively support safer schools effort

Buttons and magnets for GLSEN’s Ally Week can be purchased online at www.cafepress.com/glsen

GLSEN encourages students to participate in Ally Week in cooperation with their schools and their efforts do not distract from the school day. We encourage students to get support from their principals and educators and participate fully in their school day. Principals, counselors, teachers and all school staff are encouraged to be Allies too!

Students and clubs are strongly encouraged to register for GLSEN’s Ally Week in order to receive free resources and to help us determine the total number of schools and students taking part.

To register for Ally Week at GLSEN's StudentOrganizing.org site: click here.

To find resources, visit: www.glsen.org/allyweek or www.dayofsilence.org/ally

Who started Ally Week?
In 2005, members of GLSEN’s Jump-Start National Student Leadership Team came up with an idea to celebrate Allies committed to ensuring safe and effective schools for all and to encourage students to take action. The idea turned into the first Ally Week celebrated in hundreds of schools nationwide in October, 2005.

This year, student clubs and GSAs are working with GLSEN’s national office, local chapters and national student leaders to expand Ally Week and encourage more allies to take part.

Why do we need an Ally Week?
The unfortunate truth is that anti-LGBT bullying, violence and harassment are commonplace in America’s schools. A GLSEN commissioned survey, From Teasing to Torment: School Climate in America conducted by Harris Interactive, found that real and perceived sexual orientation and gender expression are among the top three reasons teens report that students are harassed at their schools. In other words, all students – LGBT and straight alike – perceive anti-LGBT bullying and harassment as a serious problem in their schools. The vast majority of these same students said their schools would be better of if this issue was better addressed. GLSEN’s 2005 National School Climate Survey found that 3 out of 4 LGBT students report verbal, sexual or physical harassment at school and more than 30% report missing at least a day of school in the past month out of fear for their personal safety. GLSEN’s Ally Week brings us closer to making anti-LGBT bullying, harassment and name-calling unacceptable in America’s schools.

Does the work end after the week is over?
GLSEN’s Ally Week is one element of a larger effort to create safe schools for all students. For more on GLSEN’s days of action that occur throughout the school year, visit www.glsen.org.

We are also asking our national leaders to support policies that create safe schools for all. Many communities are asking their local and state leaders to support and implement similar policies.

What is GLSEN?
GLSEN, or the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, is the leading national education organization addressing the serious problems of anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment that affect ALL students – LGBT and straight alike – in our nation’s schools. Established nationally in 1995, GLSEN envisions a world in which every child learns to respect and accept all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. For more information on GLSEN’s educational resources, public education campaigns, public policy agenda, student organizing programs, research or development initiatives, visit www.glsen.org.

Responding to Critics of Ally Week and other Days of Action

What do you have to say about potential critics of GLSEN’s Ally Week?
The issue at hand is the bullying, harassment, name-calling and violence that students see and face in our schools. GLSEN’s Ally Week is an activity created and led by students to encourage and support Allies who help to ensure that schools are safe and effective environments for all students.

Those who criticize GLSEN’s Ally Week and other programs rarely contribute positively to finding ways to end anti-LGBT harassment. When counter-events are organized, they generally misstate the basic purpose of GLSEN programs, and sometimes grossly mischaracterize our goals. Bringing attention to these events, which are so often based on mistruth, can serve to bring undue attention to the misinformation that critics seek to spread about GLSEN and the thousands of students and schools that support these programs. Rather than engaging in counter-productive debate, we seek to identify common ground with all education stakeholders in finding solutions to the crucial challenges facing America’s schools.

What about the Exodus Youth "Allies, Too" campaign specifically?
We applaud Exodus Youth’s contention that no person should be bullied and harassed in school. We couldn’t agree more and are proud to stand with organizations like the Christian Educators Association International, The First Amendment Center and national education organizations in promoting a vision of safe and effective schools for all. We also appreciate their call to “never use slurs or demeaning language,” “make efforts… to stop any name-calling or harassment,” and “pursue respectful dialogue.”

Where our efforts differ from those of Exodus Youth and the “Allies, Too” campaign are in the solutions and programs we believe will best address anti-LGBT bullying and harassment. GLSEN’s Ally Week promotes educationally-appropriate interventions to end anti-LGBT name-calling in schools and promote safe learning environments. GLSEN’s 2005 National School Climate Survey demonstrates that such interventions have a positive relationship to improvements in key indicators of school climate, such as reports of bullying and harassment, students’ sense of belonging in school, their academic performance and educational aspirations.

However, the organizers of “Allies, Too” ultimately promote so-called “reparative,” “ex-gay” or “conversion” therapy as the “answer” for young people who are LGBT or may be struggling with their own sexuality. All recognized health, psychological, psychiatric and education associations reject such “conversion therapy” as dangerous, unnecessary, and ineffective.

For more about medical and psychological authorities’ responses to “conversion therapy,” download “Just The Facts” a resource endorsed by a consortium of national organizations including the American Psychological Association, the National Association of School Psychologists, Interfaith Alliance Foundation, American Academy of Pediatrics, among others.

Just The Facts: www.glsen.org/facts

GLSEN looks forward to engaging all organizations and individuals who share the Ally Week vision of schools free from anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment, where all students are free to focus on learning.

Key Resources and URLs:

GLSEN www.glsen.org

Registration and resources: www.glsen.org/allyweek and www.dayofsilence.org/ally
Ally Week buttons, magnets and supplies: www.cafepress.com/glsen
Just The Facts: www.glsen.org/facts

From Teasing to Torment: www.glsen.org/research
2005 National School Climate Survey: www.glsen.org/research