GLSEN Education Goes West

Las Vegas
Members of GLSEN's Education Department recently traveled to Nevada at the invitation of Sodexo. As a GLSEN corporate partner and one of the largest providers of school meals in the U.S., Sodexo recently hosted GLSEN at a meeting of their regional and district managers in Las Vegas.

Along with receiving copies of GLSEN's Safe Space Kit, the group of 100 Sodexo staff participated in a workshop designed to highlight the needs of LGBT students in their client schools. GLSEN's 2009 National School Climate Survey shows that school cafeterias are one of the top three areas that students avoid the most because they feel unsafe.

This workshop, and the activities that will follow, aim to educate and encourage lunchroom staff to create and sustain safe spaces for all students, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity/expression.

Tulsa
Earlier in February, Oklahomans for Equality and the Schusterman Foundation hosted a "Conference for Change", to address the needs of the LGBT community in Tulsa. GLSEN was proud to participate on the second day of the conference, which focused specifically on LGBT youth.

With the generous support of the Schusterman Foundation, GLSEN was able to provide Safe Space Kits and training to nearly 100 middle and high school educators, and contribute to panel discussions related to high school and college Gay-Straight Alliances, and the day's keynote address was given by Eliza Byard.