Women's History Month Heroes: Elizabeth Duthinh

GLSEN is proud to honor Women's History Month by celebrating contributions of women to the LGBT and safe schools movements. Throughout March we will be recognizing heroes who have made significant contributions to the LGBT and safe schools movements. Click here for more information, and keep reading all month long for new additions!

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Elizabeth Duthinh (b. 1990), a junior at Brown University, has been a student leader and LGBT advocate for almost seven years. As a high school freshman, Elizabeth was shocked to see the anti-LGBT bias at her school and became involved with the school’s gay-straight alliance. She was home schooled during her sophomore year and became more involved in community groups, including her local PFLAG chapter. In 2006 Elizabeth applied for and was accepted to GLSEN’s National Student Leadership Team and attended several GLSEN student leader summits to learn the skills necessary to start a community LGBT youth group. She used her newly found leadership skills to reinvigorate the GSA at the private high school she attended her junior and senior years. As one of the co-presidents of the GSA, she developed an LGBT inclusive health workshop for the school, which is still part of the school’s required curriculum today. Elizabeth also arranged for her GSA to attend a lobby day sponsored by Equality Maryland, where GSA members advocated for an LGBT-inclusive safe schools policy. The law was passed a year later and many state legislators credit Elizabeth and her GSA as having played a major role in its passage. Elizabeth is now a part of GLSEN’s national advisory board and continues to mentor student leaders from her hometown on implementing the new safe schools legislation. She is also involved in the LGBT community at Brown University, where she majors in Public Policy, and has been a driving force for transgender inclusion at the school.

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We want to know who your heroes are! If you know a woman who has contributed to the LGBT and safe schools movement, post about them on the Gay-Straight Alliances Facebook page. You can also tweet your heroes to @DayofSilence using the #GLSENWHM hash tag!