School Safety: Imagine This
Your daughter tells you that her classmates have been passing her notes with crude drawings of two women in bed, captioned "Your 2 Moms." When she mustered the courage to tell her teacher, he said "Boys will be boys."
After a series of editorials against same-sex marriage, your son goes to school wearing a T-shirt from a gay and lesbian rights organization that declares, "Hate is Not a Family Value." The assistant principal tells him to go home and change.
Your daughter decides to form a gay-straight alliance so that she can talk about having two moms and help other students understand different family structures. The principal tells her that the group cannot meet on school property because a number of parents are opposed to the idea.
Your son comes home with a battered face. He says he was beaten by a group of kids because his dads are gay and they think he is, too.
None of us want to think that our children might suffer because of who we are, or, more precisely, because of other people's prejudices about who we are. But, sadly, some children do.
If your child has been the victim of harassment or discrimination, or has in any other way had his or her education interfered with because of your sexual orientation, here is what you should do:
- First, understand the laws that are on your side
- Second, exercise your rights
- Third, contact others for support.
