Idaho Safe Schools Coalition Mission:
To help Idaho schools become safe places where every family can belong, where every educator can teach, and where every child can learn, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
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What’s Happening!
ISSC Youth & Meridian School District GSA battle featured in Boise Weekly
The Boise Weekly profiled the student organization policy debacle in Meridian, reporting on the events that lead up to both the original and eventual revised policy. Alejandra Ayon and Eric Anderson were both interviewed for the article. They both recounted the important of having a GSA during their experiences in high school. You can read the article here.
Two other Boise Weekly articles have also covered relevant politics:
The Bully Pulpit: The Politics of Defining – and Dealing with – Bullying (June, 2011)
Equality Now: How Idaho Can Move Forward on LGBT Rights (June, 2011)
Success! The Meridian School District policy has been amended to account for our suggestions
Breaking news on the Meridian School Board front – they have listened to our requests! With help from Lambda Legal and the ACLU of Idaho, we have fought hard to oppose and provide suggestions to improve the original discriminatory policy. The latest version of the proposed policy was passed at their latest board meeting on October 25th. We would like to commend the Board for making these changes and are encouraged by these recent steps that promote respect and safety of LGBTQ students.
Here is the newest policy for school clubs. In this version, they have removed the requirement of parental consent, removed the “exempt” tier of clubs, and evened out the playing field for curriculum and non-curriculum clubs. Previously we convinced them to remove the section denying a club that “advocates or approves sexual activity outside of marriage”, and they actually included a protected clause that specifically allows a club’s purpose or activities to include “discussion as to sexual orientation including such subjects as combating unfair treatment, prejudices or stereotypes.”
Creating Change Conference 2012
The Idaho Safe Schools Coalition (ISSC) will be represented at the Creating Change conference in January. This is the premier national conference for the LGBTQ community (check out ALL the details here: http://www.creatingchange.org/) . The conference is Jan 25th – 29th in Baltimore, MD.
Add the Words, Idaho! No one should be fired for being gay
New Human Rights Act legislation aimed at fair employment has kicked off with an “Add the Words, Idaho” campaign. The group is looking for sticky notes from people all over Idaho. Send them to addthewordsssticky@gmail.com, text them to 208 724-1761, or check out the website at http://addthewords.org/.
