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150+ at Florida Rally:
'Unsafe Schools & Students Can't Learn!'

Compiled by GayToday
Equality Florida

Equality Florida Executive Director Nadine Smith

Tallahassee, Florida-- More than 150 students, parents, and youth advocates from fourteen Florida cities gathered in Tallahassee this month to tell legislators, "When schools aren¹t safe, students can¹t learn."

The groups traveled to the Capitol as part of the Equality Florida Annual Lobby Day March 16 and 17 to rally support for the Dignity For All Students Act, a safe schools bill that would ban bias-based harassment and discrimination on Florida campuses.

By events end, participants had secured co-sponsorship commitments from a total of 23 Senators and Representatives, including an enthusiastic and growing number of Republicans.

"This bill continues to build momentum because students have the courage to tell their stories and because the Dignity for All Students coalition continues to grow," said Nadine Smith, Executive Director of Equality Florida, the statewide civil rights organization that has spearheaded the effort.

More that 150 state and local organizations have joined Equality Florida as members of the fast-growing Dignity for All Students Coalition including the Florida Parent Teacher Association, American Association of University Women, the ACLU, Florida Women¹s Consortium, Florida Education Association, the Florida AFL-CIO, Florida Development Disabilities Association, the NAACP, NCCJ, People for the American Way, the National Association of Social Workers, Planned Parenthood and GLSEN.

Student participation was especially high due in large part to the tremendous support the bill has received from youth organization across the state. GLSEN local chapters and the national office also have provided tremendous support and have made this bill a major priority.

Florida State Sen. Gwen Margolis is a sponsor of the Dignity bill

The Dignity bill was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Gwen Margolis and in the House by Rep. Ken Gottlieb. This is the second year Gottllieb has championed the bill which would ban harassment and provide training and support for making Florida schools a safe place to learn.

"Any commitment to quality education must begin with creating a safe environment in which students can learn and thrive without facing constant harassment," said Gottlieb a press conference in the Capitol. "Statistics indicate that hate-based bigotry and harassment in schools continues to be a huge problem. We cannot ignore that fact. These students have had the courage to come here to tell their stories. We must find the political will to pass this bill."

Participants attended a rally on the Capitol steps on Sunday and spent Monday visiting legislative offices in the House and Senate to share their stories of harassment and discrimination in their schools. Legislators were asked to co-sponsor and support the bill. Support for the bill continues to grow and the co-sponsors say they are encouraged by the bipartisan support that continues to grow for the measure.

"If this State hopes to progress and truly be competitive in all aspects, then we must begin by ensuring that our future- our students are in a safe environment," said Margolis "A safe school is the first step to assuring that all our students fulfill their true potential."

Students shared stories of being relentlessly harassed because of their race, gender, sexual orientation and religious beliefs. According to youth and campus studies their stories are far too common.

Bill co-sponsors Rep. Anne Gannon, a Delray Beach Democrat and Rep. Gus Barreiro a Miami Republican also spoke at the press conference urging passage of the bill.

85% of female student have experienced some form of harassment.

43% of students in one state studied have been the victim of racial harassment.

70% of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students have been verbally or physically harassed.

Teachers fail to intervene in 1 out of 3 incidents of harassment involving sexual minority youth.

Unchecked, school-based harassment can have devastating consequences; pervasive levels of harassment have been identified as contributing factors in 9 of the 12 school shooting incidents in the late 1990s.

Parents overwhelmingly favor taking decisive action to end bias-based harassment. A nationwide survey conducted last year by Lake, Snell, and Associates showed that 4 out of 5 parents support legislative measures such that would ban harassment on the basis of a broad number of categories, including sexual orientation and gender identity.

In response to the escalation of harassment on school campuses, safe schools bills such as Dignity have been enacted in eight states and are pending in Texas, New York, and Michigan.

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