Bullying

Beyond Marriage Equality

On Wednesday night at the ESPY Awards, Caitlyn Jenner accepted the Arthur Ashe Courage Award, named after the African American tennis star who died of AIDS in 1993. In her moving speech, Caitlyn described the struggles trans people face, including bullying, suicide and even murder, and the importance of education and accepting trans people and their identities. Caitlyn’s speech highlighted several of the many issues that the LGBT community and their allies now have to address following the Supreme Court’s marriage equality decision.

Protect LGBT Students from Discrimination

Currently, federal law explicitly protects students from discrimination in school based on race, color, national origin, sex and disability. However, no federal law explicitly protects students from discrimination based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity or their association with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.

At the Consultation: LGBT Equality From Marriage Equality to Trans Rights

On April 26-28, hundreds of Reform Jews will gather in Washington, D.C. for the RAC’s Consultation on Conscience, the Reform Movement’s flagship social justice event. On Monday, April 27 at 2:00 PM, Evan Wolfson, Founder and President of Freedom to Marry, will join Rabbi Denise Eger, President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, Jen Kaufman, Chair of the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism, and Rabbi Judith Schindler, Senior Rabbi at Temple Beth El, for a discussion on LGBT equality. A live stream will be available on the RAC homepage if you are unable to join us in person at the Consultation. In the meantime, you can brush up on some of the latest developments in the fight for LGBT equality!

Banning Conversion Therapy is an Important Step Forward

At the end of last year, Leelah Alcorn, a trans teen from Ohio, committed suicide. In her suicide note, she cited her parents’ rejection of her gender identity, their refusal to let her transition and her feelings that things will not get better as some of the reasons for her decision. The final words in Leelah’s goodbye post were “Fix society. Please.” and people listened. A petition on We The People asking the administration to “enact Leelah’s Law to ban all LGBTQ+  conversion therapy” gained over 120,000 signatures and the administration and President Obama responded last Wednesday in opposition to conversion therapy.

Student Non-Discrimination Act Faces Hurdles in the House

Last month, Senator Al Franken and Representative Jared Polis reintroduced the Student Non-Discrimination Act (H.R.846/S.439). The Student Non-Discrimination Act (SNDA) would prohibit discrimination in public schools on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Although there have been several setbacks in Congress the past few weeks for SNDA, the bill’s passage is still as important as ever.