HRC Blog

Over 500 people gathered last Sunday in the historic Cuyahoga County Courthouse in Cleveland, Ohio for HRC’s first annual “Dare2Care: Unite Against Bullying” performance gala. The purpose of the event was to raise awareness of the bullying epidemic plaguing schools across the United States.

Today, HRC joined a coalition of organizations in support of Senator Harkin’s (D-IA) introduction of the “Successful, Safe, and Healthy Students Act of 2011” (SSHSA). SSHSA will authorize $1 billion in grants to States to develop comprehensive, data-driven and evidence-based programs that promote student health and wellness, prevent bullying, violence and drug use, and foster a positive school climate. In order to be grant eligible, local education agencies will have to establish policies to prohibit and prevent bullying and harassment of all students, including LGBT students.

It’s been a big week for ‘The Normal Heart’ on Broadway – it opened April 27 to rave reviews, and it has just received five Tony Award nominations. Congratulations to everyone involved with the Broadway play!

The Normal Heart – the story of a group of friends who refused to let doctors, politicians and the press ignore the growing AIDS epidemic of the 1980s – premiered on Broadway to stellar reviews Wednesday night, a quarter-century after it was first written.

The following post is from HRC Foundation Welcoming Schools Director, Kim Westheimer: A study released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that 27% of middle school students and 16% of high school students in Massachusetts have been bullied. The study shows an association between bullying and poor grades, suicidal ideation, self-injury, and witnessing violence in the home. This type of survey can inform school officials and policy makers about the general scope of the problem of bullying. But there are a few missing pieces.