HRC Blog

Thursday, the Justice Department filed an amicus brief in a lawsuit against the Indian River Central School District in New York. The suit was initially filed in April 2009 on behalf of Charles Pratt, a student in the Indian River Central School District. Pratt alleges he endured a decade of sexual harassment, while school employees -- ignoring multiple pleas from his parents -- allowed the hostility to intensify. Students attacked Pratt with impunity, using slurs like "faggot," "sissy" and "queer" in the presence of teachers with no repercussions. They also engaged in physical and sexual assaults against Pratt. The school district was aware of the countless incidents and did nothing. Perhaps more egregiously, the complaint alleges, the teachers and administrators in the school district also mocked Pratt themselves. Ultimately, Pratt's parents withdrew him from the school, as they saw it as the only means to prevent continued harassment.

Starting today, the Department of Education’s Office for Safe and Drug Free Schools is hosting the Federal Partners in Bullying Prevention Summit. During the two day summit, a wide range of participants (including the Department of Justice, the Department of Education, and the Department of Health and Human Services) will gather with experts from around the country to discuss the scope and impact of bullying, and what programs and policies are working best to combat it.

Today, Senator Robert Casey (D-PA) introduced the Safe Schools Improvement Act (SSIA) in the U.S. Senate. The SSIA would amend the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act (part of the No Child Left Behind Act) to require schools and districts receiving federal funds to adopt codes of conduct specifically prohibiting bullying and harassment on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and religion.

Late last Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released two funding announcements on sexuality education that included language focused on LGBT and questioning youth. For the first time, language in the funding announcements for federal sexuality education dollars encouraged states to consider “the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth” and asked states to ensure that programs funded with these dollars are “inclusive of and nonstigmatizing toward” LGBT and questioning participants.

Today, Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) introduced legislation to expand the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to include protections for same-sex partners and spouses. The bill, the Family and Medical Leave Inclusion Act, is almost identical to legislation that has been introduced in the House for the past three congresses by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and is the first of its kind to be put forward in the Senate. The FMLA, a statute enacted in 1993, grants legally married spouses up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave from work to care for a seriously ill spouse, parent or child.