BRAVO Alert for the Safety LGBTQ Community of Central Ohio

BRAVO is Issuing the Following Alert for the Safety of the
LGBT Community of Central Ohio

Reposted at http://www.keystothecloset.blogspot.com,

BRAVO has recently received multiple reports of anti-LGBTQ hate crimes.  The incidents have occurred in the vicinity of LGBT establishments both in the Short North area and on the South side.  Several of the incidents have involved both physical assault and robbery.  BRAVO has good reason to believe that these attacks are anti-LGBTQ motivated.

According to Gloria McCauley, BRAVO Executive Director, "BRAVO believes that these incidents underscore the importance of a renewed discussion and action on hate crimes against LGBTQ people. Sadly, we know that hate violence is intended to send a message of hate and to instill fear throughout the entire community. Hate crimes are largely under-reported or not reported at all, and people are left feeling alone and vulnerable.  BRAVO is a great resource – we are asking people to call and report – we can help."

It is Gay Pride season and BRAVO wants everyone to have a fun and safe Pride!  Be alert, walk in groups, walk each other to your cars and be aware of your surroundings.   Additional safety tips are available on our website.   WWW.BRAVO-ohio.org.  Or scan the QR Code

For further information BRAVO can be reached at
614-294-7867 or 866-86-BRAVO.

All reports to BRAVO are confidential and may be made anonymously. All BRAVO services are free.

STAY ALERT
TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS
BE AWARE

Don’t take it. Report it.

Local Action Team Trainings for Lobby Day for Equality 2011

Sixth Annual
Lobby Day for Equality
is May 18, 2011
 
Make your voice heard at the Statehouse. Over forty new legislators need to hear your story!
Register here.

Local Action Team Leaders and Members needed - Equality Ohio's Local Action Teams' goal is to expand our education efforts, create better relationships between LGBT and allied people and their communities, media and officials, and create a better educated body of media representatives and elected officials in Ohio who will support equality for all their constituents. (Click here for more on this program). Since the inception of our Local Action Team Program, the team from Senate District 6 in 2009 was successful in gaining the support of Rep. Terry Blair (R) and then Rep. Peggy Lehner for EHEA. Work from citizen lobbyists like yourselves in Findlay, Ohio helped secure the support of then Rep. Cliff Hite and the on-going support of Rep. Ross McGregor is the work of the team out of Springfield, Ohio.

To pass pro-equality legislation, we have to engage legislators from both major parties and hearing one-on-one from their own constituents is the most effective way to educate our legislators. Where we have strong teams and a dedicated leader, the Local Action Team's are very successful. We still need leaders and teams from parts of the state, however. We still need volunteers from Senate District 5 (Miami and parts of Darke and Montgomery Counties), Senate District 7 (Warren and eastern Hamilton Counties), Senate District 12 (Allen, Mercer, Shelby, Champaign, Prebel and parts of Darke Counties), Senate District 14 (Clermont, Brown, Adams, Scioto and the western part of Lawrence Counties), Senate District 17 (Western Pickaway, Fayette, Clinton, Ross, Vinton, Highland, Pike, Jackson, Gallia and Eastern Lawrence), Senate District 19 (Richland, Morrow, Delaware and Knox Counties), Senate District 23 (West Cleveland area), Senate District 25 (far east Cleveland Area), Senate District 26 (Sandusky, Seneca, Wyandot, Crawford, Marion, Logan and Union Counties), Senate District 28 (Portage and parts of southeast Summit Counties), Senate District 30 (Columbiana, most of Tuscarawas, Harrison, Jefferson and Belmont Counties), Senate District 32 (Ashtabula and Trumbell Counties) and Senate District 33 (Mahoning, far eastern Stark, Carroll and far northeastern Tuscarawas Counties). Want to make a difference? Consider being a Local Action Team Leader.

Contact kim@equalityohio.org for more information.

Join us for a Local Action Team Training and get information about the EHEA, the Comprehensive Safe Schools Act (CSSA) and other legislative priorities for this year, learn what progress has been made in the past year with your legislator, and practice and prepare with others from your area in advance of meeting with your representative.

Reposted at keystothecloset.blogspot.com

Senator Brown (D-OH) Speaks Out Against Bullying

The full text of Sen. Brown's floor speech, as prepared for delivery, is provided below.

CAMPAIGN TO STOP BULLYING -- (Senate - November 30, 2010)

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Over the last few months, our Nation has mourned the loss of several lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender teenagers driven to suicide because of hateful and ignorant bullying and harassment. These tragic circumstances brought families, friends, and concerned citizens together through vigils on public squares in communities all over this country and on college campuses throughout the Nation. Together, millions of fellow Americans have drawn attention to intolerance and violence that LGBT Americans face each day. Together, we can ensure all LGBT Americans that life will get better for them.

As a father, I cannot bear to imagine the unspeakable pain endured by the parents of those teenagers who tragically took their own lives. No parent should have to bury a child. No child should ever feel so hopeless and so forgotten and so alone and so isolated that suicide seems like their only escape. But the rash of highly publicized suicides of LGBT students not only highlights the national epidemic of bullying these students face, it also reminds us that we all as adults, as clergy, as educators, or as peers of these students--we all have a role to play in preventing discrimination.

Bullies target the vulnerable and subject them to cruelty through taunts in the classroom or on the Internet, through chants on the playing field or physical abuse in the neighborhood. Prejudices based on religion or race or disability or sexual orientation or gender or physical or intellectual differences too often translate into physical torment and isolation and abuse against others.

LGBT youth, in particular, are frequently targeted by bullies. Public surveys indicate that 80 percent of LGBT students report regular harassment by fellow students--a rate three times that of heterosexual teens, three times the rate of their heterosexual peers. Seventy-five percent of high school students routinely hear homophobic remarks in school, reinforcing stereotypes and prejudices. Without a safe space to speak openly with a caring adult or a like-minded peer, victims are left to question their self-worth.

On top of the self-doubt and insecurity that all young people feel already regardless of gender or race or sexual orientation--we have all been through that certainly as young teenagers and older teenagers, too, for that matter, but add to that the kind of insecurities that are put on them by bullying tactics, by so many people spouting homophobic remarks.

Too many young gay men and women, boys and girls, are forced into secrecy about who they are rather than affirming the person they should proudly be.

A brave young Ohioan named Nicholas sent me a letter detailing an attack by a schoolyard bully. Here is what Nicholas wrote:

On September 18th, 2009 I was attacked by a student at my school for being gay. This student beat me in the head with a hammer three times. He chased me down so he could get the last two hits. The student attacked me for being gay. I have no way of using this attack to promote gay rights, to promote gay equality, but you do. And you could do this for me. I need your help more than anything. No one deserves to go through what I went through.

My message to Nicholas and to all LGBT Americans is this: You are not alone. Life will get better. You can find the love and acceptance you deserve, and you will find the love and acceptance you deserve, free from fear and hate. You will realize your full potential every bit as much as anyone else because things are changing in this country.

There is no acceptable justification for the violence experienced by Nicholas or the physical and emotional mistreatment of LGBT students in our schools and in our communities. That is why the Senate must take crucial steps to ensure that schools are safe places for learning, safe places for students, and not breeding grounds for bullying.

First, we must pass the Safe Schools Improvement Act which would help schools implement LGBT-inclusive programming to combat bullying and harassment. Second, we must pass the Student Nondiscrimination Act which would bar schools which receive public money from implementing programs that discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Legislation alone, of course, will not eradicate or put an end to bullying, but we also know what legislation did for women, for children, for civil rights. Attitudes change over time. Legislation helps accelerate that change. That is why those two pieces of legislation matter. They will be major steps toward ensuring safety and equal treatment for all students in our school systems.

Parents and teachers also have a special responsibility to help LGBT youth confront the bullying they face at school. They, too, should ensure that every student knows she is valued, knows he is valued, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

LGBT community centers or national organizations such as the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network are valuable resources for students, parents, and educators.

I remember several years ago an event where students sat together as part of a gay/straight alliance at a high school in western Cuyahoga County. There were 10 students at 2 different tables, 5 gay students, 5 straight students, all supporting one another, understanding each other and accepting their differences. They can still care about one another, and they can protect them, in many cases, from some of the bullying that might have befallen some of them.

To our own LGBT students who are either forced to live a lie or face hostility for simply living their lives, all of you should know there are resources to help you in times of need. The Trevor Project is the leading national organization focused on crisis and suicide prevention among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth. For more information, if you are feeling alone, anyone watching today feeling alone, helpless, or in crisis, people can visit the Trevor Project's Web site, thetrevorproject.org, or they can call the hotline at 866-488-7386.

For anyone who is in suicidal crisis or in need of help, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by calling 1-800-273-TALK.

To Nick: I don't normally come to the floor and talk about a service like this. I think, though, when people feel alone, they don't always know there is help out there for them. Young people need to know that it is getting better, that life will get better for them, so it is important to share that information on the Senate floor.

To Nicholas: History is on your side. It will, in fact, get better. Workers fought for the right to organize, women fought for the right to vote, African Americans fought for equal justice, and now LGBT Americans of all backgrounds are fighting for equality.

It is up to us to join this fight. It is up to us to be on the side of people whose lives are a little bit more difficult, perhaps, than others' lives. It is that spirit of inclusion, it is the pursuit of the American dream, that will, in fact, make it better for these young people, and it will make it better for all Americans.