The United Nations has partnered with GLAAD to call for more action against anti-LGBTQ bullying.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Free & Equal campaign have partnered with the LGBTQ media advocacy organization as part of Spirit Day.
As part of the partnership, UN Free & Equal — a global public information campaign aimed at promoting equal rights and fair treatment of LGBTQI people internationally — has created an video, “Purple the World,” advocating the end of bullying against, and promoting acceptance of, LGBTQI youth.
To commemorate Spirit Day, UN Free & Equal has also created a landing page where visitors can educate themselves about human rights concerns facing LGBTQI youth.
Users can also learn how allies, teachers, and governments can support those children, including: intervening when bullying occurs; creating support groups; teaching about the contributions of LGBTQI individuals; and repealing any laws that criminalize LGBTQI individuals or leave them exposed to potential discrimination.
“The UN Human Rights office is proud to stand up for the human rights of young LBGTI people on Spirit Day — and every day,” Veronica Birga, chief of OHCHR’s Women’s Human Rights and Gender Section and the head of UN Free & Equal, said in a statement.
“No child should be bullied for who they are or whom they love,” Birga said. “We all have more power than we think to stop bullying and to build societies where all young people, in all their diversity, can grow and thrive. Together we can stop hatefulness and embrace freedom, dignity and equality.”
Coinciding with National Bullying Prevention Month, Spirit Day began in 2010 after then-high school student Brittany McMillan created a Tumblr post asking students to wear purple — the color representing “spirit” in the LGBTQ Pride flag — to call attention to the suicides of several youth who were either LGBTQI or perceived as belonging to the LGBTQI community.
The event has since grown in scope, with major companies, workplaces, and individuals donning purple clothing, changing their corporate logos to purple, or taking other actions to express support LGBTQI youth and demonstrate their opposition to bullying and discrimination.
GLAAD, the LGBTQ media advocacy organization, has been one of the biggest promoters of Spirit Day.
“We are so honored to be partnering with UN Free & Equal this year to take the fight against anti-LGBTI bullying to a global level,” Sarah Kate Ellis, the president and CEO of GLAAD, said in a statement. “By using its platform to call on leaders and governments to address the issue of bullying on Spirit Day, UN Free & Equal plays a crucial role in amplifying the message that we will continue to fight for a world where LGBTI youth are fully safe and accepted.”
According to GLSEN’s most recent National School Climate Survey, 70% of LGBTQI students in the United States report that they’ve been verbally harassed because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Nearly 3 in 5 LGBTQI students say they feel unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation, and more than 2 in 5 say they feel unsafe or targeted because of their gender identity.
The Rainbow Youth Project USA says calls to its suicide prevention hotline from LGBTQ youth in Oklahoma spiked by more than 200% following the much-publicized death of nonbinary teenager Nex Benedict.
According to the organization, the hotline typically fields an average of 325 calls per month from LGBTQ youth in Oklahoma. But after news of Benedict's death began to spread, the volume of calls from Oklahomans spiked by 238%, reaching 1,097 calls for the month.
To handle the increased volume, Rainbow Youth Project USA created a rapid response team to assist troubled youth and parents calling in, particularly from Owasso, where Benedict lived.
A Milwaukee school principal has been sued in federal court by a gay couple who allege he bullied, harassed, threatened, and assaulted their son for having two same-sex parents, violating the child's civil rights in the process.
The parents, referred to as M.P. and T.L. in the lawsuit, claim that Kasongo Kalumbula allegedly mistreated their son because of his family's makeup.
The lawsuit, filed last week in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, asks for a jury trial and seeks an undetermined amount in damages.
It alleges that Kalumbula, who served as the assistant principal, and later, acting principal, of the Milwaukee French Immersion School from September 2018 to October 2021, physically and verbally abused the child -- who was in first grade when the harassment started -- and routinely singled him out for discipline.
On Monday, the Vatican declared that gender-affirming care and surrogacy are among several ills that constitute grave violations of human dignity.
The declaration puts them on par with abortion and euthanasia, classifying them as practices that reject God's plan for human life.
"Infinite Dignity," a 20-page declaration crafted over five years and approved by Pope Francis in March, was released by the Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the department in charge of religious discipline for the Catholic Church.
The document calls for unconditional respect for human dignity, regardless of "the person's ability to understand and act freely," reiterating Catholic Church teaching that "offenses against life itself, such as murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, and willful suicide" are contrary to human dignity.
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