Next Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012, you're invited to join Campus Pride Executive Director Shane Windmeyer and Campus Pride's Queer Research Institute for Higher Education scholar and 2010 State of Higher Education for LGBT People co-author Sue Rankin, associate professor in education policy studies/college student affairs at The Pennsylvania State University, for a special webinar exploring critical issues for LGBT student safety and inclusion on college campuses.

From PaperClip Communications: "This fall, Elmhurst College (IL) became the first college in the nation to ask applicants about sexual orientation. Other colleges are considering this move as well as other ways that they can create a more welcoming environment for their LGBT population on campus. While there have been strides in understanding concerns relevant to the LGBT population, it is essential that academia address the emerging issues and concerns impacting LGBT people within institutions of higher education. The Campus Pride "2010 State of Higher Education for LGBT People" revealed an alarming degree of harassment and discrimination toward LGBT people."

Learn more about the webinar and sign up...

Now that President Barack Obama has signed a repeal to the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy, and as implementation of repeal proceeds forward in the next year, how should colleges prepare?  As a former U.S. Army officer commissioned through ROTC (and very proud of both), I tried to put myself back in time to think about what I might have needed had this repeal occurred during my college/ROTC years.

The Department of Defense (DOD) December 2010 report on DADT repeal implementation pays little attention to how colleges should prepare for the DADT repeal and the impacts on ROTC programs and cadets at civilian colleges.  Although ROTC programs were mentioned briefly in parts of the report, e.g., repeal would not likely increase ROTC candidate numbers or recruiters’ access to college campuses, there are no clear implementation steps for college administrators to follow in that report.  Leaders at universities will need to create their own implementation plans to ensure a smooth a transition on campus post-repeal.

Recommendations to College and University Leaders

The impact to colleges and universities will depend on campus leadership.  Following are some tips on how college leaders (at institutions with or without ROTC programs) might begin to plan for any impacts following the President signing the DADT repeal into law.  This list is not intended to be exhaustive, but offers some “action steps” that administrators and student leaders can think about as repeal becomes a reality.

Read the recommendations, after the jump...

The year is coming to a close, and with it we have time to reflect upon this year's wonderful successes, growth and achievements for Campus Pride.

Summer Leadership Camp
This year, college students, faculty and staff gathered at Vanderbilt University for summer camp like none other. Our phenomenal and inspiring staff led great workshops, sessions and trainings. We can hardly wait until 2011's camp.

The 2010 State of Higher Education for LGBT People
This year's most exciting happening was Campus Pride's release of its landmark 2010 State of Higher Education for LGBT People. Months of research and work culminated in a national release that brought much-needed attention to the need for safer and more welcoming learning, living and working environments for LGBT college and university students, faculty and staff.

The report, released in September at a special Capitol Hill briefing in Washington, D.C., is the first and only of its kind. Our hope is that it will be used to inform and inspire change on college campuses around the world.

Responding to tragedy
As Campus Pride was releasing its 2010 State of Higher Education report, we were saddened to learn of the tragic series of gay teen suicides by high school and college students around the country. More than half a dozen young gay men and lesbian women took their lives this fall. Campus Pride responded quickly and thoroughly, attempting to bring attention to the plight of LGBT high school and college students. With our report, our Stop the Hate trainings, college fairs and other work, we hope LGBT teens will one day be granted and ensured the right to go to school, learn and grow in safe and inclusive environments.

Supporting student leaders
Several times this year, Campus Pride had the unique opportunity to support LGBT and straight ally student leaders on campuses across the country. In particular, we are especially proud of LGBT and straight ally student leaders at the University of Rhode Island. Their action this fall to raise awareness of campus climate and inclusion issues was received well by students on their campus and members of the surrounding community. We're happy the students' efforts have been met with some positive responses from the university's administration.

LGBT-Friendly College Fairs
Last but not least... We can't forget this year's series of LGBT-Friendly College Fairs. We particularly proud of this years' college fair events, as we expanded the program to first-ever and one-of-a-kind events in the Southeast and Pacific Northwest. Both the Charlotte, N.C., and Portland, Ore., fairs drew phenomenal student and parent participation. Fairs in Boston, New York City and Los Angeles were equally as successful.

Thanks
This year's magnificent work wouldn't have been possible without the generous support of young people and students, parents, teachers, college faculty and staff, and, of course, our grant funders, donors and sponsors like AFFA, Cargill, Gamma Mu Foundation, OUTmedia and Food Lion, among others.

Campus Pride executive director Shane Windmeyer spoke to Campus Progress writer Jessica Strong last week, following the introduction of the Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act, a bill submitted Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) that would require colleges and universities receiving federal aid to institute LGBT-inclusive non-discrimination and anti-harassment policies.

Windmeyer's remarks to Campus Progress:

“A lot of times, people believe that the issue of bullying is limited to only the experiences of high school students and when you get to college, things get better and you’re in this space of acceptance and tolerance,” says Shane Windmeyer, executive director of Campus Pride. “But it doesn’t get better."

Windmeyer says that the proposed measure will certainly have a positive impact on getting colleges and universities to address the issue of LGBTQ harassment and discrimination while providing campuses with campus safety and inclusion measures.

Still, he and many others know there is still a long way to go.

“This act is a bold step for Congress and our nation’s colleges to create that welcoming space, but we really have to make sure that programs that further acceptance and have the ability to actualize a climate that is safe and welcoming for everyone are actually implemented,” Windmeyer says. “For a number of years Campus Pride has worked to push past obstacles through our programs and resources online, our Stop the Hate campaign and our Summer Leadership Camp—all in the name of creating policies to address this issue.”

Read Strong's entire piece:
www.campusprogress.org/articles/tyler_clementi_act_introduced_into_congress_includes_cyberbullying/

My first blog for Campus Pride focused on the aftermath of an alleged anti-gay incident at Emory University that made the national news.  In that blog, I opined  that leaders at Emory and on other campuses across the country should try to figure out ways to have something positive come from an unfortunate event on campus.

After receiving feedback about the article, I thought that a follow-up “post” might be helpful to outline some ideas  about what campus leaders could do on campus to help decrease (or, ideally, eliminate) anti-LGBT harassment and bullying on campus.  As an aside, some feedback noted that I had omitted the “Q” in LGBT-Q in my first blog.  True, I did omit the “Q,” representing those on campus (and everywhere) who may be questioning their own sexual orientation or identify as queer.  For this and future blogs, I will add the “Q.”  My apologies to those who fall into the “Q” segment within the LGBTQ world (which I suspect may have included many of us at some point in our lives).

I noted previously that anti-gay animus is hard to detect, as only the actor who takes action against an LGBTQ individual or group truly knows whether his/her action was based on anti-gay feelings or beliefs.  But, for a moment, let’s put aside that issue since the determination of animus is “post-action”  and, instead, we should focus attention on what campus leaders can do “pre-action,” i.e., to prevent the occurrence of negative events on campus.  More campus energy should be spent on preventing harassment and bullying, rather than attempting to determine (post-action) why it occurred.  Newly introduced federal legislation, if passed, may require such energy.

In thinking about preventive action, I offer the following three ideas after the jump...

National LGBT civil rights leader, Campus Pride founder Shane Windmeyer kicks off his LGBT History Month National Campus Tour as IUPUI keynote and spreads his message against "bullying and harassment" to over a dozen colleges and universities across the country this Fall

(Indianapolis, Ind.) – Shane Windmeyer, founder and executive director of Campus Pride, the leading national non-profit working to build future LGBT and straight ally student leaders, is scheduled to keynote IUPUI’s Inaugural Harvey Milk Dinner on National Coming Out Day, Oct. 11, 2010, 6:30 p.m., IUPUI Campus Center, Room 450C. The engagement kicks off Windmeyer's LGBT History Month National Campus Tour to over twelve colleges and universities this Fall.

Windmeyer’s visit to the university comes on the heels of a local bakery’s refusal to fill a special order for IUPUI’s LGBT student organization. What outrageous sweet tooth-soothing delight did the students request? Rainbow cookies and cupcakes. Despite the natural impulse to laugh at this confectionary controversy, Windmeyer says the discrimination doled out by this local business is no joking matter.

“LGBT people experience harassment and discrimination every day,” he says. “Sometimes the discrimination is outright, other times it is subtle. Either way, the discrimination is serious and always indicative of the hostile environments in which LGBT people must live, grow, learn and work.”

The commentary below is written by Dr. Warren J. Blumenfeld, Associate Professor of Multicultural and International Curriculum Studies at Iowa State University. He is co-editor of "Readings for Diversity and Social Justice and Investigating Christian Privilege and Religious Oppression in the United States."

What can clearly be referred to as a continuing epidemic, within only the past few weeks, a number of gay young men have taken their lives by all indications as a result of the unrelenting homophobic taunts, harassment, and attacks they had to endure by their peers: Seth Walsh, 13, hung himself from a tree outside his California home; Billy Lucas, 15, hung himself in Indiana; Asher Brown, 13, from Texas shot himself in the head; Tyler Clementi, 18, first-year student from Rutgers University took his life by jumping off the George Washington Bridge. And though we are not yet certain of the precipitating factors, now we hear of the tragic suicide of gay student, Raymond Chase, 19, from Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island.

Throughout the past week, I have attempted to monitor the media to determine any themes in the way they have represented these tragic incidents. For many of the news outlets, it appears they are portraying these events as some sort of new trend they have deftly unearthed.

In reality, however, the media and our society generally suffers from a collective memory loss. This issue has arisen numerous times over the decades, but then appears in the media from time to time as if it were a unique and previously unrecorded development.

Back in 1989, for example, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued its "Report on the Secretary's Task Force on Youth Suicide," which found that "A majority of suicide attempts by homosexuals occur during their youth, and gay youth are 2 to 3 times more likely to attempt suicide than other young people. They may comprise up to 30 percent of (the estimated 5,000) completed youth suicides annually.” [U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, "Gay Male and Lesbian Youth Suicide," by Paul Gibson, in Report of the Secretary's Task Force on Youth Suicide, ed. Marcia R. Feinleib, Washington, DC, January 1989.]

The report recommended that "mental health and youth service agencies can provide acceptance and support for young homosexuals, train their personnel on gay issues, and provide appropriate gay adult role models; schools can protect gay youth from abuse from their peers and provide accurate information about homosexuality in health curricula; families should accept their child and work toward educating themselves about the development and nature of homosexuality"

The causes for these suicides have also been known and documented for decades as well. For example, Kevin Berrill, Director of the Anti-Violence Project of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force at the time of the 1989 report’s release stated correctly pinpointed the societal impact: "The increased risk of suicide facing these youth is linked to growing up in a society that teaches them to hide and to hate themselves.”

Initially, however, the report was suppressed by the George Herbert Walker Bush administration under pressure from right-wing groups and by conservatives in Congress. After the findings, William Dannemeyer, who was at the time a conservative Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California, called for then-president Bush to "dismiss from public service all persons still employed who concocted this homosexual pledge of allegiance and sealed the lid on these misjudgments for good." HHS Secretary Louis Sullivan wrote in a letter to Dannemeyer that the study "undermined the institution of the family." [Quoted in Chris Bull, "Suicidal Tendencies," The Advocate, April 5, 1994, p. 37.]

The findings of the report, however, were leaked to the press and finally released.

Other studies confirmed these findings. Gary Remafedi, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, and author of Death by Denial: Studies of Attempted and Completed Suicide in Gay and Lesbian and Bisexual Youth, found in a 1991 study of 150 gay and lesbian youths in Minneapolis, more than 30% said they had attempted suicide at least once as a teenager.

“The youths who are at the greatest risk for suicide are the ones who are least likely to reveal their sexual orientation to anyone. Suicide may be a way of making sure that no one ever knows. It's homophobia that's killing these kids.” [Gary Remafedi, quoted in Bull, Chris, "Suicidal Tendencies," The Advocate, April 5, 1994, p. 38.]

Some media recently have labeled the high profile suicide of Tyler Clementi as a national “wake up call” to the problem of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender suicide.

Don’t blame me if I’m cynical, but didn’t we hear the same warning back in 1998 after the brutal homophobic murder of Matthew Shepard. Hundreds, maybe thousands of LGBT people have suffered vicious attacks, many ending in murder since 1998. Why then do the media not continually cover these incidents. If they did, our nation would not need a “wake up call.” We as a society might remain awake and vigilant.

I suspect in a week or so, even as the suicides and homophobic assaults continue, the media will move onto its next so-called “trend.” In a few years, maybe ten or so, they will issue yet another “wake up call” and (re)discover homophobia and its impact on the lives of our youth all over again.

Instead, we as a society must not depend on the media to alert us to the realities. As a society, we must take responsibility for the consequences for our inaction. More importantly, we must take responsibility for eliminating the stigma and the stereotyping of anyone and any group along the complete spectrum of human diversity.

Photo by DRB62, via Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons.

In the wake of two college suicides Tyler Clementi of Rutgers University& Raymond Chase of Johnson & Wales, Campus Pride reissues findings and recommendations from the "2010 State of Higher Education for LGBT People" released last week at a U.S. congressional briefing on Capitol Hill

(Providence, RI) Campus Pride, the nation’s leading non-profit organization working with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and ally college and university students, offers its condolences and support to the family of Raymond Chase who reportedly hung himself in his residence hall room this past Wednesday, September 29, 2010 on the campus of Johnson & Wales in Providence, RI.

“The loss of Raymond this week is the second college LGBT-related suicide in a week and the fifth teenage LGBT suicide in three weeks. The suicide of this openly gay young man is for reasons currently unknown; however, the recent pattern of LGBT youth suicides is cause for grave concern,” said Shane Windmeyer, executive director and founder of Campus Pride. “Campus Pride demands national action be taken to address youth bullying, harassment and the need for safety and inclusion for LGBT youth at colleges and universities across the country. We must not let these tragic deaths go unnoticed. Together we must act decisively to curb anti-LGBT bias incidents, harassment and acts of violence.”

Campus Pride cites suicide as sobering example of findings in the "2010 State of Higher Education for LGBT People" released last week at a U.S. congressional briefing on Capitol Hill

(New Brunswick, NJ, Thurs, Sept 30, 2010) Campus Pride, the nation’s largest non-profit organization working with LGBT and ally college and university students, offers its condolences and support to the family of Tyler Clementi and the campus community of Rutgers University.

“Every college student should have the right to a safe campus climate -- void of intimidation and harassment -- for campus learning and living,” said Shane Windmeyer, executive director and founder of Campus Pride. “The suicide of this young man is a terrible, unfathomable tragedy. We send our condolences to the family of Tyler Clementi and to the campus community of Rutgers University. We ask that all campuses across the country remember what happened at Rutgers and act decisively to curb anti-LGBT bias incidents, harassment and acts of violence.”

[Photo right: Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi, who committed suicide after experiencing anti-gay harassment and cyber bullying from a college roommate.]

Through its Q Research Institute for Higher Education, Campus Pride released last week its "2010 State of Higher Education for LGBT People." The in-depth research study is the most comprehensive national LGBT higher education study of its kind. Campus Pride surveyed more than 5,000 LGBT students,faculty and staff for the report. Findings demonstrate that this suicide and incidents of harassment are neither rare nor fleeting-- they are REAL.

Among the findings in the report:

• One quarter (23%) of LGBQ staff, faculty, and students reported experiencing harassment (defined as any conduct that has interfered with your ability to work or learn). Almost all identified sexual identity as the basis of the harassment (83%). An even greater percentage of transgender students, faculty, & staff reported experiencing harassment (39%) with 87% identifying their gender identity/expression as the basis for the harassment. The form of the harassment experiences by transgender people was more overt and blatant.
• One-third of LGBQ (33%) and transgender (38%) students, faculty, and staff have seriously considered leaving their institution due to thec hallenging climate.
• More than half of all faculty, students, & staff hide their sexual identity (43%) or gender identity (63%) to avoid intimidation.
• More than a third of all transgender students, faculty, &staff(43%) and 13% of LGBQ respondents feared for their physical safety.This finding was more salient for LGBQ students and for LGBQ and/or Transgender People of Color.

For more information about Campus Pride's "2010 State of Higher Education for LGBT People" report, visit www.campuspride.org/research.