“For political dinosaurs stuck in the prehistoric past, the court's decisions came with devastating speed, like the meteor that extinguished the dinosaurs of the Cretaceous....By contrast, for those of us who spent decades fighting for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and others, the changes were anything but fast.” Read more in the Sacramento Bee … [Read more...]
Colorado Six Year Old Wins Transgender Civil Rights Case
For years Coy Mathis used the girls restrooms and lined up with other girls in her class, until a teacher told her she was no longer allowed to do either. In response to this change her family filed a complaint against the school, and on June 27th the school district was found guilty of creating a "hostile, discriminatory and unsafe" environment for Mathis. Read more in the Denver Post … [Read more...]
Santa Cruz County Supervisors create “It Gets Better” Video
The “It Get’s Better” campaign was created in September 2010 in response to the high numbers of LGBT youth taking their lives due to prejudices and bullying. Over the last several years over 50,000 videos have been made by celebrities and everyday people, showing youth that it really does get better. The Santa Cruz Board of Supervisors has added their own video to the collection, and have committed their support to local LGBT youth. Read more in the Santa Cruz Sentinel See other “It Get’s Better” videos. … [Read more...]
Transgender Student Rights Bill (AB1266) Passes
In this landmark case students in K-12 are guaranteed access to the restrooms and school teams they prefer based on their gender identity. Chromosomes are no longer the only factor these decisions are based on. This Bill has passed through the Senate and the State Assembly, and is now heading to the governor. Read more in the The Huffington Post by clicking here. … [Read more...]
Youth Empowerment Summit 2011
The Queer Youth Task Force worked with students from seven Gay-Straight Alliance student clubs and their advisers, administrators from Santa Cruz City Schools (Eileen Brown) and Pajaro Valley Unified School District (Murry Schekman) and community member Mike Dively to send 81 students from Santa Cruz County to the Youth Empowerment Summit (YES) in San Francisco on December 10th via two chartered buses. Read more in the Santa Cruz Sentinel. … [Read more...]