The CHEETA Project is an exciting new program in Portland that’s empowering youth to promote social justice and equality through service learning projects and community building. Their students are primarily refugee and immigrant teens, and last week I had the pleasure of visiting with them to talk about Maine’s new anti-bullying law.
A primary goal of CHEETA is to educate kids about the problems in their communities. One of the topics they’re focusing on this summer is bullying, so we wanted to make sure these students were aware of Maine’s new law and how it protects them at school. It was interesting to hear their views on bullying and listen to some of the incidents they’ve witnessed in their schools. Few of the students had heard of the new law and they – like us – are hopeful that it can make a real difference.
Educating young people about their rights under the anti-bullying law will be a focus of ours in the upcoming school year, but we haven’t forgotten about it over the summer. Last month we sent a letter along with EqualityMaine and GLSEN to every principal and superintendent in the state. We thanked them for the work they’ve done so far to implement the anti-bullying law, and we also encouraged them to include gender identity and gender expression explicitly in their anti-bullying policy. Maine’s protections under the new law are even more important after the leadership of the House of Representatives blocked a floor vote earlier this month on the Student Non-Discrimination Act, a bill that would create a comprehensive prohibition against discrimination of LGBT students in our public schools. We know that LGBT students are more frequently bullied, and we’re concerned that if schools don’t specifically list gender identity and expression then students being bullied because of those reasons may not be fully protected.
The more we talk to students about the anti-bullying law, the more we recognize just how important its new protections are. Whether you’re an immigrant, a refugee, an LGBT youth, or a straight white male, bullying is not something that you should have to put up with at school. In less than a month schools all around Maine will be opening their doors, and we’re looking forward to talking with students in every county about the new anti-bullying law. If you’re a teacher or a school administrator and you’d like us to speak with your classes, contact me at jgaither@aclumaine.org and I’d be happy to set something up.
July 31, 2013 - 1:59pm
