Yesterday the Department of Education (DOE) issued a "Dear Colleague" letter to school leaders across the country explaining schools' obligation to protect all students. The letter highlights educators' legal obligations under federal law to protect students from student-on-student racial and national origin harassment, sexual and gender-based harassment, and disability harassment. The DOE provided examples of harassment and illustrated how a school should respond in each case. A yearlong effort, the letter comes
in the wake of several LGBT youth suicides and prominent LGBT harrassment/discrimination cases.
The letter also highlights an existing
gap between the level of protections afforded to students based on race, color, national origin, sex or disability and those afforded to LGBT students. The Student Non-Discrimination Act, a bill pending in both the House and Senate modeled on Title IX’s protections against sex discrimination in education, would guarantee that LGBT students are explicitly protected from harassment and discrimination under federal law.
We urge Congress to swiftly pass the Student Non-Discrimination Act. Our students need it.