Ally Week
Encyclopedia
Ally Week is a national youth-led effort empowering
students to be allies against anti-LGBT (lesbian
, gay
, bisexual and transgender
) bullying, harassment
and name-calling in K-12 schools, it is also used in some colleges. It was created by Joe Montana and other youth members of the Gay Lesbian & Straight Education Network GLSEN National JumpStart Student Leadership Team. It is done in the same spirit as Day of Silence
to educate on anti-LGBT harassment issues. It is usually held in September or October, often coinciding with National Coming Out Day
on October 11. October is also LGBT History Month
. The event started in October 2005 and has grown since.
The goal of Ally Week is to diminish stereotypes and exclusion while highlighting that peer support for LGBT students is stronger than the students themselves may have thought existed. In a survey of 240 undergraduates regarding what peer support they felt LGBT students had, research found that their personal attitudes were significantly more positive than they thought their friends and fellow students held. Allies are identified as supporters but not necessarily members of a marginalized group.
During Ally Week people are encouraged to sign an ally pledge "taking a stand for a safe and harassment-free school for all students", and that they will not use anti-LGBT language and slurs, they will intervene if possible to stop bullying and harassment and support safer schools efforts. In 2008 the pledge cards were mistakenly used with kindergartners and opponents of gay marriage used this to correlate to the Proposition 8 battle in California, GLSEN stated they would review materials and ensure they were appropriate for all grade levels.
In 2010 the campaign is encouraging awareness of the Safe Schools Improvement Act, similar to the recently signed "Dignity for all Students Act" (New York State) legislation to protect LGBT students from bullying.
Youth empowerment
Youth empowerment is an attitudinal, structural, and cultural process whereby young people gain the ability, authority, and agency to make decisions and implement change in their own lives and the lives of other people, including youth and adults....
students to be allies against anti-LGBT (lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
, gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
, bisexual and transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
) bullying, harassment
Harassment
Harassment covers a wide range of behaviors of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behaviour intended to disturb or upset, and it is characteristically repetitive. In the legal sense, it is intentional behaviour which is found threatening or disturbing...
and name-calling in K-12 schools, it is also used in some colleges. It was created by Joe Montana and other youth members of the Gay Lesbian & Straight Education Network GLSEN National JumpStart Student Leadership Team. It is done in the same spirit as Day of Silence
Day of Silence
The Day of Silence is the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network's annual day of action to protest the bullying and harassment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students and their supporters...
to educate on anti-LGBT harassment issues. It is usually held in September or October, often coinciding with National Coming Out Day
National Coming Out Day
National Coming Out Day is an internationally observed civil awareness day celebrating individuals who publicly identify as bisexual, gay, lesbian, transgender—coming out regarding one's sexual orientation and/or gender identity being akin to a cultural rite of passage for LGBT people...
on October 11. October is also LGBT History Month
LGBT History Month
LGBT History Month is a month-long annual observance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history, and the history of the gay rights and related civil rights movements. It is observed during October in the United States, to include National Coming Out Day on October 11...
. The event started in October 2005 and has grown since.
The goal of Ally Week is to diminish stereotypes and exclusion while highlighting that peer support for LGBT students is stronger than the students themselves may have thought existed. In a survey of 240 undergraduates regarding what peer support they felt LGBT students had, research found that their personal attitudes were significantly more positive than they thought their friends and fellow students held. Allies are identified as supporters but not necessarily members of a marginalized group.
During Ally Week people are encouraged to sign an ally pledge "taking a stand for a safe and harassment-free school for all students", and that they will not use anti-LGBT language and slurs, they will intervene if possible to stop bullying and harassment and support safer schools efforts. In 2008 the pledge cards were mistakenly used with kindergartners and opponents of gay marriage used this to correlate to the Proposition 8 battle in California, GLSEN stated they would review materials and ensure they were appropriate for all grade levels.
In 2010 the campaign is encouraging awareness of the Safe Schools Improvement Act, similar to the recently signed "Dignity for all Students Act" (New York State) legislation to protect LGBT students from bullying.
Sources
- Goldman, Linda, Coming out, coming in: nurturing the well-being and inclusion of gay youth in mainstream society, CRC Press, 2008, ISBN 0415958245, 9780415958240.
- Marcus, Eric, What If Someone I Know Is Gay?: Answers to Questions about What It Means to Be Gay and Lesbian, Simon and Schuster, 2007, ISBN 1416949704, 9781416949701.
- Meyer, Elizabeth J., Gender and Sexual Diversity in Schools: Volume 10 of Explorations of Educational Purpose, Springer, 2010, ISBN 9048185580, 9789048185580.
- Windmeyer, Shane L., The Advocate college guide for LGBT students, Alyson Books, 2006, ISBN 155583857X, 9781555838577.