It s about people having their human rights violated. Another document the report enlists to make its case is the Convention on the Rights of the Child, signed by the United States, but not yet ratified. Bochenek told the Blade that despite HRW s global reach, in essence, now is the time and the United States is the place for a concerted effort against the abuse of gay youth in school. The legal environment is very different, social context is very different. This issue is now in the public discourse.
Nobody can deny now that kids are being harassed.
To that end, the HRW report includes a long list of recommendations for schools and school boards, state governments and the federal government, as well as five key recommendations. Among these recommendations is that state legislatures should enact laws to protect students on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. HRW also recommends that the U.S. Congress enact federal nondiscrimination legislation that explicitly prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Jennings said gay adults can also play a crucial role in protecting gay youths in school. Most of our community is not very engaged with what goes on in their schools because they don t have kids in school.