Our Public Policy Platform

Our Mission

GLSEN strives to ensure that each member of every school community is valued and respected regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. We believe that such an atmosphere engenders a positive sense of self, which is the basis of educational achievement and personal growth. Since homophobia, transphobia and heterosexism undermine a healthy school climate, we work to educate teachers, students, and the public at large about the damaging effects these forces have on youth and adults alike.

We recognize that forces such as racism and sexism have similarly adverse impacts on communities and we support schools in seeking to redress all such inequities.

GLSEN seeks to develop school climates where difference is valued for the positive contribution it makes in creating a more vibrant and diverse community. We welcome any and all individuals as members, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity/expression or occupation, who are committed to seeing this philosophy realized in K-12 schools.

Our Commitment to Diversity

GLSEN Diversity Statement 2021

During the summer of 2020 the world experienced a surge of resistance in the form of uprisings, protesting the state sanctioned killings of Black people across age and gender. We also collectively experienced the weight and impact of a global pandemic that has been disproportionately striking communities of color along with a surge of anti-asian racism. In response to the multiple compounding realities of the time, GLSEN sought to meet the moment by undergoing a strategic refresh aimed at moving us closer to liberation through social justice. The three pillars of our strategic refresh are: 1. Advancing Racial, Gender and Disability Justice in K-12 education 2. Building Digital Connections 3. Unifying our Organization and Increasing Impact In order to uphold and enact these pillars we are dedicated to creating an organization that has equity at the center of our programs, resources and values. This means that everything we do must be deeply celebratory of diversity in all of its manifestations. GLSEN recognizes that heterosexism, transphobia, biphobia, and homophobia are interconnected with racism, ableism and other forms of oppression. The intersections of these forms of oppression represent systems that serve to sustain, enforce, and amplify the individual and collective effects of these inequities, and challenges efforts to address any one of them. In response, GLSEN actively works to understand and address how these systems of oppression intersect and operate to undermine a safe and healthy climate in K-12 schools and within our own organization. GLSEN’s work in this area begins internally, with staff and organizational culture. GLSEN values the experience and knowledge that a diverse and engaged staff brings to our work, and recognizes the necessity of maintaining a network of staff, board members, chapter members, student leaders, educators and volunteers that is reflective of and accountable to the

communities that we serve. People who are commonly marginalized in society — including people of diverse sexual orientations, transgender and gender non-conforming people, people of color, women, intersex people, and people of diverse abilities, national origins, ages, socioeconomic backgrounds, and faiths & spiritual practices — are valued contributors to the life of the organization, and we seek to include them in all areas of GLSEN’s organizational structure. This commitment includes attention to positions of leadership and management. GLSEN strives to create a healthy work environment for our staff and volunteers by fostering the development of cultural competency to improve our work climate and better advance the organization’s mission. GLSEN applies this commitment to diversity to our programs and outreach, developing and carrying out our advocacy, leadership development, coalition building, research, education, resource development, and fundraising efforts in ways designed to incorporate a diverse base of allies and advance safe school issues in all communities. GLSEN understands that our work around diversity is an on-going process and will continue to prioritize the learning, dialogue, and reevaluation that are central to the advancement of our work and mission.

Our Public Policy Platform

GLSEN is governed by a national board of directors who are ultimately responsible for the organization. The Board establishes GLSEN's mission, strategic imperatives, and public policy platform. The Board hires the Executive Director and delegates the development and implementation of programs to fulfill these objectives to him or her and the staff he or she hires.

GLSEN believes that a quality Kindergarten through 12th grade education is a fundamental right in a democratic society, and calls upon federal, state and local governments to adequately fund K-12 public schools so that all students have access to a quality, discrimination-free education in their communities. GLSEN advocates for the following, with the understanding that adequate funding helps to enhance the efforts to achieve these goals:

1. GLSEN affirms the right of all students in publicly funded K-12 schools to an education free of discrimination and harassment, and calls upon public policy making bodies to ensure equal educational access by adopting and enforcing measurable nondiscrimination and anti-harassment policies that include sexual orientation and gender identity/expression.

2. GLSEN affirms the right of all students in parochial and private/independent schools to an education free from discrimination and harassment and calls upon the boards and administrators of these schools to ensure equal educational access by adopting and enforcing measurable non-discrimination and anti-harassment policies that include sexual orientation and gender identity/expression.

3. GLSEN believes that learning about the diversity of humankind is an essential part of education in a democratic society, and affirms the right of students to learn in classroom environments that nurture diversity. GLSEN encourages schools to allow students in all grade levels access to curricula, trainings, texts and materials -- in all areas including but not limited to, history, literature, family life, sexuality and health education -- that are relevant, comprehensive, age-appropriate, medically-accurate and inclusive of sexual