Community :: Community Guide
Commission calls for support for LGBT youth by Hannah Clay Wareham
Associate EditorTuesday Apr 27, 2010 The Massachusetts Commission on GLBT Youth has called on House Representatives to pass budget amendments and transgender rights bills on behalf of LGBT youth.
"The state’s GLBT youth are in trouble," Commission Chair Arthur Lipkin said. "[Department of Public Health] support for its Safe Spaces program is admittedly inadequate and the Safe Schools for GLBT Students Program has had zero funding for the last year. Without any money...there is virtually no help for our youth."
A press release from the organization read that current funding through the Department of Public Health for LGBT youth is less than 50% of what it was ten years ago.
"Moreover, there has been no acknowledgement that transgender youth are even a part of the student population in Massachusetts schools," Lipkin said. "Their rights to a safe and supportive education must be established and their quality of life improved in-school and out."
The Commission took the opportunity to applaud Mary Walz, chair of the Joint Committee on Education, for her support in passing a Department of Elementary and Secondary Education budget amendment, and Rep. Carl Sciortino for his support of the Department of Public Health amendment.
For more information, visit http://www.mass.gov/cgly/.
Hannah can be reached at hclaywareham@baywindows.com.
|
|
|
Email
Print
Share
