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2008 Events
2008 Youth Pride Event: Hollywood Prom Skate Party
Presented by NMGSA Network and the Santa Fe Human Rights Allicance
Saturday June 28, 8PM - 12AM
Rockin' Rollers
2915 Agua Fria Road (south of Siler Road)
Santa Fe
More details on the Events page >
Letter from Cooper
Hello, Everyone! My name is Cooper and I am the new New Mexico GSA Network Coordinator. I just wanted to take a moment to introduce myself, and to welcome all former GSA Members back again. And to all new GSA Members this year, welcome!
I am looking forward to working with you all this year to make New Mexico schools safe for ALL students — regardless of their orientation or gender presentation! I love New Mexico and I believe it is a place where the amazing diversity of all of us who live here can coexist peacefully. We live in a time where there is so much hatred, violence and unrest in this world, but we have a unique opportunity to change the very communities we live in. We CAN put an end to hatred and violence toward gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth (as well as youth who may just be perceived as such) in our schools and in our towns. Often critics of GSA's seem to forget a very important part of what we are about: the "S" in our acronym. Our straight allies join us for many reasons: perhaps a parent, family member or friend is a member of the LGBT community, or they simply want to take a stand against discrimination and harassment towards LGBT people. Or perhaps they themselves, although straight, are victims of harassment or violence because they do not conform to standards of gender expression narrowly attributed to heterosexual people.
Whatever the reason, we welcome our straight allies to our clubs and thank them for speaking up and walking with us! It is important for heterosexual people to fight to end harassment and violence against LGBT people just as it is important for white-skinned people to speak out against racism and prejudice, or for people of different religious beliefs to stand up for people being discriminated against for their spiritual faith. GSA clubs do not "promote" a sexual preference, they ACCEPT.
We offer GSA's as a safe haven for youth who run the gauntlet of terror, harassment and often violence every day in the corridors of their schools. LGBT and Questioning youth are much more at risk than non-queer youth to be victims of violence, drug and alcohol abuse and suicide.
"65% of teens have been verbally or physically harassed or assaulted during the past year because of their perceived or actual appearance, gender, sexual orientation, gender expression, race/ethnicity, disability or religion. The reason most frequently cited for being harassed is a student's appearance — the way they look or their body size.
"The next most common reason for frequent harassment is sexual orientation. In fact, nine in ten LGBT students have been verbally or physically harassed in the past year because of their physical appearance, race/ethnicity, national origin, religion, disability, sexual orientation or gender expression, compared to only four in ten non-LGBT identified teens. Furthermore, LGBT students are over three times more likely than non-LGBT students to report that they feel unsafe at school (20% vs. 6%)."
(GLSEN: From Teasing To Torment, National School Climate Survey)
We want every child in New Mexico to be able to receive an education and graduate from high school, safely, regardless of how they identify!
I am proud and excited to work with our youth leaders (the GSA Network is Youth Driven!) and their school sponsors to make this a positive, productive and fun year!