Activist to Speak About the LGBT Student and the Culture of Respect

Source: Elmhurst College

In 1990, a small group of teachers in Massachusetts challenged an education system that allowed lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students to be bullied, beaten up, ridiculed, abandoned and allowed to fail. Today, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, or GLSEN, is the largest organization in the nation working to ensure safe schools.

Under the leadership of Executive Director Eliza Byard, GLSEN has made great strides in helping to end bias-based bullying, violence and discrimination in the nation’s K-12 schools. Byard will discuss The LGBT Student and the Culture of Respect at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 23, at Elmhurst College's Frick Center.

GLSEN’s advocacy efforts target students and educators through youth leadership and professional training development programs, and through in-school programs like Think B4 You Speak, recognized as the first Ad Council campaign on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues, and No Name-Calling Week, which National School Boards Association called “one of the most used and celebrated bullying prevention programs in the country.” 

Byard has appeared on The O’Reilly Factor, AC360, ABC World News and National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation. She served on New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s commission on runaway and homeless LGBT youth, and currently serves on the LGBT youth suicide prevention task force of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention.

Byard's talk is part of the annual William R. Johnson Intercultural Lecture, named in honor of Elmhurst College alumnus Rev. Dr. William R. Johnson (Class of 1968), the first openly gay person in modern history to gain ordination to the mainstream Christian ministry.

Admission is $10, free for Elmhurst College students, faculty, staff and alumni. Tickets are available online. For more information, call (630) 617-3390.