Roundtable focus: keeping schools safe for all students

Skidmore College will be the location for a "Safe Schools Roundtable" scheduled at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 7. The discussion will center on protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) students from violence and harassment in school.

Free and open to the public, the event will be in Gannett Auditorium, Palamountain Hall.  Sponsors are the office of U.S. Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand and Planned Parenthood Mohawk Hudson.

LGBTQ students are two-three times more likely to be bullied than their heterosexual peers, according to information provided by the senator's office.  Such harassment is detrimental to their mental and physical health and deprives students of equal educational opportunities by increasing the likelihood that they will skip school and/or drop out.

Last spring, Gillibrand joined nearly two dozen Senate colleagues to jointly introduce a new bill, the Student Non-Discrimination Act, to end discrimination based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity in public schools. The bill is currently in committee.  

Legislation designed to outlaw bullying related to gender identity also has been at the top of the state agenda. In September, New York Gov. David Paterson signed the anti-bullying Dignity for All Students Act, which was co-authored by Skidmore's own John Myers. 

Darren Cosgrove, LGBT program coordinator for Planned Parenthood Mohawk Hudson, and Amy Pollard, regional representative for Sen. Gillibrand, will moderate Thursday's discussion. Panelists include the following: Jon Reinish, special projects manager, Sen. Gillibrand's office; Beth LeGere, public affairs director, Planned Parenthood Mohawk Hudson, Inc.;Mike Sauro, coordinator of guidance, South Glens Falls School District and co-advisor, GSA, South Glens Falls High School;Estelle Kline, Jumpstart Youth coordinator, GLSEN NYCR board member and Shaker High School GSA president;Christine Merton, founding member and former president of the GSA at South Glens Falls High School, former Planned Parenthood Sexuality Peer Educator, freshman at SUNY Oneonta and member of the campus GSA, Open Minded Unity;Wayne Manchester, co-chair, New York Capital Region GLSEN;Bobbi Williams, writer and educator, founding member of the Central Texas Transgender Society, steering committee member of the National Coalition for LGBT Health, and board member of Rainbow Access Initiative (RAI).