U.S. campaign takes on anti-gay bullying in school

Recently, the hate crime against homosexuality has been the hottest topic; Many suicide cases caused by discrimination of homosexuality has been featured to the public, causing many attention to the issue. Obama administration is now launching a new campaign in order to prevent many discrimination and bullying at school, including gay bullying. The administration have advised the many educators that students are protected by the federal law from discrimination

The advisory from the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights, to be made public Tuesday, does not break new legal ground, officials said. But the officials described it as the federal government's most comprehensive guidance to date on how civil rights law applies to the sort of campus situations that in some cases have led persecuted students to commit suicide. President Obama is expected to help promote the initiative.
"We've got to dispel this myth that bullying is just a normal rite of passage," Obama said in a video posted last week on the White House Web site.
"Our goal here is to provide school districts, colleges and universities with details about when harassment can rise to the level of a civil rights violation and what they should be doing about it," Russlynn H. Ali, assistant education secretary for civil rights, said Monday. Ali wrote the advisory. As an example, Ali noted in the advisory that a gay student might withdraw from school activities after being subjected to anti-gay slurs and other intimidation. If the school reprimands the perpetrators to stop the bullying, her advisory said, that would not necessarily be enough to ensure that students are free from harassment based on gender stereotypes. "The school had an obligation to take immediate and effective action to eliminate the hostile environment," Ali wrote. 

It is good to see the federal taking a step to promote discrimination free zone, especially for the school. Considering public school as a miniature version of the society, this is a big win for not only the gay people, but everyone in the society. Every single students deserves a fair environment for their education and the minorities do not deserve any hate crimes or harassment. This made discrimination and bullying an illegal act against the federal power, and I hope this takes a positive influence on the education and the society as a whole.