NEWSBYRENEE BRACEY SHERMAN

While many high school students were at the beach for Spring Break, nearly 70 youth activists from Gay-Straight Alliance clubs across California descended on the California State Capitol in Sacramento to rally and speak out for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) youth.  These high school activists arrived in Sacramento on Friday, April 1 to attend the GSA Advocacy and Youth Leadership Academy (GAYLA).  Over the three-day training, the youth gained leadership skills and learned how to speak about LGBTQ issues to their legislators and the media.  “The trainings were created in a way that fostered a positive environment where everyone, regardless of how much or how little activism they had before GAYLA, was able to learn,” said Claudia Chen, a junior at Temple City High School and GAYLA Youth Trainer.

At Queer Youth Advocacy Day on Monday, April 4, 2011, youth spoke to their state legislators and the media about three bills in the California legislature: Seth’s Law (AB 9), the Gender Nondiscrimination Act (AB 887) and the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act (SB 48).  "Bullying and harassment continue to be a pervasive problem in California schools, with heartbreaking consequences.  Youth leaders from Gay-Straight Alliance clubs across the state told their stories to lawmakers who have the opportunity to make it better for LGBT youth by supporting the FAIR Education Act, Seth's Law, and the Gender Nondiscrimination Act," said Carolyn Laub, Executive Director of Gay-Straight Alliance Network.

Like many people, I thought I knew all that happened during the Civil Rights Movement. I mean, I went to a school named Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Experimental Laboratory School from kindergarten through eighth grade! I was taught about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and a tiny bit about Malcolm X. I thought I knew it all!

When I went to college, I started learning about Bayard Rustin, Angela Davis, Audre Lorde and countless others who made huge contributions to the movement. Who were these people? Why were they not mentioned in my grade school classes? Is it because they were gay and lesbian? Why, as a black student, am I not learning my own history?

To learn more, I watched “Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin”. I was very inspired by his life and the film, so I started researching more of his story. He was a non-violent activist who worked behind the scenes to create the non-violent Civil Rights Movement through the mentorship of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In 1963, Bayard Rustin, along with A. Philip Randolph, organized the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which was where Dr. King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Due to Rustin being openly gay, the NAACP chairman did not want Rustin to be credited for organizing the march. After the success of the March on Washington, Rustin went on to organize The New York City School Boycott, write as a columnist for the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) newspaper, and  create change for many other Civil Rights and LGBTQ issues.