Take Action!

Make your school a safe environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youth. Check out these resources and find out how you can take action.

Out, Safe, & Respected: Your Rights at School
Lambda Legal
This kit is designed to help LGBTQ youth know their rights at school and make sure they're respected. It includes information on making school a safe space, forming a gay-straight alliance, being a LGBTQ ally, taking action, meeting with teachers and officials, informing adults on LGBTQ issues, and locating national resources.

2004; Free; http://www.lambdalegal.org/cgi-bin/iowa/youthpsa/index.html?page=youth_index

Bending the Mold:
An Action Kit for Transgender Youth
Lambda Legal and National Youth Advocacy Coalition
This kit is designed to help make school a safer place. It addresses ways to take action to combat invisibility and isolation, protect confidentiality, prevent violence, make bathrooms and locker rooms accessible, express and dress, fight for equality in sports teams and school activities, access health care, and be a trans ally. It also includes a dictionary and resource list.

2004; Free; http://www.lambdalegal.org/binary-data/LAMBDA_PDF/pdf/305.pdf

Dealing with Legal Matters Surrounding Students' Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
National School Boards Association, et al.
This publication provides practical guidance on schools' legal rights and responsibilities to students, programs, and curriculum. The endnotes section references various related court decisions.

2004; Free; http://www.nsba.org/site/docs/34600/34527.pdf

Globally, about 50% of all new HIV infections are among people ages 15-24.

What Can You Do?

• Learn the facts about HIV/AIDS.
• Protect yourself against HIV infection.
• Get tested.
• Educate others about HIV/AIDS.
• Volunteer at local HIV/AIDS organizations.
• Organize an event for World AIDS Day or post information about HIV/AIDS at your local library, community organization, faith community, and/or school.

To find out more, check out:

Know HIV/AIDS for facts and statistics about HIV/AIDS, testing sites, and information about protecting against HIV/AIDS.

The Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health for posters, fact sheets, and a toolkit.

The Families Are Talking newsletter on HIV/AIDS that includes basic facts about HIV/AIDS, information, and messages to share with your children and teens, activities to raise HIV/AIDS awareness, as well as organizations and websites for more information.

My Voice Counts!
Condom Campaign—Respect Yourself. Protect Yourself.

Some people are trying to hide the truth about condoms and their effectiveness from young people. Advocates for Youth believes you deserve the straight facts. While abstinence is the only 100% effective way to avoid sexually transmitted infections (STIs), condoms are the most effective prevention tool we have for sexually active people. But, a lot of people are uncomfortable talking about condoms. Enter Advocates' contest to design a message that will get people talking about condoms. You just might win $500, too! For more information, visit www.advocatesforyouth.org/youth/advocacy/myvoicecounts/condom/.

Shelby Knox is from Lubbock a small town in west Texas with soaring rates of sexually transmitted infections and teen pregnancy. In the Lubbock Public Schools, an abstinence spiel delivered by a local pastor is the only sex education teens receive-but she's working to change that!

On June 21st PBS will premiere the documentary, The Education of Shelby Knox, which tells the story of Shelby's fight to get more responsible sex education in Lubbock.

To view the trailer of this documentary and find out how you can build support in your state or community and ensure that young people get high quality sexuality education, visit http://www.siecus.org/media/media0003.html

A new government website launched on March 25, 2005 by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) http://www.4parents.gov, presents fear-based, biased, and inaccurate information as fact. In addition, it does not address the needs of many youth, including sexually active youth, youth who have been or are being sexually abused, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth.

Parents Take Action: Send a Letter to HHS!

Young People Take Action: Send a Letter to HHS!

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Do you love what you see when you look in the mirror?

Hollywood and the fashion, cosmetics and diet industries work hard to make each of us believe that our bodies are unacceptable and need constant improvement. Print ads and television commercials reduce us to body parts that are airbrushed and touched up to meet impossible standards.

Together, we can fight back.

Check out What You Can Do.

Love Your Body, is a campaign of the Women's Health Project, National Organization for Women (NOW) Foundation.

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Just Say NO to Doubling Abstinence-Only Funds

During his State of the Union address, President Bush called for the doubling of abstinence-only-until-marriage funding in spite of the fact that there is no evidence that these programs work. In fact, recent research shows that abstinence-only programs may discourage contraceptive use among sexually active teens, increasing their risk for unintended pregnancy and STDs.

Tell President Bush to stop pouring taxpayer dollars into flawed abstinence-only programs

Click here to sign and e-mail a pre-written letter to President Bush.

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The Media Project – Entertainment Media's Sexual & Reproductive Health Resource

The Media Project, a program of Advocates for Youth, works with the entertainment industry to place sexual health information and responsible sexual health images on television. They have had a significant impact on such popular television shows as E.R., Dawson's Creek, Felicity, Moesha, Boston Public, Strong Medicine, and Judging Amy, among many others. Last year alone, the project was directly responsible for helping the industry to include accurate sexual health content and relevant story lines into more than 40 episodes of various popular television shows, reaching well over 30 million Americans. For more information, visit www.advocatesforyouth.org/about/mediaproject.htm You too can play a part in helping the networks provide responsible sexual health images on television. The networks welcome viewer feedback and all you have to do is to call, send a letter, or e-mail to congratulate them for portraying accurate sexual health information and healthy role models—or ask them to do a better job. Be sure to let them know that show and the time slot that you watched.

ABC 500 South Buena Vista Street Burbank, CA 91521-4551 Phone: 818-460-7477 E-mail: netaudr@abc.com Web site: http://www.abc.go.com	CBS 51 West 52nd Street New York, NY 10019 Phone: 212-975-4321 Web site: http://www.cbs.com (Click on “feedback.”)
FOX BROADCASTING CO. PO Box 900 Beverly Hills, CA 90213 Phone: 310-369-1000 Web site: http://www.fox.com (Click on “links.”)	NBC Viewer Relations 30 Rockefeller Plaza New York, NY 10112 Web site: http://www.nbc.com
UPN 11800 Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90025 Phone: 310-575-7000 Web site: http://www.upn.com	WB NETWORK 4000 Warner Boulevard Burbank, CA 91522 Phone: 818-977-5000 Web site: http://www.thewb.com
CNN One CNN Center Atlanta GA 30303 Phone: 404-827-1500 Web site: http://www.cnn.com (Click on “contact us.”)	BET 2000 M Street NW, Suite 602 Washington, DC 20036 Phone: 202-533-1990 Web site: http://www.bet.com (Click on “contact.”)
HBO Consumer Affairs 1100 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10036 Phone: 212-512-1208 Web site: http://www.hbo.com	LIFETIME TELEVISION 309 West 49th Street New York, NY 10019 Phone: 212-424-7000 Web site: http://www.lifetimetv.com (Click on “write to us.”)
MTV 1515 Broadway Avenue New York, NY 10036 Phone: 212-258-8000 Web site: http://www.mtv.com (Click on “you tell us.”)	NICKELODEON 1515 Broadway Avenue, 38th Floor New York, NY 10036 Phone: 212-258-7500 Web site: http://www.nickelodeon.com (Click on “blab.”)
SHOWTIME 1633 Broadway Avenue New York, NY 10036 Phone: 212-708-1600 Web site: http://www.sho.com	TNT 1010 Techwood Drive Atlanta, GA 30318 Phone: 404-885-4538 E-mail: tnt@turner.com Web site: http://www.tnt.tv
USA 1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020 Phone: 212-413-5000 Web site: http://www.usanetwork.com

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Become a Teen Peer Sexuality Educator

Many Planned Parenthood affiliates as well as other community-based organizations offer programs that train teens to educate peers in their community about sexuality-related issues. For more information about these programs, as well as Planned Parenthood affiliates and other organizations that you can contact to get involved, check out A Guide to Peer Education Programs for Teens at http://www.plannedparenthood.org/education/020808_peereducationguide.pdf

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Teens, learn how to voice your concerns about what you want to learn in sexuality education. The Roadmap: A Teen Guide to Changing Your School's Sex Ed will give you a step-by-step action plan for laying the groundwork to convince the school board and community to provide better sexuality and health education.

For a free copy, visit http://www.sxetc.org/roadmap/ or call or write to the Network for Family Life Education, Center for Applied Psychology, Rutgers University, 41 Gordon Road, Suite A, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8067; Phone: 732/445-7929; e-mail: netfle@rci.rutgers.edu.

Help fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic by becoming involved in HIV/AIDS related efforts in your own community. Perhaps you can volunteer by donating your time to an organization that helps people that are HIV positive, raise money by participating in a fundraiser like AIDS Walk, or working with your local school or public library to organize and event for World AIDS Day (December 1). For more information and organizations to contact, visit http://www.knowhivaids.org/get_index.html.

The National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL) Pro-Choice America has launched a campaign to support responsible sexuality education programs. Become a sexuality education advocate and send an e-mail to your state and federal legislatures through this site. For more information and to sign and send the petition, visit http://www.naralaction.org/campaign/SexEd_House_0702

Planned Parenthood's Online Action Center will keep you updated about their national sexuality-related campaigns. It also provides you with information about how to contact your state and federal legislatures. For more information and to sign and send various petitions, visit http://www.plannedparenthood.org/action/index.asp

Nationwide Advocacy Campaign Launched to Fight Increased Federal Funding for Unproven Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs

The Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S. (SIECUS) has launched a nationwide online advocacy campaign that aims to send a loud and clear message to federal policy makers that - "No New Money" should be sunk into unproven and harmful abstinence-only-until-marriage programs.

Partnering with longtime advocates for adolescent heath, Advocates for Youth (AFY) and Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), SIECUS will also be working with local and state-based organizations and coalitions, as well as other national organizations.

For more information and to take action, visit http://www.nonewmoney.org.

Advocates for Youth and Rock the Vote have launched this campaign to support comprehensive sexuality education. This campaign urges young people under 25 to sign a petition protecting their right to honest sexuality education. Please view the ePSA below, sign the petition, and send this to as many friends as possible.

Abstinence
Birth Control
Condoms

You've got a choice...
They'd like to take it away

ACT NOW. Check out this campaign and do something: http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/petition

The Othmer Institute at Planned Parenthood of New York City has launched this campaign to support medically-accurate sexuality education programs. The campaign’s website explains “abstinence-only” education and why comprehensive sexuality education is more effective; lists legislative updates showing how Congress spends your tax dollars for unproven abstinence programs; provides articles about sexuality education, links to organizations across the country that support sexuality education; and encourages the public to take action to oppose "abstinence-only" programs and fund medically-accurate sex education in our schools.

For more information and to sign the petition visit http://www.getthefacts.org