Jordan Rada and Frank Figueroa survived anti-gay bullying in school and now speak out to help others
Pink Shirt Day was recently observed at schools in Nanaimo and across Canada. The now-annual event was inspired by Nova Scotia high school students David Shepherd, Travis Price and their teenaged friends, who in 2007 organized a high-school protest in support of a Grade 9 boy who was being bullied—for wearing pink to school. They took a stand against bullying by distributing pink T-shirts to all the boys in their school.
Homophobia in schools is associated with bullying behaviours. A Canadian study found that 37% of gay and lesbian youngsters felt like outsiders at their schools and that a quarter of gay and lesbian youths in Canada have attempted suicide at least once. [Source: Alliance busts gay stereotypes, Nanaimo Daily News] (more…)
“Take Back the Night” is an action created to enable large numbers of women to publicly express our anger at the sexual violence that goes on and the victim blaming that accompanies it. Not every woman has been sexually assaulted, but every woman has been taught to fear it. We are told from the time we are young not to walk alone, not to go out after dark, to avoid strangers and to avoid dangerous areas of town. This advice is useless in the face of the reality that the largest number of women experience violence in their own home, at the hand of someone they know. [
Pictures of the gang rape of a 16-year-old girl at a weekend party east of Vancouver were circulated on the Internet via Facebook, 
In 2009, an adolescent health survey revealed that a quarter of gay and lesbian youths in Canada have attempted suicide at least once. And a total of 37% of gay and lesbian youngsters felt like outsiders at their schools. [Source: 
Eliza Gardiner and the Vancouver Island University Human Rights and International Solidarity Committee present 