GLSEN: Safe Schools Advocacy Summit

In 2009, GLSEN introduced its Safe Schools Advocacy Summit (SSAS) which was a new vision for the student advocacy work that GLSEN has engaged in since its inception. SSAS is a four-day training that is held each spring in Washington, D.C. Its objectives are to educate student and community leaders about the legislative process and provide them with tools for effective advocacy. Training focuses on the congressional process, safe schools and bullying, and the specific legislation that the participants will be discussing with their Congressional representatives. In recent years, that legislation has been the Safe Schools Improvement Act (SSIA), which will establish a federal anti-bullying policy that enumerates categories often targeted for bullying, including sexual orientation and gender identity/expression, and the Student Non-Discrimination Act (SNDA), which would make discrimination in schools based on sexual orientation or gender identity against the law and would prevent the exclusion of students from full participation in school sanctioned events.

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