April 16, 2009 - Posted by The Leadership Conference
 Tomorrow is the National Day of Silence, the largest student-run action to end bullying and create safer schools for all, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Participants across the country take a vow of silence and only speak when necessary during the day to raise awareness about the problem of anti-LGBT bullying.
The first Day of Silence was organized in 1996 by students at the University of Virginia. A year later, nearly 100 colleges and universities participated. Last year, more than 8,000 middle schools, high schools, and universities participated nationwide.
This year students are choosing different ways to spread the word about the Day of Silence. Some are using Twitter to encourage people to participate. Others are wearing face masks with an "X" over the mouth to represent their silence or t-shirts with messages like, "Gay? Fine by me."
According to the National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center, almost 30 percent of youth in the U.S. are involved in bullying, either as a bully, a target of bullying, or both.
In recent years, numerous incidents of children committing suicide because of being bullied have made the news. On April 6, an 11-year-old boy named Carl Walker-Hoover hanged himself after enduring daily taunts of being gay and tormented by his peers. Hoover, who did not identify as gay, would have turned 12 today.
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March 6, 2009 - Posted by The Leadership Conference
 Women in Dhaka, Bangladesh at an International Women's Day rally, organized by Jatiyo Nari Shramik Trade Union Kendra (National Women Workers Trade Union Centre). March 8 is International Women's Day, a holiday to celebrate the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future.
Though many countries celebrate the holiday differently, the United Nations' theme this year is "women and men united to end violence against women and girls." According to the U.N. Development Fund for Women, violence against women has reached "pandemic proportions," as at least one in every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or abused at some point in her life.
The International Trade Union Confederation released a report yesterday that found that the global pay gap between men and women rose from 16.5 percent to 22 percent since March 2008.
International Women's Day is an official holiday in several countries around the world including Australia, China, Vietnam, Russia and Kazakhstan, but not in the United States.
The holiday has its roots in the women's labor movement in the U.S. and around the world. The first National Women's Day was held in the U.S. in 1909 to commemorate the 1908 garment workers strike in New York, where 15,000 women workers marched and rallied for better working conditions, equal pay and voting rights.
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October 4, 2010 - Posted by Avril Lighty
Nearly 200,000 people from across America came together Saturday to rally for "jobs, justice, and education" at the "One Nation Working Together" march on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The march was designed to spur elected officials to enact a bold agenda to move our country forward, and to urge voters to take part in the mid-term elections on November 2.
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August 26, 2010 - Posted by Avril Lighty
On Saturday, August 28, faith leaders and civil and human rights advocates will gather at Shiloh Baptist Church to commemorate the 47th anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech and commit themselves to renewed activism for social justice.
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August 18, 2010 - Posted by Avril Lighty
The Department of Justice sent a letter to state courts on Monday clarifying the courts' obligation to provide language assistance to those who are not English proficient so that all people have fair access to the courts.
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