Civil Rights Legislation

Governor’s Gay and Lesbian Youth Commission recommendations (1992)
“…to improve the safety of schools and school-based support services…”
In response to studies showing the high suicide rate of gay and lesbian teenagers and the amount of discrimination and ostracism they suffer at schools, activists sponsored a bill in 1989 to create a gay and lesbian advisory board that would consider gay and lesbian youth in schools. In Spring 1990, the bill failed, but was refiled in December 1990. In December 1991, the bill passed the House but was killed in the Senate. In February 1992, Governor Weld signed an executive order instead, thereby establishing the Governor’s Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth. The Commission recommended measures for increasing the safety of gay and lesbian students, such as developing anti-harassment policies and offering training, support groups, and counseling services. In 1994, Massachusetts became the first state to outlaw discrimination against gay and lesbian students in public schools. From the Boston Alliance of Gay and Lesbian Youth records.

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