GLSEN

Improving Education, Creating a Better World

GLSEN is a multi-racial intergenerational LGBTQ+ organization working nationally and locally to transform K-12 educational systems and democracy in the United States. Our vision is for students to be able to learn and for teachers to be able to teach, schools must be at a minimum safe from harm. Schools must be places of liberation where young people thrive and reach their full potential and every student completes their education ready to build a multi-racial democracy.

Research is the language of education systems. We conduct research and analyze data and advocate nationally and locally for systems to apply our research on the experience of LGBTQ+ young people in schools and educational practices. Public policies are the upstream supports and ground rules that must empower local communities to implement the four core supports: GSAs and youth leadership, supportive educators and adult allies, inclusive curriculum, and comprehensive policies that prohibit victimization. We educate and influence decision-makers to adopt our policy recommendations that research shows make schools safer and more inclusive. We build power with advocates, educators and students to advance our mission through local and national mobilization.

Through trust and relationships we increase the capacity of our constituents to be catalysts for change by providing the training, resources, and strategic support they need to achieve our vision of positive school transformation in communities across the country.