EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY ARE GOOD THINGS

Our schools and communities need to do a better job and I think we just might find some consensus with that statement. Of course, where that consensus breaks down is in how we define "need to do a better job." As someone who supports social justice and equality for all persons (including gays and Muslims – the favorite victims for contemporary bullies) I got my hands on an equity and diversity quiz today. (Thanks to a Jack operative.) I thought I would share some of the stats. The quiz and the answers come from EdChange.org.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the percentage of U.S. schools with NO teachers of color on staff is 40%.

According to a study by the American Association of Physicians for Human Rights, 52% of physicians report witnessing a colleague giving reduced care or refusing care to lesbian, gay or bisexual patients.

Power cocain (largely used by wealthy people) and crack cocaine (largely used by economically disadvantaged people) contain roughly the same amount of drug per gram. Under federal law, an individual must possess 500 grams of powder or only 5 grams of crack to be sentenced to a mandatory minimum of five years in prison.

84.5% of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered high school students report that their teachers "never" or "rarel" respond to homophobic remarks made by other students, according to a national study by GLSEN.

Less than 1% of U.S. government budget goes to welfare while 20% goes to Social Security.

I do believe we need more teachers representing minority populations. We should not ever condone the bullying of a student, any student. We should never condone the compromise of health care based on someone's sexual orientation. When physicians report seeing this (not patients but physicians) then we have a real problem on our hands. Don't let anyone ever fool you. The rights of the people in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community are violated, usurped and stomped upon every day.

These individuals have a right to the same opportunities and advantages just like we straight, married, parentified, White, Christian folks do.

(Bold and uppercase emphasis is mine all mine.)

(In the interests of transparent reporting, the quiz states the stats were taken from the following entities: Agency for Healthcare and Research Quality; American Association of Physicians for Human Rights; American Civil Liberties Union; Economic Policy Institute; Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network; The Immigrtion Policy Center; National Center for Education Statistics; UNICEF; and U.S. Census Bureau.)