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Earlier
this week, Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to the President, joined Attorney General Eric Holder in Arlington,
Texas to deliver keynote remarks at the White House LGBT Conference on Safe
Schools & Communities.
Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to President Obama, delivers
keynote remarks along with Attorney General Eric Holder at the White House
LGBT Conference on Safe Schools and Communities at The University of Texas
at Arlington, Tuesday, March 20th, 2012. (Photo courtesy of The
University of Texas at Arlington).
In
speaking before an audience of over 400 teachers, students, parents,
community advocates, law enforcement officers and officials, and elected
officials, Valerie described the steps the Obama Administration has taken
to ensure safety and security for all our young people – including LGBT
students – in our schools and neighborhoods.
As she
closed her remarks, Valerie told the story of Tempest Cartwright, a 12th
grader from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, who experienced – but was able to
overcome – bullying and whose story inspires us to continue to fight for
safe schools and communities:
So in
closing, I would share one more story from a leader who is here today.
Because change doesn’t begin in Washington. Change happens because ordinary
people do extraordinary things … people like Tempest Cartwright.
Tempest
is from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma – she’s 18 years old. When word first got
around her high school that she was gay, she lost friends. Some people
stopped talking to her at church. Other students called her hurtful words
that no young person should ever hear. For a while, Tempest was depressed.
But she refused to let bullies ruin her life. As she put it, “Their
attitudes and assumptions need to change, not me. If I don’t help that
along, who will?
So
today, Tempest is the president of her school’s gay-straight alliance – an
alliance that has more than quadrupled its membership since she became
involved. It’s not easy. In fact, it is hard. When her organization places
posters around the school, they often get torn down. But she and other
members keep putting them right back up. And every day, bit by bit,
she changes the world around her. As she put it, “When people put me down,
it inspires me to stand up.”
Well,
young people like Tempest should inspire us all to stand up, and keep
standing up, for what is right. To stand up for the safety of our children
and neighbors. To stand up for the belief that in America, no one should
face bullying, harassment, or violence because of who they are, because
that’s not who we are.
Read Valerie’s remarks as prepared for delivery
Since
launching the White House LGBT Conferences, we’ve been in Philadelphia,
Detroit, and Dallas/Ft. Worth to discuss issues such as Health,
Housing and Homelessness, and Safe Schools and Communities. Stay
tuned for announcements about future White House LGBT Conferences on issues
including HIV/AIDS, Aging, and Families.
Best
regards,
Gautam
Raghavan
Office of Public Engagement
The White House
In Case You
Missed It: White House LGBT Conference on Housing & Homelessness
Earlier this month, hundreds of advocates, community
organizers, and interested members of the public came together in Detroit,
Michigan for the White House LGBT Conference on Housing & Homelessness
to participate in a dialogue with the Obama Administration on these
issues. The Conference was hosted by the White House Office of Public
Engagement in partnership with the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban
Development (HUD) and the Ruth Ellis Center, a Detroit-based center for
runaway and homeless LGBT youth.
Secretary for Housing & Urban Development Shaun Donovan
delivered keynote remarks at the
Conference. In his remarks, Secretary Donovan described the important
steps HUD has taken to ensure that all people – including LGBT people –
have “a place to call home” and announced that HUD’s new Equal Access rule
has gone into effect. Thanks to that rule, no one can be
discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity
when trying to access HUD funded programs or FHA insured mortgages.
Watch archived video of the opening session and
Secretary Donovan’s keynote
Two panel sessions followed Secretary Donovan’s remarks:
first, a panel of senior leaders that discussed the work being done across
the Administration to address housing for LGBT people, and second, a panel
of nationally recognized advocates who work directly with runaway and
homeless LGBT youth.
Watch archived video of the panel discussions
President Obama
Announces New Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy
Last week, President Obama announced the appointment of one of
the nation’s leading public health policy experts as the Director of the
Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP) – Grant Colfax, M.D., the former
Director of the HIV Prevention Section in the San Francisco Department of
Public Health. Dr. Colfax will coordinate the continuing efforts of
the federal government to reduce the number of HIV infections across the
United States. A component of the White House Domestic Policy
Council, ONAP emphasizes prevention through wide-ranging education
initiatives and helps to coordinate the care and treatment of citizens with
HIV/AIDS.
“Grant Colfax will lead my Administration’s continued progress
in providing care and treatment to people living with HIV/AIDS,” said
President Obama. “Grant’s expertise will be key as we continue to face
serious challenges and take bold steps to meet them. I look forward
to his leadership in the months and years to come."
Read more about Grant and the Office of National AIDS Policy
Tweet of the
Week
What You May
Have Missed
President Barack Obama visits the Dubliner, an Irish pub in
Washington, D.C., with his Irish cousin, Henry Healy, center, and Ollie
Hayes, a pub owner in Moneygall, Ireland, on St. Patrick's Day, Saturday,
March 17, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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