Social advertising and non-profit campaigns from around the globe

So Gay Slur Counter

Posted by Marc | 9-12-2009 00:09 | Category: Gender issues

The rate at which students use and hear negative language about lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) people is huge. In the USA over half of all students report hearing homophobic remarks often at school.
The common use of anti-LGBT language is directly related to an even bigger problem – the bullying and harassment of LGBT students. 9 out of 10 LGBT students report being harassed at school in the last year. Over one-third of LGBT students have been physically assaulted at school because of their sexual orientation or gender identity/expression.

GLSEN has rolled out a new tool for the ThinkB4YouSpeak campaign about which I wrote before.
In this new campaign a “slur counter” counts the number of times anti-LGBT words like ‘So Gay”, “Fag” or “Dyke” have been used on Twitter in any given day.

The widget can be used on any website, just like the webbanners (see them after the break).

This campaign aims to raise awareness about the prevalence and consequences of anti-LGBT bias and behavior in America’s schools. Ultimately, the goal is to reduce and prevent the use of homophobic language in an effort to create a more positive environment for LGBT teens. The campaign also aims to reach adults, including school personnel and parents; their support of this message is crucial to the success of efforts to change behavior.

A whole range of webbanners is available. See two examples below.