Sec. 2. Findings and purposes
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The Congress finds the following: Public school students who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT), or are perceived to be LGBT, or who associate with LGBT people, have been and are subjected to pervasive discrimination, including harassment, bullying, intimidation and violence, and have been deprived of equal educational opportunities, in schools in every part of our Nation. While discrimination, including harassment, bullying, intimidation and violence, of any kind is harmful to students and to our education system, actions that target students based on sexual orientation or gender identity represent a distinct and especially severe problem.
Numerous social science studies demonstrate that discrimination, including harassment, bullying, intimidation and violence, at school has contributed to high rates of absenteeism, dropout, adverse health consequences, and academic underachievement among LGBT youth. When left unchecked, discrimination, including harassment, bullying, intimidation and violence, in schools based on sexual orientation or gender identity can lead, and has led to, life-threatening violence and to suicide.
Public school students enjoy a variety of constitutional rights, including rights to equal protection, privacy, and free expression, which are infringed when school officials engage in discriminatory treatment or are indifferent to discrimination, including harassment, bullying, intimidation and violence, on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. While Federal statutory protections expressly address discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, and national origin, Federal civil rights statutes do not expressly include sexual orientation or gender identity .
As a result, students and parents have often had limited legal recourse to redress for discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. The purposes of this Act are— to ensure that all students have access to public education in a safe environment free from discrimination, including harassment, bullying, intimidation and violence, on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity; to provide a comprehensive Federal prohibition of discrimination in public schools based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity; to provide meaningful and effective remedies for discrimination in public schools based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity; to invoke congressional powers, including but not limited to the power to enforce the 14th Amendment to the Constitution and to provide for the general welfare pursuant to section 8 of article I of the Constitution and the power to enact all laws necessary and proper for the execution of the foregoing powers pursuant to section 8 of article I of the Constitution, in order to prohibit discrimination in public schools on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity; and to allow the Department of Education to effectively combat discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in public schools through regulation and enforcement, as the Department has issued regulations under and enforced title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 ( 20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) and other nondiscrimination laws in a manner that effectively addresses discrimination.
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Sec. 2
Findings and purposes
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