Beyondmedia Education partnered with youth media producers and the Coalition for Education on Sexual Orientation (CESO) and Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN) to create a multi-media toolkit on issues facing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer / Questioning (LGBTQ) youth in Illinois public schools. Can LGBTQ+ Schools=Safe? focuses on sexuality-based discrimination and anti-gay violence of LGBTQ youth in Illinois schools, and shows how to start a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA).
The project includes a 2-part video/DVD produced by LGBTQ youth, a study guide and an interactive website with information and downloadable art, writing, and audio interviews with queer students. The toolkit equips young people, parents, teachers, individuals, schools and agencies in Illinois to create strategies for change around the health and safety of LGBTQ students as well as provide a forum for youth to connect and express themselves. Video screenings and discussions were held for the Illinois State Board of Education and in community organizations and schools. Youth Program staff Zaida Sanabia, who began working with Beyondmedia on homophobia in schools when she was 15, worked with other LGBTQ students to represent the issues relevant in their own lives, through their own eyes.
