On Thursday Night May 9th, the Jewish Center for Justice celebrated 2 years of advocacy, education and leadership development. With food, drinks and celebration, we did what we do best… fight for a better tomorrow. Hundreds of letters were signed to our elected officials asking them to support and champion bills at the local, state and national level.

One such bill that we are focusing on this week in the State of California is AB 493, The Safe and Supportive Schools Act which was introduced by California State Assemblymember Todd Gloria and California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond.

If passed into law, AB 493 will provide California schools with resources to support LGBTQ students and create safer school environments. LGBTQ students have higher dropout rates than their non-LGBTQ peers and continue to report missing school because of safety concerns at higher rates than non-LGBTQ students. This results in lifelong consequences including lower economic success and a number of other disparities in health and well-being.

Public school teachers and staff are on the front lines of providing a safety net against the effects of discrimination and lack of acceptance for the LGBTQ community. We need to give them the tools they need by passing AB 493.

Please join us in calling your California State Assemblymember which can be found here: http://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov/

When calling the Assembly office, please feel free to speak from your own conscience, or use the following script as a guideline:

“As your constituent and as a member of the Jewish Center for Justice, I am writing to ask for your support and leadership for the Safe and Supportive Schools Act-AB 493, which was introduced by California State Assemblymember Todd Gloria and California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond.

“Public school teachers and staff are on the front lines of providing a safety net against the effects of discrimination and lack of acceptance for the LGBTQ community. We must give them the tools they need by passing AB 493.”

Learn more about JCJ’s LGBTQ Rights efforts here.