If you teach civics, if you teach government, if you tech ethics, if you teach civil rights, if you teach children at all, watch this video. This is how we need to think about marriage equality, and how many more of our lawmakers need to start speaking. Thank you, Cory Booker.

Rigid, narrow codes of tradition masculinity and femininity drive poorer reproductive health outcomes, homophobia and gender-based violence. This is especially true among at-risk youth, like those who are of color or LGBT.

To improve outcomes, there has been an increased focus and commitment on "gender transformative” interventions and policies. Gender Transformative approaches question, challenge and change rigid gender norms and inequities. Major international donors–like PEPFAR, UNAIDS, USAID and WHO–have already endorsed Gender Transformative interventions.

Truechild.org is a wonderful resource for grappling with the issue of combating traditional gender norms for young people. This is essential reading/understanding for all educators. Use TrueChild's "learn the facts" section to get yourself up to speed, fast. Our kids need us on this issue as much as any other.

Visit GLSEN's Be an Ally resource page to order a kit for your school or a school you know.

A somewhat stunning article in the New York Times articulates why President Obama will not visit the Golden Temple, the spiritual center of Sikhism in India. As schools around the nation celebrate Ally Week to show solidarity with the LGBT community it is sad to see the White House catering to American ignorance on religion, afraid to put the President in a situation where people might mistake him for being a Muslim by visiting a Sikh temple. It would be laughable if it weren't so sad.

Tim Gunn joins the celebrity efforts to reach out to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning youth by telling a heart-wrenching story of his attempt to take his own life and how it can/will get better.

I am not sure that I would share this with students, but can only imagine that young people are stumbling across it via one of their favorite online venues, YouTube.