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The SAFER Act: Students’ Access to Freedom & Educational Rights

Ensuring Students Are Protected from Discriminatory Harassment

The Students’ Access to Freedom and Educational Rights (SAFER) Act will strengthen civil rights protections against harassment based on sex (including harassment based on sexual orientation, gender identity, sex characteristics, pregnancy, a medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth, and sex stereotypes), race, color, national origin, disability, and age. It will also strengthen protections against discrimination by ensuring that schools provide support and protections against retaliation to student survivors so they can keep learning in the wake of harassment; ensure stronger enforcement of civil rights protections by the Department of Education; invest in training and more effective responses to harassment in schools; invest in Title IX coordinators; and ensure greater transparency of students’ experiences with harassment in K-12 schools, federal investigations of schools for violating civil rights laws, and schools’ claims of religious exemptions from complying with Title IX.

To learn more about the SAFER Act, click here.

The SAFER Act was introduced during the 117th Congress year on Thursday, December 1, 2022 in the Senate and the House. Here is a link to a statement from NWLC on SAFER Act when it was introduced.

 

The following organizations have endorsed this bill:

Alice Paul House, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), American Association of University Women, American Atheists, American Humanist Association, American Psychological Association, AnitaB.org, ADL (Anti-Defamation League), The Arc of the United States, Asian Americans Advancing Justice| AAJC, Association of Special Children & Families, Atlanta Women for Equality, Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Athlete Ally, The Army of Survivors, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, Center for Learner Equity, CenterLink: Community of LGBT Centers, Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, Committee for Children, Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, Defend Yourself, Education Law Center-PA, EducateUS: SIECUS In Action,  The Education Trust, End Rape on Campus, Equal Rights Advocates, Every Voice Coalition, Family Equality, Federation for Children with Special Needs, The GA Coalition Again Domestic Violence, Girls Inc., GLSEN, Harvard Law School- Gender Violence Program, Healthy Teen Network, Hip Hop Caucus, Hispanic Federation, Human Rights Campaign, If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice, It’s On Us, Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), Jewish Women International , Just Solutions, Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs, The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Legal Momentum-The Women’s Legal Defense and Education Fund, love is respect: a project of the National Domestic Violence Hotline, Maine Parent Federation, Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence, Men Stopping Violence Incorporated, Metropolitan Parent Center, Sinergia Inc., Movement Advancement Project, MomsRising, NASTAD, National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity, National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities, National Black Justice Coalition, National Center for Learning Disabilities, National Center for Transgender Equity, National Center for Parent Leadership, Advocacy, and Community Empowerment (National PLACE), National Center for Youth Law, National Council of Jewish Women, National Disability Rights Network (NDRN), National LGBTQ Institute on Intimate Partner Violence, National Women’s Health Network,  National Women’s Political Caucus Network for Victim Recovery of DC, Nevada Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence, Oasis Legal Services, The Parents’ Place of MD, The PEARL Center, Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, Physicians for Reproductive Health, Prevention. Action. Change, Public Justice, Rocky Mountain Victim Law Center, SafeBAE, Serving at Risk Families (S.A.F.E), SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change, SPAN Parent Advocacy Network (SPAN), Stop Sexual Assault in Schools, The Trevor Project, UltraViolet Action, Union for Reform Judaism, URGE: Unite for Reproductive and  Gender Equity, Women’s Law Project, Women of Reform Judaism.

If your organization is interested in endorsing the SAFER Act bill, click here.