Teen Fights Bullies Like a Washington Lobbyist

[WillParkinson]

Not many people get rewarded for their actions with an introduction to the president — even fewer would use that opportunity to ask the leader of the free world for a job. But that’s what 16-year-old Caleb Laieski did when he met Barack Obama at the White House LGBT Pride reception June 29.

“I told him, ‘Mr. President, it would be very critical to have an LGBT youth adviser on your administration,” Laieski recalls. “After, I handed Mr. Brian Bond, the deputy director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, more on the idea, and he said he’ll get it to the president.”

Gutsy moves like that are typical for Laieski, who came out when he was 12 years old. Before he dropped out January 7, Laieski pushed back against regular bullying at his high school in Surprise, Ariz. His school’s environment was so toxic that a friend of his, constantly ridiculed for her unconventional attire, hanged herself. The final straw for Laieski’s public education came when a classmate threatened to stab him, and police and school officials did nothing, he says. Laieski got to work — not only cramming for his GED but also crafting a letter that spelled out the legal obligations schools have to protect their students. The letter, eventually sent to every district in Arizona, added that school officials must investigate all accusations of bullying, and if they didn’t, Laieski would work with the aggrieved students to file lawsuits.

http://www.advocate.com/Print_Issue/Advance/Teen_Fights_Bullies_Like_a_Washington_Lobbyist/

[Mnemosyne]

1. K&R

[Amimnoch]

2. wow! What an amazingly impressive youth!

It shames me that i wasted my high school years hiding my own homosexuality both from myself and from everyone else, and hiding in an isolated self built tower of shame, anger, and self-loathing.

What an amazing young man. Total respect and admiration.