Last Friday, President Obama announced his support of the Student Non-Discrimination Act and Safe Schools Improvement Act. Both are monumental measures to help end bullying in our schools. The Student Non Discrimination Act will add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of groups against whom discrimination is explicitly prohibited, and the Safe Schools Improvement Act will ensure that students can learn in environments free from bullying and harassment.

The President’s endorsement of both acts is reflective of the administration’s long standing resolve to put an end to LGBT discrimination and bullying. Over a year ago, the President and First Lady opened the White House for the first White House Conference on Bullying Prevention, where the President said:

“If there’s one goal of this conference, it’s to dispel the myth that bullying is just a harmless rite of passage or an inevitable part of growing up.”

Since then, the Department of Education has launched stopbullying.gov, an online resource center for students, parents, and educators, and worked with schools to protect LGBT youth from harassment.

The President continues to show our nation’s youth that he stands with them and that, “it gets better.” Check out our timeline of LGBT progress under President Obama.