Thursday morning hundreds of students from high schools across Fayette County came together to ensure that they and their classmates are in a safe and welcoming learning environment.
Fayette County Public Schools partnered with community leaders, law enforcement officials and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to bring the anti-bullying summit to Lexington. The guest speakers were the parents of Matthew Shepard. A University of Wyoming student, who was beaten, tortured and left to die by two men simply because he was gay. Now 17 years later, they run the Matthew Shepard Foundation. Dennis Shepard said the key to stopping bullies is by standing up and continuing to educate the next generation. “We are fortunate that we have some things to help Matt’s so called legacy. He just happened to be the person that the crisis around him brought awareness to not only the gay community but the straight community who did not realize all the terrible things that were happening and the lack of equal rights that the gay community did not have”
The anti-bullying summit was also held at the University of Kentucky this/Thursday afternoon. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in five students will experience bullying at school.