Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside) visited his alma mater, Bryant High School in Astoria, on Monday, Feb. 13, to kick off Respect for All week, an annual city-wide initiative by the Dept. of Education to promote respect for diversity through skits, art projects, readings and performances.

Van Bramer spoke to students at an assembly about the importance of treating everyone as equals. He used his own experience at Bryant High to accentuate the need to be accepting to all people.

“When I went to Bryant High School, I was absolutely terrified that anyone would know I was a gay man,” he said. “I didn’t come to class as often as I should have, and I didn’t do as well as I should have. I was afraid to come to school because I thought that kids would make fun of me. That is wrong.”He said that despite the school having an enrollment of more than 4,000 students when he graduated in 1987, he was sure that he “was the only gay man in the whole school.”

More than two decades later, Van Bramer said he is proud that Bryant High School has a gay-straight alliance and that students can be openly gay at the school.

“I am grateful that the administration and teachers have created an atmosphere of respect, allowing the students to be who they are,” he said. “Everyone here is safe and secure and appreciated and celebrated, which wasn’t the case when I went [here].”

The DOE started this initiative in the hopes to continue to make City public schools safe and supportive for all students. The Citywide Standards of Discipline and Intervention Measures prohibit harassment and prohibit any students from bullying other students for any reason.

In recent years, and with the increased usage among children of social media like Facebook and Twitter, instances of bullying — or cyberbullying — have led to increased numbers of adolescent depression and teen suicide as a result of the bullying.

Van Bramer said there are many things the government can do to help fight all types of bullying.

“We can continue to promote programs like [Respect for All week], push the DOE to do more around these kinds of [bullying] issues and highlighting the real catastrophic effects of cyberbullying in particular,” he said. “Facebook and Twitter have been the leading source for demeaning words, which all too often can drive young people to depression or suicide.

“Legislation has been introduced to increase the penalties for cyberbullying.”