The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) projected messages on the side of the U.S. Department of Education headquarters on Wednesday, slamming Secretary Betsy DeVos over policies impacting LGBTQ students.
“Betsy DeVos, how do you sleep at night when only 26 percent of LGBTQ youth always feel safe in class?” one of the messages read.
The statistic used by the LGBTQ civil rights advocacy group comes from a survey released by the HRC Foundation and the University of Connecticut this month.
The survey also found that just 5 percent of students said all of their teachers and school staff are supportive of LGBTQ people.
The overwhelming majority of respondents also said they had trouble sleeping at night and 77 percent of LGBTQ teenagers said they reported feeling depressed or down over the past week.
“Betsy DeVos, how do you sleep at night when 70 percent of LGBTQ youth report being bullied at school?” another message projected by the group read.
The Hill has reached out to the Education Department for comment.
HRC wrote in a statement that the messages were meant to bring awareness to DeVos about how the “Trump-Pence administration’s policies are harming already vulnerable LGBTQ youth.”
“Betsy DeVos has spent the last year and half relentlessly attacking the rights of transgender students, youth of color, survivors of sexual assault and students with disabilities,” said Ellen Kahn, HRC’s director of children, youth and families programs.