History Of The LGBTQ Education Conference

In “We must celebrate gender and sexual diversity in our schools” published in The Conversation, February 16 2016, Lucy Nicholas argues that the current commentary on the LGBTI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex) community against schools and the SSC (Safe Schools Coalition) is extremely out of touch. Many of youths already understand their sexuality, whether it be heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual.

In Michael Sadowski’s article, More Than a Safe Space, he briefly discusses three separate schools in different areas of the eastern portion of the United States and the ways that they have created “safe space” for LGBTQ students. At Amherst Regional High School located in Massachusetts, there is a specific elective course dedicated to LGBTQ literature. This course also specifically touches on issues affecting transgender people and LGBTQ people of color, which is an extremely important way to be inclusive of minority groups within the LGBTQ community. Decatur High School in Georgia runs a group LGBTQ counseling session with a teacher leading who is openly gay. This has further ensured that students at the school know that they have somewhere

Monroe Woodbury, know for its school pride, has always tried to accommodate their environment to meet those of the students. Nationality and Culture are commemorated during Multicultural Week and other events, but one’s sexual orientation and/or gender identity have always been left out, until recently. We have held a LGBT Conference for two years, which GLSEN has been a part of, and hold other events during the school day to promote LGBT issues, ranging from Day of Silence to Ally week. Due to financial constraint, we are limited in what our GSA can do. Our school district is very accepting, yet refrains from speaking about LGBT issues other than bullying. It’s a topic not mentioned and largely ignored

After reading week 13’s article by Coiser (2009) I agreed with the teachers who were served that said they would intervene if a queer student felt a problem was arising at school. The sad thing is that Coiser (2009) states that students from queer families do not feel confident that their teachers would intervene if a problem arises. This made me think back to my previous comment about how I am unaware of the queer families at

In the documentary, Noah, an 18 year old male to female transgender, many people in school ask question about her gender over and over again. Because of the harassment, many tend to drop out from school. “Harassment and bullying lead almost one-third of LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning) students to drop out of high school” (T Salazar). For most of them dropping out from school means working at a lower wage. Or even worse they became homeless. Some people argue that we should create a separate school of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students. However critics say that it means of “segregation or shielding the youth from the real world.” Giving a class about LGBT people in schools might be the solution, since students then will be aware of it. Education about LGBT people teaches not only students, but also the whole generation. Therefore, schools should be the primary targets to teach the society about LGBT

LGBTQA Student Services faculty and student activist leaders informed the 160 student attendees about the

Education is an important factor in life in order to thrive, but LGBT students face harassment in school due to their identity. According to a Human Rights report conducted in 2001, two million American students in the LGBT

GSA groups have been around since the 1980’s and according to the Gay-Straight Alliance Network there are currently over 4,000 school based groups throughout the United States (Currie, Mayberry, and Chenneville, 2012; Tommey, Ryan, Diaz, and Russell, 2011). GSA groups came out of the Gay Rights Movement during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Adolescents identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) or align within the context of this spectrum have been victims of bullying, discrimination, prejudice, persecution, and hate within the school system. For one decade, between 1999 and 2009, the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) in the United States asking students to describe their high school milieu. According to the findings, 61% of LGBT students feel unsafe, 72% report hearing degrading comments, 85% are verbally harassed, and 40% are physically harassed (Fetner, Elafros, Bortolin, and Drechsler, 2012). The statistics for minority high school students including Latinos and African Americans had slightly elevated rates in both verbal and physical harassment. It was not until the realization that LGBT adolescents, like other adolescents, spend the majority of their time within the confines of the American public education system and suffer, did acknowledgement of creating a safe space for LGBT students develop (Toomey et. al, 2011).

Along with verbal abuse, LGBTQ youth also experience physical violence in schools across the country everyday. Back in the 1980’s and 1990’s sociologists such as Joyce Hunter thought that much of the physical abuse happening towards the LGBTQ population stemmed from the stigma and fear that came from the AIDS epidemic that was spreading rapidly among the gay community in that time. In a study as recent as 2003, 60% of LGBTQ youth had reported being assaulted physically due to their sexual orientation (Chesir-Taran, 2003) These physical actions towards the gay and lesbian youth has caused many to fear going to school. In fact, many LGBTQ students avoid school in order to escape the physical harassment. This drop in attendance has detrimental effects on the student’s academics (American Educational Research Association).

[The Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) organization at my high school, which meets twice per month, generated a list of concerns that they shared with school administration. The focus was specifically about gender identity, the lack of support from school staff, and the daily scrutiny they face as a result of their sexual orientation and gender identity. Through collaboration with my colleagues it was evident that there had been an increase in teacher and student referrals surrounding gender identity. The feedback from GSA clearly identified that as a school we are not meeting the needs of our LGBT students and those struggling with sexual orientation. Members of the GSA clearly feel that teachers ignore negative comments like “gay” and “faggot” when they hear them in class, that teachers may not clearly understand gender neutral language, and that our Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) students do not feel safe and protected in school. Students needed support advocating for their right to use a restroom, correct pronoun, etc., requiring district, community, parent, and colleague

For my award, I decided on the topic of the LGBTQ+ community, and specifically helping students who are in the community. This topic has, I believe, become even more important with recent current events. Despite whatever alternative facts that may be presented, members of the community, especially the young ones, are scared and worried for their future and what may happen to their rights. I am planning a number of things to help out, the most important being the panel that will take place in May. For this event, I will be inviting the eighth graders from North’s sending districts. I tried to directly help out at CTMS, but was ultimately turned away. I may also be helping to start up a group for LGBTQ+ students outside of school, with the help of a former

This presentation also showed the differences in the educational experiences of LGBTQ students and their cisgendered peers that are cultural context and political ideology within a particular geographical zone. In her research, Hannah used Judith Butler's performance identity theory, the Reciprocal model of identity, and Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. In terms of methodology, she utilized interview samples that were semi-structured with open-ended questions covering attendance, dress code, bullying, LGBTQ safe spaces/GSAs, and extracurricular activities. The three hypothesis affecting the likelihood of a GSA were developed by the speaker; what is more, the hypothesis number four served as an additional variable stating that the higher is the EDR, the lower is the chance of adoption of a GSAs. Finally, it was admitted that faculty and staff made a significant difference in the operation of policy in the schools, that failure to recognize anti-LGBTQ language as bullying causes a need for further study, and that the transitory nature of global student accommodation required more in-depth linguistic analysis and continued

Sexual orientation and gender identity are two things that members of the LGBTQ community often fear opening up about. They fear that they will be rejected or harmed because of who they are, and it is important that we make all aspects of our society a safe place for every human being, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. As School-based risk and protective factors for gender diverse and sexual minority children and youth: Improving school climate explained, “64% of students feel unsafe at school because of sexual orientation prejudice, and 44% feel unsafe at school because of gender expression” (American Psychological Association). Therefore, schools in America should be making a conscious effort to make their buildings a safe, comfortable place for members of the LGBTQ community. Schools can do several things to promote the

LGBT health and education programs are still being cut today – Safe Schools in Australia, for

Due to finding my voice, I was attended the safe on campus training. In the nine of participants, there are LGBTQ students and employees who are identified as LGBTQ. The main reason attending the training is to recognize violent preventions on campus. Moos (1991) noted understanding climate to form physical nature of the human behavior could be intervening marginalized group of students. The training was organized by office of diversity and inclusion at WMU. The Safe on Campus training provides information on counseling and university policies, safety resources, and violence reporting requirements that help me maintain a safe personal and learning environment.