Gay Rights In Generation Z

[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

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

Throughout history, society’s views of homosexuality and of people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, queer or questioning (LGBTQ) have changed. These views have changed how the members of this community feel about their personal identity as a whole. Over the last ten years, homosexuality and the LGBTQ community have become more accepted in society. In fact, a recent victory for the LGBTQ community occurred in June of 2015 when gay marriage become legalized in all fifty states. Despite the immense torture that members of the LGBTQ have received over decades, they are slowly becoming more accepted in today’s society. As society begins to become more tolerant with different ideals, the new and younger generations will continue to become more accepting of the people who identify as members of the LGBTQ community. These members will become more comfortable in their own skin and be allowed the same opportunities so other members of society.

Various interventions implemented within the school setting have shown to improve the social environment for the LGBTQ population. A report by the Family Acceptance Project at San Francisco State University traced the effects of LGBTQ bullying in a school setting included unintentional statements like “that’s so gay,” or more direct verbal harassment, and physical violence in school hallways (Russell, Ryan, Toomey, Diaz, & Sanchez, 2011, p. 225). The data from the project’s survey of 245 LGBTQ adolescents links bullying to long-term health and developmental problems. It was discovered that LGBTQ targeted bullying related to gender expression or sexual orientation during school years led to increased adolescent depression, suicidal thoughts, social adjustment issues and risky sexual behavior (Russell, Ryan, Toomey, Diaz, & Sanchez, 2011, p. 225). LGBTQ adolescents that reported high levels of anti-LGBTQ victimization as teens were 5.6 times more likely to report suicide attempts than those victimized less frequently. Those who reported suicide attempts were more than double as likely to be diagnosed clinically depressed, and they were more than twice as likely to report having been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease by young adulthood. In the paragraphs to come we will examine how bullying impacts

I can walk through the halls of my school and get shot dirty looks, pushed, shoved, and cussed at. You would think that I had done something personally to them, but it's only one thing. The fact I am a lesbian. Unfortunately, this is the reality for me, and thousands of other teens across the United States. The only reason why they are isolated, beaten, and rejected as a whole, is because Sally likes Jane, and Jessie just wants to be Jessica. The bullying of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth is a real problem. One that needs a real solution.

Most LGBT youth become happy with who they are which gives them room to thrive during their adolescent years. Attending a school that has a safe and comfortable environment for every student is especially important. Positive environments can help all youth achieve good grades and maintain good mental and physical health. However, some youths are more likely than their straight peers to experience bad health and life outcomes. Experiences with violence, compared to other students, come easy to LGBT individuals that can cause increased risks for unfortunate circumstances.‘Violence’ includes behaviors such as teasing, harassment, and physical assault. It is important that students at risk have access to resources and support to deal with any questions or challenges they may have or face as they mature. Surveyed LGBT students reported 10% were threatened or injured, 34% were bullied, and 28% were bullied electronically.

The Bullying Policy has been introduced around the world which, according to the 2014 observations , rates of bullying vary across studies from 9% to 98%. An observation of 80 studies analyzing bullying involvement rates for both bullying others and being bullied for 12-18 year old students reported an estimate rate of 35% for traditional bullying involvement and 15% for cyberbullying involvement (Modecki, Minchin, Harbaugh, Guerra, & Runions, 2014). This means the Bullying Prevention Policy affects million of students nationwide due to the programs created. More specifically, females face a higher indication of bullying victimization than males do. To explain, high percentages of each gender are faced with the aggressive acts of violence, making it extremely hard to perform well in the school environment. Furthermore, as many as 93 percent of students hear derogatory words about sexual orientation at least once every day at school or in their community (violencepreventionworks). Negative name calling and harassment about sexual orientation can be disrespectful to all students. For an example, 3 out of 4 students who are bullied/harassed with such remarks are not identified as lesbian, gay,

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).

And about 30 percent of all accomplished suicides have been linked in some way to a sexual identity crisis problem. Children and young adults who also fall into the gay, bisexual, lesbian or transgendered identity groups report being five times as more likely to miss or neglect school for the reason that they feel insecure and nervous after being bullied due to their sexual orientation and preference. About 28 percent of the youths in the LGBT community feel forced to stop going to school

In the article “Core Values and the Identity-Supportive Classroom: Setting LGBTQ Issues within Wider Frameworks for Preservice Educators” by Michael Sadowski, Sadowski discusses the issues and research on LGBTQ+ in education and a school environment. He focuses on both the students’ and teachers’ behavior towards LGBTQ+ situations. For students, more often than not, there are many forms of verbal harassment that take place such as slurs and derogatory language. For teachers, it is the lack of intervention when this harassment takes place, “38.6 % of the students…indicated that their teachers never intervened when they hear students use homophobic language…44% indicated that teachers intervened only ‘sometimes’.”

For many students, high school is an unsafe, uncomfortable environment. Typically, these students belong to a minority group. Frequently, they’re seen as stereotypes, their identity is disrespected, and when they speak up about a problem they’re facing, they often find themselves talking to an unsympathetic ear. As a member of the LGBT+ community, I observed faced these problems in high school.

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

Slurs and derogatory terms have influenced America’s adolescents, and weak parental figures have also acted as a cause in the nonexistent correction concerning this issue. In addition, if America does not begin to recognize that 9 out 10 LGBT students are being publicly harassed, both mental and physical, then the already high suicide rate will witness another increase. Parents need to start caring for their children's well-being. The emergence of communities built around

Any person who is lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, also known as LGBT, or someone who is questioning their sexual orientation is considered to be a queer youth. The article, Queer Youth and the Culture Wars discusses how queer youth are challenging the cultural norms of sexuality in schools as they are displaying their sexual orientations at a much younger age (Meyer, 2009). Many queer youth are faced with rejection, discrimination and harassment not only from other students but also teachers and administrators. A recent study shows that queer youth who could identify supportive faculty members had a higher GPA than those who did not have any faculty members supporting them, and they were twice as likely to attend college (Meyer, 2009). This shows the major role teachers play in a student’s

Many LGBT have to face discrimination while trying to attend and can be such a huge obstacle to try to receive an education when you have to go to a hostile work environment every day. In the article “Like walking through a Hailstorm-discrimination against LGBT Youth in US Schools” states that “A lack of policies and practices that affirm and support LGBT youth-and failure to implement protections that do exist -means that LGBT students nationwide continue to face bullying, exclusion, and discrimination in school, putting them at physical and phycological risk and