High School Gay/Straight Alliance Case Studies

Gay-Straight Alliance is an organization on the campus of Savannah State university. This organization is a social organization where any student of sexual orientation can come together in a nonjudgment environment and come to find understanding of each other. The equality of all students is very important to the GSA organization. Not only do the students of the LGBT community receives support from the students with the same sexual orientation as them, they also receive support from those of straight sexual orientation. GSA has also partners with different organization on campus to further help LGBT students. Organizations such as; Phi Beta Sigma, Delta Sigma Theta, etc. Along with partnering with different organization they partnered with the different departments on the campus. Office of Counseling and Disability services, and the Social Sciences department have played a big role when working with GSA. With our partnering with others it helped bring the Savannah State University community together. As whole GSA has surprised students with the different events that held during the spring semester of 2014. From their Volunteering at the Rock n Roll Race to their participation in pride, and also their very own NOH8 support events. GSA definitely made a big statement in supporting the LGBT community and making it a safe place for its students.

[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

Ethical concerns, such as making sure to get parental consent of the minor participants and making sure students were aware of voluntary participation, were addressed and helped to meet ethical guidelines as outlined in ACA (2014) ethical standards. The researchers addressed a cultural strategy by including a question about students’ sexual orientation instead of just their gender identification (Hinduja & Patchin, 2013). This could help the gay, lesbian, bisexual, or questioning students feel that they are being heard because they are represented in the data. Also, the researchers wanted to obtain a sample representative of the diverse population and utilized random sampling and a large

LGBTQ adolescents, also called sexual minority youth, have a higher risk of developing mental and emotional problems than heterosexual youth, and also face more bullying, harassment, and victimization due to homophobia (Craig, Austin, & McInroy, 2014). In order to address their needs, the researchers used group therapy that was based on

These results are meant to spark an interest in their audience and give way to even more in-depth study of the experiences of LGBTQ youth. The information is not just for those in education but it very important for them. There must be methods of intervention and procedures to prevent negative outcomes when a child does decide to confine in his parents about his/her sexuality. There have been studies done in order to identify the adolscents who idenfiy as LGBTQ. One example of a specific study conducted was by Casey Field Office Mental Health (CFOMH). This organization set out with a few questions for a group of foster youth. The study interviewed 188 adolescents ages 14 to 17 who were receiving foster care services from Casey Family Programs in 2006. About 10 children of the group of 188 youths identified as LGBQ. This study includes both the experiences of the LGBTQ youth groups as well as their non-LGBTQ counterparts. The results of this study concluded that out of the 10 students who identify as LGBTQ all felt as though they were not being given the help they needed. They felt marginalized. Another more recent study, the Los Angeles Foster Youth Study (LAFYS), was also conducted by the Los Angeles

Supported by my high school principle, I researched the topic, created and presented a multimedia workshop to the Roslyn School District faculty discussing positive interventions for LGBTQ youth facing discrimination. The purpose of the training was to increase awareness of LGBTQ youth, to identify language that supports inclusion, and to offer interventions that address bias and discrimination in school settings.

In this group project, I had a major role in ensuring that it came together in a unified way. Generally, I usually take a leadership role in group projects so I was the central person coordinating group meetings and ensuring sufficient communication. To begin the project, we divided up the work by assigning people to work on the case study, find literature, summarize the textbook, and talk to key informants. My assigned part was to summarize the textbook, which also ended up lending itself to finding some additional sources to build on what the textbook was lacking. In regard to the group literature and informant summary, I ended up writing most

Consider the frustrations of bisexual and/or transgender individuals when the LGBTQ community’s experiences are defined largely by the experiences of gay and lesbian individuals (LGBT Advisory Committee, 2011). Self-identified bisexuals make up the largest single population within the LGBTQ community in the U.S. (Egan, Edelman, & Sherrill, 2008; Herbenick et al., 2010; Mosher, Chandra, & Jones, 2005). However, both research on the LGBTQ community and funding for LGBTQ organizations tend to focus exclusively on gay and lesbian individuals, rendering bisexual individuals invisible and sidelining or eclipsing their particular needs (Miller, André, Ebin, & Bessonova, 2007). This invisibility has serious consequences for bisexual individuals’ sense of belonging within the LGBTQ community (LGBT Advisory Committee,

I am very proud to say that I have helped to reintroduce our school's Gay Straight Alliance club. My freshman year our club shut down due to lack of interest and most LGBT students at Evansville High were uncomfortable coming out since there was not a lot of them. By my sophomore year, I thought it would be appreciable to reintroduce this club. I wanted to create a fun safe place where students to join as one. I worked hard finding information so I could relate to all, since we had all types of people. A large challenge at my school, which is awful, is students making fun of other people for simply being different.

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).

In the event of an absence, expected or unexpected, verbal or written notification must be given to an officer or advisor.

Emily: I chose to attend the LGBTQ Education Conference in Seattle, WA. This conference was primarily directed towards educators and administrational support staff within academic settings, and was hosted by the SAFE Schools organization of Washington State. The objective that SAFE Schools sought in this conference was to introduce educators and school support staff to the history of the LGBTQ community, as well as to offer a tool box of skills that they can pull from to create the safest learning environment possible for students who align with a LGBTQ orientation (Safe Schools, n.d.). During the conference, a panel of educators discussed current issues their schools are facing, and how they

I think all schools are obligated to follow the laws made by the alberta board of education because the government is trying to make everyone's rights equal. Although in the charter of rights and freedoms it says that all people are allowed to practice in a religion of their choice I think that no matter what religion you practice in you should be allowed to form a gay-straight alliance as it is the

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

I have always been open about being LGBT so throughout High School I have had to face hardships. Since most people knew, they would call me slurs, as well as other mistreatments. So instead of listening their insults, I surrounded myself with LGBT positive friends. Not only did my friends help me feel better about my situation, but they helped encourage me to pursue what I wanted, instead of listening to what the others say about me. I learned that I cannot change what people think of me, but that will not stop me from putting my all into what I care