The Orientation Of Gay And Lesbian Tendencies

[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

The topic of sexual orientation is both sensitive and controversial. This is evident in events, such as the Pride Parade, and also in media, where authoritative figures preach against it and speak of its “sinful nature” (Emmanuele, Blanchard, Camperio-Ciani, & Bancroft, 2010). Sexual orientation exists in various forms, it differs in the way it is viewed by different cultures, and researchers propose different perspectives to explain the emergence of an individual 's sexual orientation. In the discourse of sexual orientation,

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

The most important core value for this case to me is cultural competence. The National Association of Social Worker’s (NASW) describes the importance as cultural competence for a Social Worker to develop “a knowledge base of their clients’ cultures and be able to demonstrate competence in the provision of services that are sensitive to clients’ cultures and to differences among people and cultural groups” (2008). This really seems to be key to this case because the school seems to have Heterosexist values, Heterosexism is having prejudices against those that do not fill the heterosexual norm(Burn, Kadlec, & Rexer, 2005). These values tend to have effect on not only the individuals that may be homosexual, but their greater family system. Often heterosexism can increase psychosocial stress for both the family and the individual. This is extremely common and can even be done through anti-homosexual language such as the things Miranda has over heard.

School psychologists must help create and foster an environment that educates administrators, teachers, and non LGBT students. Many lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgender youth do not feel safe in school. Sexual minority students may suffer harassment (verbal and/or physical) from teachers and peers. As a result, they may experience more absences than heterosexual students. In addition, LGBT youth may turn to drugs and alcohol as a means of coping with the stressful school environment (Patterson 2013, p.192). Many will contemplate or even commit suicide.

There were kids in the school that would make fun of her because of how she was. The teachers did not do anything about it, they just ignored it.” (E. Landa, personal communications, March 1 2017) I believe that middle school is the time that teachers should reach out to their students and try to connect with them. It is hard for a student to reach out to a teacher for help if the teacher hasn’t made an effort to make themselves available for their students. Should a teacher foster a healthy and open relationship with a student they are then better able to help the student who is being bullied. It shouldn’t matter the gravity of the bullying, whether it is because of how they dress, the way they look or if they identify as LGBTQ because these negative experience causes a student to feel rejected and could lead to depression and thoughts of suicide. Munoz-Plaza, Quinn, and Rounds (2002) state “Research has consistently shown that LGBT youth particularly at risk for suicide, as well as verbal and physical harassment, substance abuse, sexually transmitted disease, homelessness and prostitution, and declining school performance.” (Munoz-Plaza et al 2002) This conveys that people that are bullied or left out because of who they are, are mostly likely to fall into depression. LGBTQ cases are ignored by teachers because they might

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

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

Acts of homophobia are an everyday occurrence in American schools. Sometimes acts of homophobia are very overt such as bullying or committing violence against a person you know or perceive to be a homosexual, but more often acts of homophobia are more subvert, comments, looks and body language that is exhibited around people believed to be homosexual. There are also times when homophobia maybe unintentional, such as assuming that all couples at a dance are going to be heterosexual and consciously or unconsciously allowing there to be a double standard on how same sex and hetero

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

Throughout the history of humans, people have been having sex. It’s obviously necessary for the continuation of humans as a species. But it definitely hasn’t been for just reproductive purposes. People have been engaging in same-gender sex for probably as long as humans have been around. However, the terms we think of today when we think of different sexual orientations didn’t get coined until the 19th and 20th centuries. And with these terms came huge stigma that still exists today. There are many different sexual orientations that people identify as (including heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, as well as many others); the orientations that do not coincide with what people viewed as normal were originally given classification as mental disorders.

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 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’.”

In the last few decades more and more young individuals identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, which has sparked a level of interest in educators, as well as researchers to determine the amount of students who feel uncomfortable in their school settings, and why. This research paper will inform educators what the need to understand and protect the students in their classroom in order to create a more diverse, healthy and cooperative learning environment for all students. When students are in the educational setting they should not be afraid to attend school or be uncomfortable; educators should make their classrooms and their school a safe havens for all students, no matter their sexual preference. The purpose of this paper is to inform the readers about the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) community history, how it suffers harassment, prejudices, school difficulties, policies that are in place to assist students, as well as some possible solutions to assist in the education setting.

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