Creating Safe Space for GLBTQ Youth: A Toolkit

Many people in the United States may be unaware of how the nation's homophobic climate affects GLBTQ people, especially young GLBTQ people. Despite horrifying incidents that sporadically make headlines nationwide—events such as the brutal murders of Matthew Shepard, Brandon Teena, and Gwen Araujo and other incidents unfortunately too numerous to mention—many people accept, overlook, or ignore the hatred and violence directed at GLBTQ people.

Every other year, the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN) performs a survey to assess the situation that GLBTQ youth face in the nation's schools. The 2003 National School Climate Survey continued tracking the endemic problem of name-calling, harassment, and violence directed at GLBTQ youth. The most recent survey found that

• An overwhelming majority (92 percent) of GLBTQ students reported frequently hearing homophobic slurs, such as 'faggot,' 'dyke,' or 'that's so gay.' Moreover, schools' faculty and staff contributed to the problem by either making such comments themselves or failing to intervene when they overheard such remarks.[4]
• Eighty-four percent of GLBTQ students reported being called names or threatened because of their sexual orientation or gender expression.[4]
• Forty-five percent of GLBTQ youth of color reported being verbally harassed on account of both their sexual orientation and their race/ethnicity.[4]
• Thirty-nine percent of gay, lesbian, and bisexual students and 55 percent of transgender students reported having been shoved or pushed. Transgender youth were about one-third more likely to suffer physical harassment on account of their gender expression than were gay, lesbian, and bisexual students on account of their sexual orientation.[4]
• Sixty-four percent of GLBTQ students reported feeling unsafe at school, and 29 percent reported missing one or more days of school in the previous month because they felt unsafe. Among GLBTQ youth of color, 35 percent reported missing one or more days of school because they felt unsafe due to their sexual orientation or gender identity, their race, or both.[4]

In 2004, California Safe Schools Coalition surveyed youth about perceived or actual sexual orientation and its relationship to health and educational outcomes. Compared to students who were not harassed on the basis of perceived or actual sexual orientation, harassed students were:

• More than three times as likely to: miss at least one day of school in the previous 30 days due to feeling unsafe; carry a weapon to school; seriously consider suicide; or make a plan for attempting suicide;[3]
• More than twice as likely to: report depression so severe as to stop normal activities for at least two weeks; use methamphetamines; or use inhalants;[3]
• More likely to: have low grades (Cs or below); suffer violence; smoke cigarettes; drink alcohol; binge drink; and/or use marijuana.[3]

In fact in most states, the public schools—in which young people spend a large majority of their day—are unsafe for GLBTQ youth. In 2004, GLSEN released a study scoring states on their statewide school policies and whether those policies ensured a safe school environment for all students, irrespective of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. Forty-two states* received an F and one state (Rhode Island) received a D—indicating an abysmal lack of policies to protect the human rights and dignity of all students in the state. Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Wisconsin each got a C; California, the District of Columbia, and Vermont each received a B. Only Minnesota and New Jersey received an A for their statewide school policies.[9]

GLSEN's conclusion was that:

The vast majority of students do not have legal protection against anti-GLBTQ bullying and harassment. Only eight states and the District of Columbia currently have statewide legal protections for students based on sexual orientation. Only California, Minnesota, and New Jersey include protections based on gender identity and gender expression. More than 75 percent of the approximately 47.7 million K-12 students in the U.S. go to schools that do not include sexual orientation and gender identity/expression [for statewide protection] along with federally mandated protection based on religion, race, and national origin.[9]

Moreover, this is just at school. After coming out to their family or being 'outed,'** many GLBTQ youth are thrown out of their homes or face physical, emotional, and/or sexual abuse at home.[2] Service providers estimate that 25 to 40 percent of homeless youth may be GLBTQ.[10] These percentages may be conservative, since many GLBTQ youth are understandably reluctant to come out to strangers, such as service providers at homeless shelters. GLBTQ youth face harassment every day. They frequently face violence, threats of violence, or the possibility of violence. Yet, GLBTQ youth are people, just like heterosexual and gender-conforming*** people. GLBTQ youth have worth; they have abilities, talents, and strengths. They deserve to be treated with the same dignity and respect that others receive. They deserve safe space and respectful treatment in youth-serving agencies, organizations, and programs.

Finally, there are the very real problems that heterosexual or straight youth face because of homophobia. Surveys show that anxiety about being thought to be gay leads many straight youth to take serious risks—such as having unprotected sex and using alcohol and other drugs.[5,6] Ending homophobia in a program can improve the health outcomes of all its young participants—whether they are straight or gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or questioning.

* Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington State, West Virginia, and Wyoming

** Outed means having someone else disclose one's sexual orientation or gender identity. Often, this is someone whom the GLBTQ youth trusted with this sensitive information and who, accidentally or deliberately, betrayed the youth's trust.

*** In this document, no value attaches either to conforming or to refusing to conform to socially accepted gender roles. Later, this Toolkit discusses gender role stereotyping, gender identity, and issues that arise from demands that people conform to societally defined gender roles.