In the last year, there have been too many stories about anti-gay bullying at school.
Several years ago, we began a collaboration between the University of Arizona and the YWCA Tucson to help local students voice their concerns and share their experiences; we wanted to better understand discrimination and prejudice and its effects on students. Data collected over the last few years from hundreds of Tucson middle school students show that 46 percent of the students say kids get bullied because they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT)—or someone thinks they are—and 38 percent say students get bullied due to their race or ethnicity.
We didn’t previously know that LGBT school victimization in middle and high schools had such a powerful influence on health and mental health in young adulthood. New research published in the Journal of School Health shows the pervasive effects of LGBT school victimization nearly a decade later on the health and adjustment of LGBT young adults.
The study, based on a group of LGBT young adults from California, showed that those who reported high levels of LGBT school victimization during adolescence were 5.6 times more likely to report having attempted suicide, 2.6 times more likely to report clinical levels of depression, and more than twice as likely to have been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease and to report risk for HIV infection.
Alternatively, LGBT young adults who reported low levels of school victimization showed higher levels of self-esteem, life satisfaction and social integration compared to peers with high levels of school victimization during adolescence.
While it may seem that many—including the mainstream media—have finally discovered that anti-LGBT bullying is widespread, and that some LGBT youth have always been at high risk for attempted suicide, these are longstanding problems.
In the past, some schools have minimized and denied the impact of bullying related to discrimination and prejudice by saying that such bullying is pervasive and expected, so it cannot be prevented. But it is time to get real and realistic. We know the impact of discriminatory bullying, and we also know the strategies that can make schools safe for all students.
Over the past two decades, research has shown the kinds of actions that promote safe learning environments for LGBT students—and all other students. These include clear and inclusive anti-discrimination and anti-bullying policies that include LGBT identity and gender expression; staff training and intervention when discriminatory harassment occurs; the presence of gay-straight alliances and other student-sponsored diversity clubs; and the inclusion of LGBT issues in the curriculum.
These strategies are particularly relevant in Tucson—not only for our LGBT students, but for students enrolled in (or wanting to be enrolled in) ethnic studies. Just like for LGBT students, we know that these same strategies of inclusion make schools safer and more productive learning environments for racial and ethnic minority students. The firestorm in Tucson about ethnic studies is rooted in an understanding that when you see yourself reflected in the formal curriculum of a school, you feel more connected to school and to a place in history—and we know that this matters for achievement.
Despite this knowledge, most students in our state do not have protection related to sexual orientation and gender identity. This spring, Arizona Senate Minority Leader David Schapira introduced an anti-bullying law that would provide this protection; it never made it out of committee. The move to ban ethnic studies only makes matters worse.
Students need supportive learning environments where they see themselves reflected in the curriculum, and they need teachers to disrupt discrimination and prejudice when it happens. We have models of that in our community, and we need to support those models now more than ever.
This article appears in Jun 2-8, 2011.
Thanks for this timely article!
IBM is partnering with GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, for “No Name Calling Week”, kicking off with a curriculum preview and training for IBM employees June 15th 2011, followed by an event on the IBM campus at noon sponsored by IBM Tucson EAGLE (Employee Alliance for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Empowerment) featuring the GLSEN Tucson chapter and students from Cienega High School Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA).
Once an lgbt student is being bullied on a regular basis, and it is far more pervasive these days with twitter, Facebook, and other forms of media and instant access that it was in my day, I believe that the brain of that young person is forever wired to be “clinically depressed” and can only learn to cope with that debilitation.
Study those like myself who were in constant fear of harassment at school who have never been able to successfully put their lives together because the skills for getting support and maintaining relationships are not there. think of the financial costs to society when we, due to this debilitation, are never able to “make it” by societies standards”.
These kids go out and act out bad behaviors and are at risk because no one loves them and that is all any kid really wants, but by the time they become adults they are so mistrusting that they do not have the capacity to be helped. I know this is a bit negative but just look at the various studies, like the new one by GLSEN and the transgender study by NGLTF and TCTE.
Stephen and Sarah know this problem area well. The suggested strategies are known to work. Steve Cody’s comment highlights one of several efforts to remedy the situation. Wingspan, SAAF, and SACASA also know the problems and try to help, and the Alliance Fund provides support to programs through the Queer Youth Initiative to try to spread solutions throughout Southern Arizona.
Bullying is not just a LGBT matter, it is a disease that is running rampant and tolerated by many local schools obviously in denial or in concert with the perpetrators. My grand-daughter spent 1 1/2 years at a local MUSD school being verbally and physically abused with an administration refusing to take appropriate actions to protect her. Finally when cornered in the bathroom, used force to get away from harms way and the consequence was a suspension for aggressing, the Sheriff being called and the school insisting she be charged with assault and battery. Of course as in the past, the bully’s went about their normal routine smug in the knowledge the administration condoned their actions!
This story is not an isolated incident but rather rampant in this particular MUSD school. Shamefully many in the faculty are aware of the prevailing violence but reluctant to call the administration to be accountable for fear of retribution.
“Students need supportive learning environments where they see themselves reflected in the curriculum, and they need teachers to disrupt discrimination and prejudice when it happens. We have models of that in our community, and we need to support those models now more than ever.”
As a teacher, I completely concur. If the schools would give us more freedom to reflect all types of diversity in the curriculum, perhaps the bullying would decrease, with increased exposure to understanding by all students. Also, it would allow we as educators to disrupt the incidences of LGBT bullying, with more support from the school community, and avoid being labeled as “rocking the boat”.
“Once an lgbt student is being bullied on a regular basis, and it is far more pervasive these days with twitter, Facebook, and other forms of media and instant access that it was in my day, I believe that the brain of that young person is forever wired to be “clinically depressed” and can only learn to cope with that debilitation.
I agree with this assertion as well. My daughter is a middle schooler. She has lgbt friends, and hetero friends. She is not identifying herself as anything in particular (sexually), she is still a “kid”…but she is now facing school and on-line bullying, from name-calling to out-and- out threats. She claims she is not afraid, and luckily has a decent enough self-esteem to not let it get to her, although I know it bothers her…I’m just glad she’s still willing to share these incidences with me, so we can block them, and if needed, report these bullies. Social networking, even set as privately as possible, is nearly impossible to protect one totally, if you don’t educate yourself and young people on avoidance and appropriate response to these situations.