In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

  • Improving School Climate for LGBT Youth: How You Can Make Change Now!
  • Martha Langmuir (bio)

“Despite living in a very liberal city, I got mixed reactions, ranging from confusion to people hurling anti-gay slurs.” When Amelia came out in eighth grade, she was the first out student in her middle school’s history and her classmates and the school had a wide range of reactions from positive and supportive to negative and bullying. Amelia’s experience, even in a very liberal and presumably accepting environment, is indicative of the bullying and harassment youth in schools across the country experience because of their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. Seventy percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth report hearing derogatory remarks like “dyke” or “faggot” frequently or often in their school. Whether the harassment is from their peers, their teachers or even school administrators, youth deserve better. All youth deserve a safe, healthful, and respectful school environment. You can help make schools safer for youth in your city and across the country, providing youth with a better chance of finishing school and continuing their education.

The Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) is a national nonprofit organization that strives to assure that each member of every school community is valued and respected regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. One way we work towards safer and more respectful school environments is to collect and analyze data to quantify and [End Page 37] describe the experiences, both positive and negative, of LGBT youth in school. We then use the data to inform policy makers, administrators, educators, youth, and community members of the issue and use it to support students and educators in designing appropriate resources and services to combat anti-LGBT bullying and harassment.

To this end, GLSEN has been conducting the National School Climate Survey every two years since 1999 to gather information about the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth in school and to document interventions that can make a difference in school climate. The survey seeks participants ages 13 and up who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning and who attended high school or middle school in the United States in the past year.

Thanks to our research, we know that the situation is getting better but change is slow. Until 2011, we had seen little change in negative indicators of school climate such as homophobic remarks and experiences of harassment and assault. However, we had seen small but gradual increases in the number of LGBT-related supports. In our 2011 survey, we saw continued increases in many school supports but, for the first time, small but significant decreases in negative indicators of school climate such as biased remarks and victimization. Even with the reported decrease in frequency of homophobic remarks, the vast majority of LGBT youth nationwide who are hearing remarks like “dyke” and “faggot” at school need change to come faster.

There is still much progress to be made toward making school environments safe. Our research has determined that there are four key interventions that schools can make to move toward a safe, healthful, and respectful environment for all students.

Gay-Straight Alliances

A gay-straight alliance (GSA) is a term that GLSEN uses to refer to student clubs with a range of names, from Gay-Straight Alliance to Queer-Straight Alliance, to Spectrum or Rainbow club. A GSA brings LGBT youth together, often with their allies, in a safe space at school, to socialize and often to support change in their school. LGBT students in schools with GSAs report hearing fewer homophobic remarks and less victimization than LGBT students in schools without a GSA. LGBT students at schools with GSAs also report stronger sense of connectedness and that staff are more likely to intervene when hearing a homophobic remark. [End Page 38]

Amelia, mentioned above, decided to start a GSA to educate her school community. The group started out small, with mostly Amelia’s friends, but grew to having over 20 members in a school of 180 students. Amelia believes that the GSA made an impact on the daily lives of students, but the clearest...

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