Verified Document

Safe Schools For Lesbian And Gay Students Essay

Safe Schools for Lesbian and Gay Students It is important that all children feel safe in the school environment. The majority of waking hours are spent at school, so it must be ensured that students feel comfortable, safe, secure, and supported while at school. This is especially the case for lesbian and gay students, who face several challenges in regards to discrimination, self-esteem, and fitting in with other students. It is the responsibility of teachers and school administrators to address this issue and devise strategies for ensuring that lesbian and gay students are appropriately supported in the school environment.

Lesbian and gay students often feel isolated, alienated, and left out at school (Youth Pride, 1997). These feelings of isolation result in several troubling outcomes. Suicide rates among lesbian and gay students are high, with studies indicating that gay and lesbian students are up to three times more likely to attempt suicide than are heterosexual students, and suicide is the leading cause of death for lesbian and gay young people (Youth Pride, 1997). Gay and lesbian students...

Furthermore, high rates of violence, homelessness, and HIV / AIDS are also experienced by lesbian and gay youth (Youth Pride, 1997). Child welfare and juvenile justice systems in the United States are also disproportionately occupied by lesbian and gay youth (Lambda Legal, 2010).
The negative outcomes often experienced by gay and lesbian youth could be mediated and prevented through initiatives put into practice by teachers and school administrators. These initiatives must target core values and attitudes held by students and staff. Homophobic remarks are commonly heard in the school environment coming from both students and teachers (Youth Pride, 1997). These types of remarks are damaging and stem from attitudes that could be changed with increased awareness. Also, public social and legal policy needs to address and reflect the need for action directed specifically toward lesbian and gay issues among youth in order to decrease…

Sources used in this document:
References

Bullying.org (2011). Retrieved 22 October, 2011 from http://www.bullying.org.

Lambda Legal (2010). Getting down to basics: tools to support LGBTQ youth in care. Retrieved 22 October, 2011 from http://lambdalegal.org/take-action/tool-kits/getting-down-to-basics.

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (2011). Public policy and government affairs. Retrieved 22 October, 2011 from http://www.ngltf.org/our_work/public_policy.

Schwartz, R. (2011). GLSEN lauds bipartisan introduction of safe schools improvement act (S.506) in senate. Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network. Retrieved 22 October, 2011 from http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/library/record/2702.html?state=policy&type=policy.
Youth Pride (1997). Creating safe schools for lesbian and gay students: A resource guide for school staff. Retrieved 22 October, 2011 from http://twood.tripod.com/guide.html.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Homosexual Stigma and Sex Education
Words: 1175 Length: 4 Document Type: Term Paper

Dr. Philip G. Zimbardo has been a professor of Psychology at Stanford University since 1968 and is one of this nation's most famous psychological researchers. In 1970, his Stanford Prison Experiment dramatically illustrated the capacity of ordinary individuals to develop abusive and even sadistic impulses in a classic experiment that has been widely taught to undergraduate Psychology students for nearly four decades. More recently, Dr. Zimbardo was enlisted by the

Gay Foster Children
Words: 2982 Length: 10 Document Type: Term Paper

homeless and runaway young people is viewed by many authorities as a human rights condition that grows out of poverty and victimization, often right in their family settings, and later, in the street (Farrow 1992) where they are further exposed to violence and other forms of dysfunction.. The International Perspective on the Health Needs of Homeless Youth uses the terms "street children" to refer to those below 18 years old

Welcoming Homosexual Lifestyles at Historically Black Colleges and...
Words: 3029 Length: 10 Document Type: Research Paper

Black Colleges Homosexuality In order to create more egalitarian, prosocial, and productive campus environments, it is necessary to understand attitudes toward homosexuality and homosexual students. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students experienced relatively high rates of substance abuse, depression, and stress related to discrimination, difficulties forming social relationships, and low self-esteem (Heck, Flentje & Cochran, 2011). As Kirby (2011) points out, "Having a negative self-concept plays a major role in

Violence in Public Schools the Recent Violence
Words: 4632 Length: 15 Document Type: Essay

Violence in Public Schools The recent violence on school grounds (including elementary, middle school and high school violence) has created a climate of fear in American public schools, and the literature presented in this review relates to that fear and to the difficulty schools face in determining what students might be capable of mass killings on campus. Television coverage of school shootings leave the impression that there is more violence on

Effects of Gender Related Bullying and Harassment
Words: 2121 Length: 7 Document Type: Essay

Bullying and Conflict in Relation to Learning About Gender and Other Forms of Equity One of the harsh realities of life in the United States is the potential for bullying behaviors to adversely affect the learning environment for young victims, transforming the school environment from a place of learning into one that is dreaded and feared. Moreover, bullying behaviors can have a profound effect on the manner in which young people

Bystander Reporting Behavior of Violent
Words: 3147 Length: 10 Document Type: Term Paper

" (in Carr, 2005) Violation of privacy issues is a concern and Epstein (2002) makes the suggestion that incoming students be asked to sign a release enabling administrators to initiate actions should their behavior cause concern or seem erratic. The work of Banyard (2008) entitled: "Measurement and correlates of prosocial bystander behavior: The case of interpersonal violence" reports a study that examined the effects of gender and specific personality characteristics on

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now