Julie Noh
The LGBTQ community in America celebrated with great pride when gay marriage was legalized in every state during the historical day of June 25th, 2015. In addition to this feat, schools in states such as California, Illinois, Colorado, and New Jersey began to require teachings of LGBTQ history.
Although these were considered major milestones for the members of the community, many still faced a great amount of discrimination and struggled to find acceptance. Unfortunately, to this day much of this prejudice is very much present in schools and an abundance of young LGBTQ members continue to deal with numerous conflicts regarding their sexuality and gender.
According to GLSEN, just about“…two thirds (66 percent) experienced LGBTQ-related discrimination at school” and many have struggled to maintain a healthy school life as a result. A difficult school and social life for the young members of the LGBTQ community often initiate a significant drop in GPA averages and higher levels of suicide contemplation. In fact, the Trevor Project-an organization that fights to halt youth suicide and struggles-reported that LGBTQ youth are “almost five times as likely to have attempted suicide” than those who are heterosexual.
With such staggering statistics, it is crucial for schools to implement a support system for LGBTQ students. While there currently is a growing number of gay-straight alliance clubs in schools to spread awareness and form a friendly environment between students, some states (predominantly in the south, including Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas) regulate laws that restrict schools from teaching LGBTQ topics and history “in a positive light”, according to U.S. News.
Due to the discouragement students residing in those listed states face, it makes it difficult for them to seek any support in their school environment. It is true, as stated previously, that the community had passed many milestones over the last few decades with great strain.
However, the fact that a big part of the American student body does not have access to an LGBTQ friendly environment at school, whether it be due to laws, bullies, or internal struggles, means that the community has many more milestones to surpass.
It is possible and quite normal for students to feel helpless against these types of situations. After all, feeling accepted in one’s community is a difficult thing to obtain and can seem like an impossible reach. Thankfully, there are many seemingly small yet significant things that students and teachers alike can do to positively promote the LGBTQ community.
Nancy Barile, an award-winning teacher, published a list of simple but effective activities for teachers to “support your LGBTQ students.” A few of these activities included “posting safe signs” outside of classroom doors and “integrate[ing] LGBTQ topics into the curriculum,” if possible.
Additionally, the Human Rights Campaign mentioned the need to implement sex education for LGBTQ students to provide them with “age-appropriate and medically accurate information.” They have also said that doing so would help to“dispel common myths and stereotypes about behavior and identity,” which can greatly contribute to furthering the acceptance of LGBTQ communities and spreading dependable, factual information in schools.
Finally, students can advocate for an “awareness day.” City-Journal reported that a high school in Massachusetts, for example, dedicated a school day to the LGBTQ community and named it “To B GLAD Day —or, less delicately, Transgender, Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian Awareness Day” to advocate for LGBTQ rights and encourage LGBTQ students to celebrate their sexualities and gender identities.
To continue making strides in the LGBTQ community, school is the perfect place to start. It is where students begin to not only receive essential education but also learn more about themselves and each other. By making changes in students’ learning environments and continuing to input efforts to show how accepting they are of LGBTQ students, schools can provide the world with proud queer citizens, as well as those who are loving and accepting of the LGBTQ community.