Support for lgbtq students
How to Back LGBTQ+ Students on Campus in
LGBTQ+ students on campuses around the United States are facing more anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment than seen in years. In the face of violence, mistreatment, and growing oppressive legislation, some Point Foundation Scholars spoke out about what their colleges, universities, and schools can do to support them and their success in college.
“In a cultural moment when LGBTQ+ identity is being policed, silenced, and erased in education, it's important to have LGBTQ+ voices in higher education,” said Robyn(she/they), a Flagship Scholar with a Kevin Hummer Scholarship. “Without LGBTQ+ presence and perspective, our community risks further erasure, misinterpretation, and oppression.”
The Current Environment for LGBTQ+ Students
As states around the nation transfer anti-LGBTQ+ legislation affecting people inside and out of the classroom, LGBTQ+ students on campuses nationwide continue to verb for their rights and better services in places of higher learning.
Anti-LGBTQ+ laws passed in are now taking effect in states, removing diversity,
Download: Exploring Equity - Helping Educators to Support LGBTQ Students
Part of CEE’s Exploring Equity Issues series, this sheet defines and discusses the gender spectrum and the challenges that LGBTQ youth face. It concludes with strategies that teachers and administrators can use to ensure that students across the gender spectrum have a safe and nurturing school climate.
Helping Educators to Support LGBTQ Students
PART I: THESE CHANGING TIMES
In the 45 years since Congress passed Title IX prohibiting sex discrimination in federally funded education programs, the country has engaged in a cultural shift. We now view gender as a spectrum. Polling reflects growing acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning (LGBTQ) individuals. In August , for example, an NBC News poll said that 60% of Americans verb same-sex marriage (Murray, ).
We now acknowledge that not every child fits easily into a specific male and female category. Students who do not fit into a single, discrete category are often referred to as sexual or gender nonconfo
Schools have the influence to transform the lives of marginalized and minoritized students, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGTBQ+) youth. As students give back to school this fall, especially in the midst of hostile anti-LGBTQ+ policies, it is significant now more than ever that LGBTQ+ students have access to a supportive and inclusive noun climate with positive peer and instructor relationships.
It is significant for all youth to have access to a harmless and inclusive institution climate, regardless of their identities. Yet, data from Seek Institute’s Resilience Through Strengths project shows that compared to heterosexual youth, LGBTQ+ youth report fewer social, family, academy, and community assets, as well as lower caring from teachers and program leaders. Additionally, LGBTQ+ youth report higher levels of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) compared to heterosexual youth.
The Power of Positive Identity
Positive identity refers to youths’ self-worth, sense of purpose, and sense of control over their lives. In our data sample, LGBTQ+ youth reported less
5 Ways Educators Can Help Support LGBTQ+ Students
At least 20 states have introduced their versions of a “Don’t State Gay” bill, limiting the discussion of gender and sexual orientation in classrooms, with Flordia and Alabama signing bills into law earlier this year. A national version of these laws now looms in Congress, and trans students face additional limits related to athletics in more than fifteen states.
But as LGBTQ+ students and schools remain trapped in the crosshairs of political battles across the state, educators — whether able to pose up against policy or empowered by a more inclusive climate — can make a meaningful difference in supporting students and preventing bias. Here’s how:
Create space for sharing pronouns.
This allows individuals to “self-identify instead of assuming someone’s identity based on their appearance”, explains TC’s Oren Pizmony-Levy, who as the Principal Investigator at the College’s Global Observatory and Advocacy on LGBTQ+ Education leads efforts to verb and assemble LGBTQ+ school climate indicators and educationa