Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender students are three times more likely to miss school and consider not continuing their education, said a school official at the Harvard University School of Education’s AskWith Forum on Wednesday.
The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network’s addressed LGBT issues among kindergarten through 12th grade classrooms at the forum.
About 80 audience members listened to GLSEN’s Executive Director Eliza Byard and Joseph Kosciw, the senior director of research and strategic initiatives at Harvard, explain the effects of a hostile school climate and high levels of harassment.
Bullying in school culture, ranging from biased language to physical assault, has become a prominent issue GLSEN members believe endangers every school community.
“Every child in the dynamic needs help,” Byard said. “The victim, bystander and bully are all involved and can feel the lack safety at the school.”
In its sixth-biennial installment, GLSEN Research released the 2009 National School Climate Survey, Kosciw said.
Seven thousand students across America were interviewed and 68.2 percent of all students polled felt unsafe because of at least one personal characteristic, Kosciw said.
Along with that statistic, 84.6 percent have been verbally harassed in the past year because of sexual orientation and 18.8 percent have been physically assaulted by a weapon, according to the survey.
“These effects yield to poorer educational outcomes,” Kosciw said. “LGBT students have greater levels of depression and anxiety, lower levels of self-esteem, and lower GPAs than students who are not faced with this harassment.”
Due to the impacts of LGBT bullying and harassment, GLSEN has worked to institute anti-bullying policy, encourage supportive faculty and staff, create more Gay Straight Alliances and inclusive curricular contact, Byard said.
Along with establishing the annual national event “No Name Calling Week,” GLSEN also worked in partnership with the Ad Council to create the television public service announcement campaign “Think Before You Speak,” which is one of Ad Council’s most successful in shifting public opinion by 10 percent, Byard said.
Abigail Brown, a Harvard senior who attended the forum, said she was the co-president of her high school’s GSA.
“In order to sustain something positive, a student-teacher association would need to be a change in schools,” Brown said. “I can envision a world where it is possible for everyone to feel safe in school.”
GLSEN’s mission is to “assure each member of every school community is valued and respected regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression,” according to its website. The organization aims to create “school climates where difference is valued for the positive contribution it makes in creating a more vibrant and diverse community.”
Founded in 1990 as a volunteer group in Boston, GLSEN brought together teachers and students at a time when schools were not eager to engage with the gay and lesbian community, Byard said.
GLSEN has expanded to New York City, Washington D.C. and 34 other local chapters, Byard said. It is also national partners with the National Education Association as well as with other federal organizations.
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