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Some recommendations and best practices for school counselors to remain in compliance in accordance to the LGBTQ student population would be:
1. Listen to the students. When a student comes to you with a complaint, please take the time to listen and act on their concerns. Bullying, cyberbullying and harassment is more prevalent in this small population.
2. Be sure to follow your school's local policies when it comes to making bullying complaints. Also, be sure to check the status of the investigations. Follow up if too much time has lapsed.
3. Be aware of the changing laws like Title IX. Please make sure that you are working with the laws.
4. Keep anecdotal notes of all professional developments and meetings attended to remind yourself of the current issues in your school. Refer back to your trainings often to remind yourself of the issues.
5. Attend professional developments in this area. Many school counselors state that there is very little in ways of professional development in how to work with and counsel the LGBTQ community. Make it a point to attend all trainings  or be a leader to create your own professional development.
6. Finally, make administrators aware of the changing climate and work with school principals to help students the best way possible.

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One resource that has peer reviewed practices, helpful tips, current research and best practices all in one location is the website GLSEN.org. This website provides resources for LGBTQ individuals and educators in the school setting.
School educators can peruse this website to find lesson plans that are inclusive to the LGBTQ community and volunteer opportunities in their community. The research that is conducted and published on this website is part of the largest research projects for LGBTQ students ever taken.

https://www.glsen.org/

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In the 2014 American Counseling Association publication of the Code of Ethics, school counselors must actively infuse "multicultural/diversity" into trainings and supervision practices. F.11.c. With this being said, school counselors must make inclusion of LGBTQ information part of the curriculum that staff, students, and fellow counselors hear and apply in their practices.

https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/2014-code-of-ethics-finaladdressc97d33f16116603abcacff0000bee5e7.pdf?sfvrsn=5d6b532c_0

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One local school policy is attached. This school policy states that bullying ans cyberbullying is not permitted. Conroe ISD goes into detail on definitions and examples of each. Also detailed is the process for investigation that the school district uses. One school intervention that students and parents can use is "Kid Chat" a calling system where any issue can be reported to school officials.

http://www.conroeisd.net/parents/bullying-cyber-safety-resources/

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Ali, R. (2010, October 26). Dear colleague letter. Washington, DC:  U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights. Retrieved from: https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201010.pdf

The “Dear Colleague Letter” from October 26, 2010 is an example of Administrative Law. In this “Dear Colleague Letter”, bullying and harassment are the topics discussed primarily when the victim identifies as LGBTQ . This letter makes explicitly clear that harassing incidents shall not be tolerated and must be dealt with swiftly and have proper systems in place to investigate the claims.

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1.      20 U.S.C. § 4071

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/20/1681

Equal Access Act of 1984 is an example of Statutory Law. This law established that any school, that receives federal funding, shall allow students to create a club on the basis of religion, political, philosophical, or other content of speech and meet on school property.  This law directly impacted the organization Gay-Straight Alliance. After the passage of this law, GSAs across the country began to sue school districts for discrimination and virtually won every case. As long as the content of the meetings and publications are not obscene, see Caudillo v. Lubbock ISD, the club can meet and be protected under the EAA.

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1.      20 U.S. Code § 1681.

https://www.justice.gov/crt/overview-title-ix-education-amendments-1972-20-usc-1681-et-seq

Title IX is an example of Statutory Law. This federal law banned discrimination based on gender which extended itself to non-conformity of gender stereotypes. This simply means that schools cannot discriminate against LGBTQ students.  This mandate only protects students at schools that receive federal funding.

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1.      Civil Rights Act, 42 USCS § 2000e (1964).

Transcript of Civil Rights Act (1964), Our Documents, National Archives (n.d.), retrieved from www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=97#.

https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=97&page=transcript

Civil Rights Act of 1964 is an example of Statutory Law. This law prohibits the discrimination on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, or national origin. At the passing of this law, protection was given in terms of employment to both genders as well.  While this law does not mention sexual orientation or gender identity explicitly, many courts have upheld that the term “sex” covers people who have been discriminated against because of their orientation or identity. Cases including Macy v. Department of Justice and David Baldwin v. Department of Transportation.

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In this article published by Education Week, Klein and Blad discuss implications stemming from the rewriting of Title IX by the Secretary of Education, Betsy Devos. In this new version of Title IX, the rewording of sections has effectively made it more difficult for perpetrators to be found guilty of sexual assault and harassment. Some criticism to this rewording of laws include a higher burden of proof for the victim to prove that the assault took place. Discussed in the article is that the new rewordings allow for more gray areas for schools to not investigate claims if they did not occur on school property. Also, no action will need to be taken unless it significantly impedes the learning process of the victim. One area notably not referred to in the new version of Title IX is that the protections of LGBTQ students was also removed.

Klein, A., & Blad, E. (2018). DeVos Rewrites Title IX guidance on sexual assault and harassment. Education Week, (14). Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.easydb.angelo.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsgao&AN=edsgcl.565103274&site=eds-live

https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/11/28/devos-rewrites-title-ix-guidance-on-sexual.html

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In Education Week publication titled, Hostility Toward LGBTQ Students May Be Rising in Schools, by Cory Mitchell, one current issue discussed is the lack of protections for LGBTQ students within the high school environment. Discussed in the news article is the fact that 80% of LGBTQ students reported in 2017 that they were either harassed or assaulted at school (Mitchell, 2018). While progress had been made with the Obama era policies, Trump's administration has set back these gains significantly and schools "have become even more hostile towards transgender and gender nonconforming youth", as stated in an interview with Dr. Kosciw, from Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (2018, para. 7).

Mitchell, C. (2018). Hostility toward LGBTQ students may be rising in schools, survey finds. Education Week. Retrieved from   blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rulesforengagement/2018/10/lgbt_students_may_be_facing_more_hostile_school_environments_report_finds.html.
https://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rulesforengagement/2018/10/lgbt_students_may_be_facing_more_hostile_school_environments_report_finds.html

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American School Counselor's Association has release their position statement in regards to LGBTQ students with the most recent updates as of 2016. In this position statement, ASCA, reminds school counselors that their role is to promote a safe environment for LGBTQ students and work to eliminate barriers impeding student achievement.

American School Counselors Association (2016). The school counselor and LGBTQ youth. American School Counselors Association Publication. Retrieved from
https://www.schoolcounselor.org/asca/media/asca/PositionStatements/PS_LGBTQ.pdf

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This legal guide is important in the field of counseling because there is little in ways of professional development to assist school counselors to educate them of laws regarding LGBTQ students. Without this legal guide, school counselors are essentially working in the dark when it comes to addressing issues with students since they do not know what laws protect them and which do not.

My interview was conducted with Allison Chambers, school counselor at The Woodlands High School. Ms. Chambers and I discussed the best practices for helping LGBTQ students be successful in the typical large high school setting.  Three best practices that she indicated were:
1st- know the local school policies
2nd- know the assistance programs that are already in place in your community to help students
3rd- know when to seek advice from other school counselors or involve parents

One emerging issue that impacts counselors and LGBTQ students is how schools are going to address the restroom/locker room issues for transgender students. Schools have not effectively made changes to allow these students protection in this area and have made the schools vulnerable to lawsuits regarding restroom policies while at schools. In the mean time, school counselors are trying to assist these historically bullied students.

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Legal Guide on Counseling with LGBTQ Students

My professional perspective I will use is from a counseling prospective in the K-12 setting. My audience would be for other school counselors. this could serve as a professional development training for back to school reminders.

I chose this topic because after extensive review of research, there is not a clear guidebook on how help LGBTQ students.