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5 survey questions

1. Do you feel that transgender students have the rights to use the bathroom they feel is right for them? Yes, I think everyone has the right to feel comfortable in every environment. However, this topic can be controversial when looking through different lens.

2. Did you learn something about LGBTQ that you didn’t know before this workshop?

No or yes? If yes, explain. Yes, I learned the most about the LGBTQ population through the mental health aspects such as the way the stigma on the LGBTQ population can affect them, that statistics were truly eyeopening.

3. Is there more for the school social worker to do to keep the LGBTQ students safe? Explain.
School social workers can advocate and promote a safe environment and be the voice for equality for the LGBTQ population.

4. Should there be workshops for the staff and teachers on culture competence, to be more aware about LGBTQ community? I think workshops would be highly beneficial for educators as it will give them the training they need, for awareness and also ways in which they can practice cultural compentence.

5. Do you agree with the activities placed in the workshops? Are there any other activities you would contribute to educate others? I do agree with the presented activities, my favorite activity was the diversity week because there are so many creative way students and the school community can become involved for diversity awareness. An example of a cute activity that could be done is having 2 chicken eggs one dark and one white and showing that on the outside they may be different but on the inside they are alike. Overall, I thought you did a great job executing your research on the LGBTQ population.

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LGBTQ: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, transgender and Questioning. This is a community full of unique human beings that expresses themselves different from others.

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Here is a video of men and women talking about how others see them and how they see themselves as being part of the LGBTQ community. 

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Here is a video of men and women talking about how others see them and how they see themselves as being part of the LGBTQ community. 

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Here are some activities to gain more knowledge about the LGBTQ community and to use as icebreakers or discussions

- Trivia games
- worksheets
- Roll play
-  imaging games/ exercise
- workshops to express themselves

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Culture competence- is to understand, interact and to be aware of other people culture identity different from one's own.
-As a school social worker or anybody in the school system we should become more aware of the correct terminology. For example the definition of "cis, gender, asexual,  and gender fluid". Also, how to use the right pronouns for individuals such as "he, him, them, they, her, she"

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Last updated: 5/31/2023

Many Americans refrain from talking about sexual orientation and gender identity or expression because it feels taboo, or because they're afraid of saying the wrong thing. This glossary was written to help give people the words and meanings to help make conversations easier and more comfortable. LGBTQ+ people use a variety of terms to identify themselves, not all of which are included in this glossary. Always listen for and respect a person's self identified terminology.

Ally | A term used to describe someone who is actively supportive of LGBTQ+ people. It encompasses straight and cisgender allies, as well as those within the LGBTQ+ community who support each other (e.g., a lesbian who is an ally to the bisexual community).

Asexual | Often called "ace" for short, asexual refers to a complete or partial lack of sexual attraction or lack of interest in sexual activity with others. Asexuality exists on a spectrum, and asexual people may experience no, little or conditional sexual attraction.

Biphobia | The fear and hatred of, or discomfort with, people who love and are sexually attracted to more than one gender.

Bisexual | A person emotionally, romantically or sexually attracted to more than one gender, though not necessarily simultaneously, in the same way or to the same degree. Sometimes used interchangeably with pansexual.

Gay | A person who is emotionally, romantically or sexually attracted to members of the same gender. Men, women and non-binary people may use this term to describe themselves.

Genderqueer | Genderqueer people typically reject notions of static categories of gender and embrace a fluidity of gender identity and often, though not always, sexual orientation. People who identify as "genderqueer" may see themselves as being both male and female, neither male nor female or as falling completely outside these categories.

Gender binary | A system in which gender is constructed into two strict categories of male or female. Gender identity is expected to align with the sex assigned at birth and gender expressions and roles fit traditional expectations.

Gender dysphoria | Clinically significant distress caused when a person's assigned birth gender is not the same as the one with which they identify.

Gender-expansive | A person with a wider, more flexible range of gender identity and/or expression than typically associated with the binary gender system. Often used as an umbrella term when referring to young people still exploring the possibilities of their gender expression and/or gender identity.

Gender expression | External appearance of one's gender identity, usually expressed through behavior, clothing, body characteristics or voice, and which may or may not conform to socially defined behaviors and characteristics typically associated with being either masculine or feminine.

Gender-fluid | A person who does not identify with a single fixed gender or has a fluid or unfixed gender identity.

Homophobia | The fear and hatred of or discomfort with people who are attracted to members of the same sex.

Intersex | Intersex people are born with a variety of differences in their sex traits and reproductive anatomy. There is a wide variety of difference among intersex variations, including differences in genitalia, chromosomes, gonads, internal sex organs, hormone production, hormone response, and/or secondary sex traits.

Lesbian | A woman who is emotionally, romantically or sexually attracted to other women. Women and non-binary people may use this term to describe themselves.

LGBTQ+ | An acronym for "lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer" with a "+" sign to recognize the limitless sexual orientations and gender identities used by members of our community.

Non-binary | An adjective describing a person who does not identify exclusively as a man or a woman. Non-binary people may identify as being both a man and a woman, somewhere in between, or as falling completely outside these categories. While many also identify as transgender, not all non-binary people do. Non-binary can also be used as an umbrella term encompassing identities such as agender, bigender, genderqueer or gender-fluid.

Outing | Exposing someone's lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender or gender non-binary identity to others without their permission. Outing someone can have serious repercussions on employment, economic stability, personal safety or religious or family situations.

Pansexual | Describes someone who has the potential for emotional, romantic or sexual attraction to people of any gender though not necessarily simultaneously, in the same way or to the same degree. Sometimes used interchangeably with bisexual.

Queer | A term people often use to express a spectrum of identities and orientations that are counter to the mainstream. Queer is often used as a catch-all to include many people, including those who do not identify as exclusively straight and/or folks who have non-binary or gender-expansive identities. This term was previously used as a slur, but has been reclaimed by many parts of the LGBTQ+ movement.

Questioning | A term used to describe people who are in the process of exploring their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Same-gender loving | A term some prefer to use instead of lesbian, gay or bisexual to express attraction to and love of people of the same gender.

Sex assigned at birth | The sex, male, female or intersex, that a doctor or midwife uses to describe a child at birth based on their external anatomy.

Sexual orientation | An inherent or immutable enduring emotional, romantic or sexual attraction to other people. Note: an individual's sexual orientation is independent of their gender identity.

Transgender | An umbrella term for people whose gender identity and/or expression is different from cultural expectations based on the sex they were assigned at birth. Being transgender does not imply any specific sexual orientation. Therefore, transgender people may identify as straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, etc.

Transitioning | A series of processes that some transgender people may undergo in order to live more fully as their true gender. This typically includes social transition, such as changing name and pronouns, medical transition, which may include hormone therapy or gender affirming surgeries, and legal transition, which may include changing legal name and sex on government identity documents. Transgender people may choose to undergo some, all or none of these processes.

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This glossary was written to help give people the words and meanings to make conversations about sexual orientation and gender expression easier.

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Here is a short video of how students feel safer if they have alliance of students that are straight. 

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Here is a short video of how students feel safer if they have alliance of students that are straight. 

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LGBTQ students feel safer at schools with gay-straight alliances

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I picked out some facts that stood out to me because there are students around the world that went through this and are still going through it.

- 1.3 million kids, or roughly 8% of all high school students in America, report being lesbian, gay, or bisexual.
- Nearly 18% of lesbian, gay, and bisexual students reported having been raped at some point in their lives, more than three times the rate of straight students.
- Almost 30% had attempted suicide, more than four times the rate for straight students, and 60% reported feeling sad or hopeless twice the rate of their straight peers.
-  Some of these kids used hard drugs far more often: 6% reported using heroin at least once, and 5% reported injecting a drug intravenously.

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Last year, the US Centers for Disease Control released its national survey of high school students, called the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, as they've done every other year for decades. But this time, there were two new questions.

One asked students about their sexual orientation; the second asked the gender of their partners. States could choose which CDC questions to ask their teens; 27 states agreed, enough, researchers believe, to offer data that can be extrapolated to the rest of the country. That made it the first-ever national survey to parse high schoolers by sexuality.

For the first time, we know that some 1.3 million kids, or roughly 8% of all high school students in America, report being lesbian, gay, or bisexual.

Digging into the data, though, as Laura Kann, the lead author on the survey put it, is "truly heartbreaking." Kann has been working with CDC data from high schoolers for 30 years.

8% of all high school students in America, report being lesbian, gay, or bisexual

Nearly 18% of lesbian, gay, and bisexual students reported having been raped at some point in their lives-more than three times the rate of straight students. They were twice as likely to be bullied, both online and on school property, and more than twice as likely to stay home from school to avoid violence they felt might befall them on the way there, or on school grounds. Almost 30% had attempted suicide, more than four times the rate for straight students, and 60% reported feeling "sad or hopeless," twice the rate of their straight peers. They also used hard drugs far more often: 6% reported using heroin at least once, and 5% reported injecting a drug intravenously, which was four and five times the rate among straight kids, respectively.

The numbers made very clear what activists have been saying for decades: The public health of queer youth must be documented, recognized, and protected.

The struggle to get LGBT health taken seriously as a distinct category of risk goes back several generations. For decades, while homosexuality was on the books as a mental disorder, the US turned a blind eye to the actual mental and physical health needs of LGBT people, while continuing to pathologize them-homophobia was basically enshrined in the medical literature.

In the 1970s, "gay people were considered to be mentally ill, so no one was thinking about physical health," says Caitlyn Ryan, a clinical social worker who has been working on LGBT health issues for nearly 40 years in California. "There were very few young people who were out. Gay bashing was routine. The level of antipathy, of anger, of prejudice, was higher. There just wasn't access. Health providers would provide painful care-they would inflict pain on a gay patient, if they knew they were gay. People were dying alone, because their partners would not be allowed to be with them."

The American Psychiatric Association voted to remove homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1973, but the effects of years of pathologizing being gay rippled on for decades.

When Ryan began researching the US LGBT community in the early 1980s, at the height of the AIDS crisis, homosexuality was so taboo that scientists were resorting to euphemisms in their work. "There was a time when program officers at the NIH [National Institutes of Health, a key funder of research] were telling proposers not to put words like 'gay' in their proposals because they would not get funded. Friends of mine were affected," Ryan says. The field, as a whole, was stunted, with no major research investment since Alfred Kinsey's famous "Kinsey Reports" in the 1940s. "Part of the reason we had no good science on sexuality since Kinsey is that when they tried to do follow up studies they were blocked."

In the 1990s, gay characters began to appear in mainstream culture, but at the same time Ryan watched the rise of religious conservatism in the US sideline efforts to include questions about sexuality on national surveys. The American Teenage Survey, for example, which was meant to be the first major longitudinal study on US adolescents, was scuttled completely in 1993 after Congress got wind that the NIH was funding research on teen sex.

Any explicit references to sexual attraction were replaced with euphemisms like "romantic attraction"

Eventually, another study took its place, but any explicit references to sexual attraction were replaced with euphemisms like "romantic attraction." Researchers could glean little-to-no information about sexual behavior from that wording. "On a human level, it impacted people's lives," Ryan says. Without clear data showing the health risks faced by LGBT people, especially young ones, states had little reason to invest in reducing them.

There was some progress at the state level in the 1990s. In 1995, Massachusetts became the first state to ask high schoolers in its state-level health survey. Thanks to Massachusetts' efforts, we know the state's population of teens identifying as LGBT is growing: In the mid-1990s, about 6% of girls and 7% of boys in Massachusetts high schools reported being sexual minorities. By 2015, the most recent year of data, that had grown to 18% of girls and almost 9% of boys.

The data also tell us about how all these LGBT teens in Massachusetts are doing: in 2015, 25% of LGBT youth reported attempting suicide (versus 5% of straight kids), compared to 35% in 1995 (versus 9% of straight kids), when sexual orientation questions first appeared. In 2015, 13% of LGBT kids said they didn't go to school for a day or more because they felt unsafe, compared to 25% of LGBT kids who said the same in 1995.

That's some improvement, says Sean Cahill, the director of health policy research at the Fenway Institute, a research and LGBT health advocacy center in Boston, but it's not nearly enough. "We've had all this pro-gay advancement in Massachusetts; we had marriage equality in 2003. You'd think that having legal equality you'd have improvement in health, but we don't see that," Cahill says.

That said, Massachusetts' state-level data has given local policymakers essential insights into how to improve the health and lives of the state's LGBT teens. For example, thanks to the survey, Massachusetts now knows that gay and lesbian high schoolers who reported being able to talk to "a teacher or other adult in this school if you have a problem" had fewer suicide attempts, lower rates of being threatened in school, and less injected drug use. Going to a high school that had a Gay-Straight Alliance correlated to less bullying and fewer suicide attempts, too. Schools that included HIV/AIDS education in their sex ed classes were associated with less injected drug use and lower rates of STIs, and including queer-specific information in the sex-ed curriculum also reduced several risk factors. Suddenly, it becomes very obvious what concrete steps a concerned superintendent can take to protect their queer students.

Data on Montana's high school population prompted that state to enact a rule requiring schools to report bullying

Once the CDC collects a few more years of its national data, the numbers could prompt a real push for protections in other states and cities, too. The Youth Risk Behavior Survey has a legacy of that sort of thing; data on Montana's high school population prompted that state to enact a rule requiring schools to report bullying, and Los Angeles, alarmed by skyrocketing rates of "vaping" the survey uncovered in its high schools, banned e-cigarettes from public spaces outright.

"You can't get health policy without numbers," says Cahill "We have a motto: 'If they don't count us, we don't count.'"

The next group to be counted will be transgender teens. In 2017, for the first time, the CDC sent out its annual survey with a new, pilot question on gender identity and expression. Getting the wording right took "several years," Kann says. "Questionnaire development is both an art and a science." The CDC won't know until October how many states and cities decided to include the pilot question in their surveys, but if enough do, and the question graduates from the "pilot" phase, the US will be able to count, for the first time, of how many trans kids are in its high schools. And then just maybe a more tailored landscape of health and community care for these kids will begin to take shape.

That's essential, considering what Cahill sees as a "disturbing trend" in some states to target gay health care. There are the state bills barring transgender people from using bathrooms consistent with their gender, and a White House administration that is openly hostile towards protecting trans youth. There are the laws like the one passed in Tennessee last spring authorizing mental health providers to refuse serve people if they feel providing assistance would go against their religious belief system.

Data on older members of the LGBT community are also essential for crafting the right sorts of public health policies. There's some good news on that front: the Bureau of Primary Health Care, an arm of the federal Health Resources and Services Administration which funds health centers in underserved communities, began requiring their centers to report on the sexual and gender identities of their patients last year; the 2016 data is due this year. And as of 2015, the US Department of Health and Human Services began requiring electronic health record systems used in hospitals that take Medicare and Medicaid to include fields for collecting patient sexual orientation and gender identity information.

That, Cahill says, represents a major shift in the way the federal government thinks about patients; up until this point, asking patients questions about their race and age were assumed to be critical for understanding health needs of a patient, but gender and sexuality? That was taboo. (The New York Times reports that for many doctors it still is.) But as more and more data rolls in, showing obvious health disparities, the more reason the healthcare system has for making it medically routine.

The point is to make LGBT patients visible to a healthcare system that's largely ignored them. Or, as Cahill puts it, to provide the system with "a wakeup call."

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A teen health survey crucial to US public policy is finally asking about sexual orientation

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Last year, the US Centers for Disease Control released its national survey of high school students, called the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, as they've done every other year for decades. But this time, there were two new questions. One asked students about their sexual orientation; the second asked the gender of their partners.

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As a School social worker, teacher or staff member should be more aware of the bathroom policy. Take in consideration of how it will/could make the lgbtq students feel.
- Title IX is a law that is placed in the schools, says no harassment against LGBTQ students will be allow in the case of Nabozny v. Podlesny, 1996 (Jackson and Massat, 2016).

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Gender Spectrum has released, Transgender Students and School Bathrooms: Frequently Asked Questions to address many of the common questions that arise for school leaders at the school and district level as they work to create gender-inclusive school environments. Anticipating and listening to these concerns and providing concrete responses to them will allow school officials to successfully respond to the majority of situations related to this topic.

This resource is endorsed and supported by the American School Counselor Association, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, the National Association of School Psychologists, and the National Association of Secondary School Principals.

"While this may be new to some educators, parents, and students, this document builds on the successful experiences of educators throughout the country who have skillfully implemented gender inclusive policies, including those related to bathrooms", said Joel Baum, Senior Director of Professional Development and Family Services at Gender Spectrum. "Enacting these policies allows school leaders to support the needs of all students."

Having support at school and acknowledging a student's right to use the bathroom consistent with their Gender identity is critical. A negative school experience not only hinders a Transgender student's academic achievement and growth, but can also interfere with their long-term health and well-being.

75.1% of transgender students feel unsafe at school because of their Gender expression

63.4% of transgender students reported avoiding bathrooms

41% of transgender or gender non-conforming people have attempted suicide

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Organizations that Support this Resource
The organizations that endorsed Transgender Students and School Bathrooms: Frequently Asked Questions shared the following:
American School Counselor Association
"The American School Counselor Association believes the current discussions about transgender students are not about restrooms and locker rooms. They are about discrimination. Schools must fight discrimination by teaching students to be tolerant of others and by advocating against policies and practices that create barriers for certain segments of the student population. ASCA is confident the Gender Spectrum resource Transgender Students and School Bathrooms: Frequently Asked Questions will help schools accomplish these goals." - Richard Wong, Executive Director
National Association of Elementary School Principals
"It is critically important to maintain a positive school culture where all students feel included and respected, regardless of their gender identity or gender expression. Education leaders should use this guide to ensure the safety and well-being of every student in their learning communities." - Gail Connelly, Executive Director,
National Association of School Psychologists
"NASP supports efforts to ensure that schools are safe and inclusive learning environments for all students. The Transgender Students and School Bathrooms Frequently Asked Questions resource provides much needed information to guide educators in the development of inclusive bathroom policies for transgender and gender expansive youth." - Mary Beth Klotz, PhD, NCSP, Director of Educational Practice
National Association of Secondary School Principals
"Schools leaders must create the conditions in which each student feels comfortable so each can learn at high levels. Given the high rates of harassment of transgender youth, we have to make a particular effort to safeguard them so nothing gets in the way of their learning." - Michael Allison, President

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Additional Resources
Below are additional resources to help your school support all students:

Gender Support Plan - The purpose of this document is to create shared understandings about the ways in which the student's authentic gender will be accounted for and supported at school.

Sample District and Statewide Policies that Provide Protection for Transgender Students - Excerpts from state and local school district policies that are currently in place.

Schools in Transition: A Guide for Supporting Transgender Students in K-12 Schools - Offers practical guidance and field-tested tips to parents, educators, administrators, and community members on planning and supporting a transgender student through a Transition at school.
Additional Resources for Educators Additional Resources for Parents and Family
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Policies and Guidelines
The following policies and guidelines come from the organizations that have joined with Gender Spectrum to support the contents of this FAQ:

ASCA - Position Statement: The School Counselor and LGBT Students

NASP - Position Statement: Safe Schools for Transgender and Gender Diverse Students

NASP and APA - Joint Resolution on Gender and Sexual Orientation Diversity in Children and Adolescents in Schools

NASSP - Statement: NASSP States Support for Rights of Transgender Students

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Transgender Students and School Bathrooms

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Gender Spectrum has released, Transgender Students and School Bathrooms: Frequently Asked Questions to address many of the common questions that arise for school leaders at the school and district level as they work to create gender-inclusive school environments.

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Here are some tips to building a better school climate:

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Here are some tips to building a better school climate:

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- Make sure the dress code is equal among all students
- Let students express themselves. Encourage them to do it!
- Bathrooms are equal. Let transgenders use the bathroom they feel most comfortable going to.
- use the right terminology
- Remember the first amendment
- Allow the LGBTQ students to participate any sport they feel is fit for them.

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Schools are places of learning and also miniature societies. The climate of a school has a direct impact on both how well students learn and how well they interact with their peers. Teachers and administrators work hard to make their classrooms welcoming places where each student feels included. But despite these efforts, students who are-or who are perceived to be-lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender (LGBT) continue to face a harsh reality.

According to a recent Human Rights Campaign survey, LGBT students report being harassed at school-both verbally and physically-at twice the rate of non-LGBT youth. With heightened stressors like bullying, harassment and a lack of role models, LGBT students are also more likely to experience negative educational outcomes.

Needless to say, LGBT students need allies.

Studies have shown that creating a supportive environment for LGBT students improves educational outcomes for all students, not just those who may identify as LGBT. And remember, it's not about politics-it's about supporting students. Any educator, regardless of his personal beliefs, can be a resource for LGBT students.

It all starts with awareness. Often educators are unsure how to support their LGBT students in a meaningful way. These best practices were compiled to give school leaders the knowledge they need to create a climate in which their most vulnerable students feel safe and valued. Through inclusive policies and nurturing practices, administrators, counselors and teachers have the power to build an educational environment that is truly welcoming to all students.

Gay-Straight Alliance Clubs (GSAs)

GSA's are a great way to educate students about diversity and support LGBT students. They can also be a valuable resource to administrators trying to gauge the temperature of their school climates.

Remember that a GSA club is no different than any other student club and cannot be subjected to any extra regulations.

Get Started

Empower GSA members to educate their peers by providing venues for communication (e.g., airtime during the daily announcements, a wall on which to hang posters or a school assembly).

Inclusive Leaders and Allies

Leaders who promote a safe and inclusive environment are essential in creating a positive school climate, and they should be rewarded accordingly.

Publicly praise staff members who actively promote an inclusive environment. This practice both affirms their positive action and creates a culture in which other staff members are unafraid to be allies to LGBT and gender-nonconforming students.

Get Started

At end-of-the-year award ceremonies, present special "Diversity Leader" certificates to educators who actively promoted an inclusive school environment throughout the year.

Clothing and Dress Codes

Clothing is a key way students express their various identities-and many fashion choices are protected by the First Amendment.

Enforce dress codes among all students equally. A school cannot Constitutionally forbid male students to wear dresses, for instance, if other students are allowed to wear dresses.

Empower students to express themselves. Messages supporting LGBT rights are protected speech, whether they're spoken, worn on a button or printed on a T-shirt.

Get Started

Check your dress code today. Are there rules that apply only to some students? If so, take immediate steps to remove them from your student handbook.

Transgender and Intersex Students

Gender (how a person feels) and biological sex (the physical makeup of a person's anatomy) are two different things, and they are not always aligned. For example, a person may be raised as a girl but identify as a boy. Others may have been born with a condition that places their biological sex between male and female; they may still be deciding which gender they will ultimately adopt.

Help students whose gender is incorrectly listed on paperwork to correct the situation and ensure school staff and students address them using their preferred pronouns.

Designate a gender-neutral restroom. Binary (women/men or boy/girl) restrooms aren't inclusive and can be unsafe spaces for transgender and intersex students. Allow each transgender or intersex student to use the restroom in which that student is most comfortable, whether it's the gender-neutral restroom or the restroom that corresponds with the student's self-identified gender.

Get Started

Evaluate your administrative forms and communications. Do they use gender-neutral language or provide an opportunity for students to communicate their gender identity? If not, make the needed updates.

Proms and Other School Events

LGBT students and students who do not conform to gender norms can easily feel excluded from extracurricular events like proms if care is not taken to implement inclusive practices and language.

Use gender-inclusive language on all event communications, including invitations.

Educate event organizers about students' First Amendment right to attend events with a same-sex date and to wear clothing of their choice.

Get Started

Designate one member of your prom committee as the "Inclusivity Planner" to ensure that every student feels welcome.

Privacy

Four of ten LGBT youths say the community in which they live is not accepting of LGBT people, which makes it absolutely imperative that educators respect students' right to privacy.

Never reveal a student's sexual orientation or gender identity without the student's permission-even to the student's family.

Get Started

Include language in school privacy policies that explicitly states the confidentiality of information pertaining to students' sexual orientations and gender identities.

Anti-Bullying Policy

Before a school can be inclusive of all students, it must be safe for all students. Your school's anti-bullying policy or code of conduct is the most public statement of its commitment to student safety. A strong policy protects all students, but many schools need explicit guidance on safeguarding LGBT students.

Include language specifically prohibiting harassment based on nonconformity to gender norms, gender identity and gender expression.

Give examples of harassment based on actual or perceived sexual orientation.

Evaluate the effectiveness of your school's anti-bullying program annually using student and staff surveys.

Designate an anti-bullying coordinator as well as an anti-bullying task force. Staff members specifically trained to prevent and respond to bullying incidents play a pivotal role in developing and maintaining your school's anti-bullying program and are essential if a bullying incident occurs.

Communicate effectively and often with students, parents or guardians and the community about school climate issues such as bullying. Post the name and contact information for your schools' anti-bullying coordinator in the office, on the school website and in the student handbook.

Ensure that reactions to reports of harassment do not further stigmatize students who were targeted for their real or perceived LGBT identities.

Educate teachers and administrators about common bullying myths, such as the idea that LGBT students are "asking for it" by expressing their sexual orientations or dressing in their preferred manners.

Get Started

Review your current anti-bullying policy. Don't forget to get input from students, parents, guardians, educators and the community.

Bullying Hot Spots

Bullying often occurs when adults aren't present. Identifying areas where bullying takes place and taking action to make those places safer is an important step in the school climate improvement process.

Identify "hot spots" where bullying often occurs (inside or outside) and take immediate corrective actions to eliminate them, such as training and assigning students or staff to monitor these locations and/or adding cameras.

Get Started

Teaching Tolerance's mapping exercise helps you begin identifying your school's "hot spots."

Training

From students to district administrators, everyone has a role to play in creating an inclusive school climate. Proper training gives all school community members a thorough understanding of the part they play in making their school an environment that welcomes all students.

Conduct student training once a year, including ageappropriate discussion of the following:

The importance of diversity (including nonconformity with gender norms) in the student body;

Behaviors that constitute bullying;

The negative impact of bullying;

How students should respond to bullying;

How teachers should respond to bullying;

Disciplinary consequences for students who bully their peers; and

The process for reporting bullying.

Conduct teacher and administrator training once a year, including the following topics in addition to those above:

Root causes of bullying;

Steps to foster an inclusive education environment for all students-specifically students who don't conform to gender norms or who might be perceived to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender;

Review of the school's bullying policy, emphasizing staff's responsibility to respond to all bullying; and

Disciplinary consequences for school staff who engage in or ignore bullying.

Get Started

Teaching Tolerance's guide, Speak Up at School, gives both educators and students practical strategies for speaking up against biased speech.

Religion

Religion can be a hot topic when discussing LGBT issues. All students are entitled to their religious viewpoints, but those viewpoints may not intrude on the rights of others.

Harassment based on religious beliefs is unacceptable and should be addressed according to your school's anti-bullying policy.

Get Started

Include faith groups in your school's multi-cultural club as an opportunity for crosscultural understanding.

Conversion Therapy

Also known as reparative or sexual reorientation therapy, this pseudo-scientific "therapy" has been denounced by all major medical and psychological associations and may cause a student great psychological harm.

Educate school staff about myths perpetrated by those who conduct conversion therapy. It is impossible to "turn" an individual from gay to straight.

Prepare counselors and teachers to support students who are coping with the emotional side effects of conversion therapy. Students who have undergone this so-called therapy have reported increased anxiety, depression, and in some cases, increased thoughts about suicide.

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Our article, " Therapy of Lies," is a great resource for educating school staff about conversion therapy.

A Teaching Tolerance guide that shows educators how to respond to a hate-related incident in their school or community and guides them through crisis management and post-crisis efforts at improvement.

A Teaching Tolerance guide that gives educators the tools to help students and themselves turn from bystanders to upstanders and explains how to respond to biased remarks from peers, parents or even administrators.

A questionnaire to begin the process of assessing your school climate.

A quick-guide to improve your LGBT vocabulary.

These 10 simple steps can help make a GSA's launch successful.

Learn how to constructively respond to common objections to LGBT-inclusive policies.

Copyright © 2013 by Teaching Tolerance. May be reproduced for educational purposes.

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Creating an LGBT-inclusive School Climate

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Schools are places of learning and also miniature societies. The climate of a school has a direct impact on both how well students learn and how well they interact with their peers. Teachers and administrators work hard to make their classrooms welcoming places where each student feels included.

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Tier 1 is when the whole school is involved to promote a better learning and social atmosphere
- Example of an EIP intervention will be having a diversity week. Were students get to celebrate their culture and diversity. This will be a good opportunity for students, teachers, and staff to learn more about each culture/ diversity and what they stand for.
-LGBTQ would be apart of this week as well, as for students who are apart of this group or support this group will get to express their culture among the school when it is their day to talk about it.

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Tier 2 is working with small groups of students that are experiencing behavior problems or that always seem to be tardy. Also, tier 2 is to support student learning and helping them to create a better outlook of themselves and their behavior.
- For LGBTQ it will be the tardiness that will need to be looked at the most.
-Example of an EIP will be letting LGBTQ students work together in small groups to feed off each other. Let them work together and encourage each other to promote a better learning atmosphere and behavior.
-I will assign a teacher to their group and have a check in/ check out sheet as each student comes and leaves that group everyday of the school week. I will collect the sheet at the end of the day to see who's been there. If they have not been there I will talk with them to help make sure they feel safe.

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Tier 3 is working with individuals that are seen to be at high risk. They require more attention then other students in order to stay on task and complete their goals. This when the family also gets involve to help come up with ways to help the student succeed.
- Example of an EIP would be the use of the Wrap- around service because if the parents are involved this will be better for the student to become more confident in their self-esteem of their sexual orientation.
-As the social worker I will be involved with the parents and even teachers coming up with ways to do build up the students confident and promote a safe free learning zone.

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My role as a school social worker is to become more aware and advocate for the LGBTQ students. Partner up with the teachers, staff, administrators and even the community to make sure these students feel safe and reach their academic goals. Also to get in contact with different organizations that are allies for the LGBTQ community and are willing to educate the staff about relevant issues for this population. .