Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Students and Their Experiences in School

The Survey

The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) recently completed a national survey of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students affiliated with local youth service organizations (participating organizations of the National Youth Advocacy Coalition) in communities around the United States. The survey was distributed to the staff or volunteers of the youth service organizations, who in turn distributed it to their constituents. In this survey, students were asked about their school climate: overall comfort level, frequency of homophobic remarks heard, experiences with verbal, physical and sexual harassment, and experience with physical violence related to their sexual orientation or gender identity.

A total of 496 lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender youth from 32 states completed the survey fully. (Participants who did not indicate their sexual orientation or who chose to write in “Other” were included in the analysis with the LGBT youth. It is possible that some of these students were not comfortable identifying themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender on the survey or that they were currently questioning their sexual orientation or gender identity.)

The Findings

I. Homophobic Remarks in School

Youth were asked whether they had heard words such as “faggot,” “dyke,” or “queer” in their school and, if so, who made these remarks (student, faculty/staff or both). Youth were also asked how frequently they had heard homophobic remarks in their classes, the hallways, the bathroom or locker room, on school buses or on the field or in the gym: never, rarely, sometimes or frequently.

• Over 90% (91.4%) of LGBT youth reported that they sometimes or frequently hear homophobic remarks in their school (words such as “faggot,” “dyke,” or “queer”). Almost all of the youth reported hearing these remarks from other students (99.4%).

• Over one-third of the youth reported hearing homophobic remarks from faculty or school staff (36.6%). Youth most frequently heard homophobic remarks in school hallways or in classrooms.

• Hallways: 89.8% of youth reported “frequently” or “sometimes”

• Classrooms: 85.8% of youth reported “frequently” or “sometimes”

• However, almost 75% of youth also reported hearing homophobic remarks in school bathrooms, in the school gym, and on school buses.

• Over one-third of youth (39.2%) reported that no one ever intervened in these circumstances. Almost half of the youth (46.5%) reported that someone intervened only some of the time. Other students were more often reported to intervene than were faculty (82.4% reported intervention by students compared to 66.5% reported for faculty).

II. Harassment

Youth were asked how frequently they had been verbally, physically, or sexually harassed because of their sexual orientation or gender identity: daily, weekly, or monthly.

The majority of youth reported experiencing some form of harassment or violence (69%).

• 61.1% reported experiences of verbal harassment.

• 46.5% reported experiences of sexual harassment (having suggestive comments made, being touched inappropriately, etc.).

• 27.6% reported experiences of physical harassment (being shoved, pushed, etc.).

• 13.7% reported experiences of physical assault (being beaten, punched, kicked, etc.).

Of those students who reported verbal harassment, almost half said that they experienced it daily (45.9%).

III. Overall Comfort in School

Nearly half (2 out of 5) of the youth did not feel safe in their school because they are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender (41.7%). Because perceptions of safety can be subjective, we wanted to examine whether there were significant differences between those students who felt safe in their school and those who did not feel safe. Indeed, fewer of the youth who felt safe in their schools reported harassment and assault due to their sexual orientation or gender identity than did the youth who reported feeling unsafe in their schools. It is important to note, however, that even though their reports of harassment and assault were lower, they were not insignificant: the majority of the youth who felt safe in their schools still reported hearing homophobic remarks sometimes or frequently (86.7%) despite reporting feeling safe, 46% reported verbal harassment; 36.4% reported sexual harassment; 12.1% reported physical harassment; and 6.1% reported physical assault in their school. Over a third of the youth did not feel comfortable speaking to school staff about LGBT issues (38.2%).

IV. Demographic Differences

Because GLSEN is aware of the possible relationships among homophobia, sexism, and racism, questions were included to discern whether there were demographic differences regarding the harassment or violence of the LGBT youth in our survey.

For the most part, the experiences of LGBT youth were similar across racial/ethnic and gender groups. Transgender youth reported homophobic remarks less frequently than male or female youth:

• 73.7% of transgender youth reported “sometimes” or “frequently.”

• 91.7% of male youth reported “sometimes” or “frequently.”

• 93.6% of female youth reported “sometimes” or “frequently.”

White and Asian/Pacific Islander students reported hearing more homophobic remarks in school than African American/Black or Latino/a students did. There were no significant differences, however, among non-white ethnic or racial groups:

• 94% of white youth reported “sometimes” or “frequently.”

• 93.8% of Asian/Pacific Islander youth reported “sometimes” or “frequently.”

• 85.7% of African American/Black youth reported “sometimes” or “frequently.”

• 80.6% of Latino/a youth reported “sometimes” or “frequently.”

The School Climate Survey specifically assessed bias regarding sexual orientation and gender identity; it did not assess bias regarding race or ethnicity. It is possible that harassment or violence due to race or ethnicity may be more salient for LGBT youth of color than harassment or violence due to sexual orientation or gender identity. Also, it is important to note that the majority of youth in the survey were white. It is possible that with a larger representation of racial/ethnic minority youth, other meaningful differences could emerge.

Latino/a and white youth were likelier to report being physically harassed (being shoved, pushed, etc.) at their schools because of their sexual orientation or gender identity:

• 40.0% of Latino/a youth

• 29.6% of white youth

• 18.8% of Asian/Pacific Islander youth

• 13.4% of African American/Black youth

V. Regional Differences

Youth from Midwestern states reported homophobic remarks more frequently than youth from all other regions of the country:

• 98.3% of youth from the Midwest reported “sometimes” or “frequently.”

• 92.3% of youth from the South reported “sometimes” or “frequently.”

• 89.4% of youth from the West reported “sometimes” or “frequently.”

• 86.4% of youth from the Northeast reported “sometimes” or “frequently.”

More youth from Midwestern states reported being physical harassed (being shoved, pushed, etc.) at their schools because of their sexual orientation or gender identity than youth from all other regions:

• 40.4% of youth from the Midwest

• 30.2% of youth from the West

• 21.8% of youth from the Northeast

• 17.1% of youth from the South

More youth from the Midwestern states reported being uncomfortable talking to any school staff member about LGBT issues:

• 47.7% of youth from the Midwest

• 41.7% of youth from the Northeast

• 31.6% of youth from the South

• 29.4% of youth from the West

Summary

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Students and Their Experiences in School*

I. Homophobic Remarks in School

• 91.4% of LGBT youth reported that they sometimes or frequently hear homophobic remarks in their school (words such as “faggot,” “dyke,” or “queer”).

• 99.4% of the youth reported hearing these remarks from other students.

• 36.6% of the youth reported hearing homophobic remarks from faculty or school staff.

• Youth most frequently heard homophobic remarks in school hallways or in classrooms.

• Hallways: 89.8% of youth reported “frequently” or “sometimes”

• Classrooms: 85.8% of youth reported “frequently” or “sometimes”

• 75% of youth also reported hearing homophobic remarks in school bathrooms, in the school gym and on school buses.

• 39.2% of youth reported that no one ever intervened in these circumstances.

• 46.5% of the youth reported that someone intervened only some of the time.

• Other students were more often reported to intervene than were faculty (82.4% reported intervention by students compared to 66.5% reported for faculty).

II. Harassment

• 69% of youth reported experiencing some form of harassment or violence.

• 61.1% reported experiences of verbal harassment.

• 46.5% reported experiences of sexual harassment (having suggestive comments made, being touched inappropriately, etc.).

• 27.6% reported experiences of physical harassment (being shoved, pushed, etc.).

• 13.7% reported experiences of physical assault (being beaten, punched, kicked, etc.).

• Of those students who reported verbal harassment, 45.9% said that they experienced it daily.

III. Overall Comfort in School

• 41.7% of the youth did not feel safe in their school because they are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender.

• 86.7% of the youth who felt safe in their schools still reported hearing homophobic remarks sometimes or frequently.

• Despite reporting feeling safe, 46% reported verbal harassment; 36.4% reported sexual harassment; 12.1% reported physical harassment; and 6.1% reported physical assault in their school.

• 38.2% of the youth did not feel comfortable speaking to school staff about LGBT issues.

* From: The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), 1999. Consult GLSEN’s website (www.glsen.org) for a complete transcript of the survey and for up-to-date studies.