Students Are NOT Safe in Schools

By Richard K. Green

Civil rights for our gay and lesbian teachers and students should be something the Schoolm Board fights to protect. our students are are risk.

Students Are NOT Safe in Schools

• 97% report regularly hearing homophobic remarks from their peers, and the typical high school student hears anti-gay slurs 25.5 times a day.

• In a 14-city study of gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth, 80% reported verbal abuse, 44% reported threats of attack, 33% reported having objects thrown at them, and 30% reported being chased or followed.

• Studies on youth suicide consistently find that lesbian and gay youth are 2 - 6 times more likely to attempt suicide than other youth and may account for 30% of all completed suicides among teens.

• Lesbian and gay youth are 2 - 6 times more likely to attempt suicide than other youth and may account for 30% of all completed suicides among teens.

• One study found that 18.4% of GLBT high school students had been in a physical fight resulting in treatment by a doctor or nurse compared to 4% of their peers, and 22.2% skipped school in the past month because they felt unsafe en route to or at school.

• PFLAG's Safe School Initiative
• Sensitivity training for school personnel & students
• GLBT teachers and staff, & is an advocate for fair personnel policies
• Student gay/straight alliances like SAFE at Wilson High School
• Alternative programs like OASIS
• Improve curriculum to include gay and lesbian history