Surveys show rates of sexual harassment and misogyny among students are high in U.S. secondary schools--yet most schools fail to deal with this problem. Many educators would like to intervene when they hear students use degrading or sexualized language about girls (or LGBTQ youth) or harass them, but don't know how to do so effectively. The…

A paucity of empirical scholarship exists on school counselor advocacy in general and virtually none as it relates to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students specifically. Addressing this gap in the literature, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the experiences of high school counselors in the southeastern…

Space has been opened to question heteronormativity and to address the assumption that each student in k-12 schools identifies as heterosexual. Is anything happening in this space? What affective behaviors, attitudes and beliefs do teachers who teach LGBTQ+ topics demonstrate? Conversely, what affective behaviors, attitudes and beliefs prevent…

Research shows that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning or queer (LGBTQ) youth are at high risk for bullying and violence, poor mental health, and other challenges. The availability of data from WestEd's California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS), which provides arguably more data on LGBTQ youth than any other source in the nation,…

This study investigated whether the presence of school-based health centers (SBHCs) was associated with six substance use behaviors among sexual minority youth (SMY) and their heterosexual peers. Data from the 2015 Oregon Healthy Teens Survey, including 13,608 11th graders in 137 schools (26 with SBHCs) were used in the current study. Multilevel…

Few studies have examined the effectiveness of gay-straight alliances (GSAs) on the social and academic experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youths. The limited research on GSAs suggests that they are associated with positive youth development and increased safety; however, little qualitative information…

Despite clear messages from current physical education (PE) curricula about the importance of adopting socially critical perspectives, dominant discourses of gender relating to physical activity, bodies and health are being reproduced within this school subject. By drawing on interview data from a larger ethnographic account of boys' PE, this…

Bullying against lesbian and gay adolescents continues to be a problem in Western societies. Interventions to reduce homonegative attitudes could help to address bullying. We evaluated the effectiveness of a workshop against homonegativity in adolescents (N = 214) aged between 14 and 16 years in a pretest, posttest, follow-up design with a control…

The nature of sex/ualities, genders and schooling has changed considerably over the last 20 years, with global political, social and cultural shifts bringing the lives of queer youth to the fore. Trans youth are now more visible and various kinds of support groups in schools (such as diversity support groups, queer groups and gay-straight…

Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) serve lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and heterosexual youth from diverse backgrounds. Although some attention has been given to youth members in general, little attention has been given to adult advisors. Among 47 GSA advisors from 33 high schools (39 cisgender female, 8 cisgender male), the authors…

Discrimination against LGBT individuals remains widespread across Australia. Since schools continue to promote regimes of heterosexuality and cis-normativity, teachers have a crucial role in creating contexts in which LGBT young people feel accepted and safe. Drawing on North's (2006) work on social justice and Connell's (2012) discussion of…

Young people may face conflicting and confusing messages about what it means to respond well in relation to homophobia and transphobia. Consequently, we ask--What might it mean to respond well to homophobia and transphobia? This strategy, inspired by Anika Thiem and Judith Butler, is recognition of the ambivalent conditions which structure…

Annually, the Department of Education (Department) collects data from school districts across the state on disciplinary infractions and their consequences. These data are analyzed in a state-level report developed by the Department for the Governor and the Legislature to fulfill the requirements of the "Public School Safety Law N.J.S.A."…

Teacher education programs play a significant role in shaping pre-service English teachers' pedagogy. The incorporation of texts with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual/transgender, intersex, and queer/questioning (LGBTIQ+) perspectives in the curriculum is one mechanism for promoting inclusion as well as a means to address and combat homophobia…

Only 48.6% of University Council For Educational Administration (UCEA) institutions which focus on social justice in principal preparation programs address sexual orientation, this case describes how the completion of an equity audit for an educational leadership course compelled Principal Olson to reflect on his identity as a social justice…