The purpose of this study was to determine if young adults have access through school libraries to LGBTQ-themed literature. The library collections in 125 high schools in one Southern U.S. state were examined for the inclusion of LGBTQ-themed fiction, nonfiction, and biographies, including a core collection of 21 recommended titles. Results showed…

The objectives of this study are to understand the association between high school religious context in adolescence and the reporting of same-sex attraction and sexual identity in young adulthood and how these associations vary by gender. Previous studies have considered how high school contexts shape the well-being of sexual minority youth, yet…

Forum Theatre (FT), a participatory improvised theatre form, raises consciousness, enables debate and critical reflection, and encourages a democratic form of knowledge production that engages the audience in their own learning and unlearning. I used FT as a platform to understand how 15- to 18-year-old learners, in a co-educational school in the…

Milwaukee's gay-friendly Alliance High School was conceived to be a welcoming and confirming school for kids who have been teased and bullied and had their interests marginalized in traditional schools. The result is a group of teens who feel they have found a safe place as they explore who they will be and how they will live the rest of their…

Past research documents that both adolescent gender nonconformity and the experience of school victimization are associated with high rates of negative psychosocial adjustment. Using data from the Family Acceptance Project's young adult survey, we examined associations among retrospective reports of adolescent gender nonconformity and adolescent…

Interns in a US teacher education program were surveyed regarding their attitudes towards diversity, particularly issues of sexuality, their feelings of "cultural competence" around diversity, and the repertoires of practices and resources they feel prepared to draw on in their work with middle and high schools students (11-18 year…

Over time, two competing narratives have emerged to represent the experiences of LGBTQ youth, emphasizing either significant improvement or continued victimization and marginalization. This volume examines those conflicting narratives as they play out in educational settings, both formal and informal. Particular emphasis is placed on LGBTQ youths'…

This article explores how a curriculum of film becomes organized by the teacher's worries about what film may open up in class. The author focuses on her own worries about showing Gus Van Sant's (2003) film, "Elephant," an elliptical and dreamlike study of the murders in 1999 of twelve students and a teacher at Columbine High School, to a class of…

The role of a Gay-Straight Alliance as a force for social justice, as well as for support in a school community, is highlighted in one GSA's story. The GSA and an annual countywide conference, PrideWorks, have as their key goals education and advocacy. Their focus on making schools an inclusive and respectful place where all are welcome and valued…

Describes how two schools have made themselves more open to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students. Recommends that schools develop policies that protect students, train teachers and counselors in suicide- and violence prevention, provide support groups for straight and gay students, make information available in school libraries, and…

This paper explores the potential for peer-based anti-oppression education groups to achieve social change, considers the conditions that make their work possible and introduces several critical questions and issues raised by such efforts. I have drawn upon my involvement in my former high school's Rainbow Alliance, as well as in two Toronto…

The need to create social work interventions consistent with the needs and perceptions of different gender and ethnic groups has long been recognized. This article presents a method for using empirical data and consumer input to create a gender and ethnically relevant AIDS prevention intervention for African- and European-American adolescents. To…

Adolescents view sexual orientation, especially homosexuality, as a very sensitive subject. Homosexuality is also a culturally sensitive topic; views on its appropriateness as a classroom subject vary widely from country to country. An English teacher at the International School of Brussels explains how he uses literature and essay writing to…

The role of adolescent sexual behavior in educational attainment has been overlooked. Homosexual and heterosexual men were interviewed to test for a correlation between adolescent sexual activeness and educational attainment, as well as any link between childhood masculine sex roles and early sexual activity. Approximately 1,000 volunteers,…

Teenagers need straight talk about sex, yet many teens are reluctant to discuss sex and love with their parents or other adults. Answers to many of their questions are provided in this book. The text draws on the actual questions that high school students have asked about sex, anatomy, love, and other related issues. The book is divided into 12…