Research suggests the collaborative role school counselors can have with administrators to bolster school reform and facilitate a safe and positive learning environment for all K-12 students (College Board, 2009a, 2009b) is vital. Unfortunately, research that explores the roles and efforts of school counselors and administrators in their…

Part of the Center for Education Equity, Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium's (CEE's) "Exploring Equity Issues" series, this paper defines and discusses the gender spectrum and the challenges that LGBTQ [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning] youth face. It concludes with strategies that teachers and administrators…

Through in-depth interviews with 21 parents and 12 children in lesbian/gay-parented families, we explored the experiences of this unique family form in South African schools. Specifically, families reflected on their positive and negative experiences in the children's education and used these reflections to offer advice to teachers and…

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to provide insight to the multiple ways that school leaders resist, avoid, or block LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, queer, and questioning) professional development for their staff and, thus, resist the conversations around school responsibility to these students and families. Research…

Research shows that teachers' and educators' responses to gender diversity issues in schools either improves or limits the experiences of students. The school counsellor has an important role to play in this process by working closely with other stakeholders to advocate for transgender, intersex and genderqueer (TIG) students. Following a review…

The U.S. secondary school environment often is hostile and exclusionary toward LGBTQ students. Queer theoretical perspectives have served as the conceptual foundation for a phenomenographic study exploring seven high school administrators' perceptions of their experiences with Gay-Straight Alliances. The study results support prior research that…

In this article, the author notes that diversity and America's schools have historically played a crucial part in the broader movement for civil rights. This often has him considering the ways one can celebrate their community's diversity and curate meaningful conversations about their multiple identities/affinities, especially as they…

Over an 8-year span, two survey studies were conducted to analyze LGBT -teachers' perceptions of their school climate and the impact of school leaders on that climate. This article presents nonparametric, descriptive, and qualitative results of the National Survey of Educators' Perceptions of School Climate 2011 compared with survey results from…

This article presents an interview with Assistant Deputy Secretary of Education Kevin Jennings on his ideas about school safety. In this interview, Jennings describes his plans for making schools safer for students and for developing a way to measure school climate that can drive such changes. Bullied in school, Jennings now devotes his life to…

Drawing on a recent New Jersey Supreme Court decision (2007), this case addresses a school district's responsibility regarding homophobic bullying, school culture, and the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students to be free of discrimination.

This qualitative study examines the processes of forming gay-straight alliances at three religiously affiliated institutions of higher education. Using the lens of Social Movement Theory (SMT), this paper presents the methods and approaches used when advocates of gay-straight alliances at these institutions encountered resistance from…

Acceptance of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer (GLBTQ) adolescents in high schools is growing. Yet, the experience of this family suggests that creating and maintaining a safe environment for GLBTQ students requires constant vigilance, even in the best of environments. As school administrators face competing pressures from…

Children's identities and sense of self are inextricably tied to their families. The experience of being welcome or unwelcome, visible or invisible begins in early childhood. The goal of early childhood professionals is to ensure that all children and their families are welcomed in early childhood settings and provided with quality care and…

Being an LGBT youth in America has never been a Gay Pride Parade, no matter the community setting. But most rural schools prove an especially unhappy and dispiriting place for kids whose sexuality or gender expression does not fit within community expectations. Those are the findings of researchers for the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education…

A national survey of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) educators examined differences of perceptions within seven identified factors: homophobia, principal support, policies of bullying language, policies of human rights, job safety, personal safety, and outness. It found that safety is best understood in two dimensions: personal…