While LGBTQ youth may be victims of bullying at greater rates than heterosexual youth, research examining in-school bullying and cyberbullying victimization disparities through an intersectional framework is limited. Using the 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, the present study examined the prevalence of in-school bullying and cyberbullying…

A nationwide study (Kosciw et al. 2016) reveals a troubling truth: More than 80% of students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) have experienced verbal or physical harassment at school and reported higher absenteeism and lower grades due to this harassment. Even more troubling: Many of these students (about 60%) reported…

Bias-based bullying focused on sexual orientation or gender identity in schools has significant negative implications for the academic, social, and emotional well-being of students who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual, or who are perceived to behave in gender nonconforming ways. Despite empirical support for the influence of bystander…

This study examines how one school's well-intentioned White teachers and students from diverse backgrounds--all of whom belong to their school's working groups created to address issues of diversity--conceptualize diversity. Utilizing a qualitative case study, the study shows a discrepancy between what teachers and students felt comfortable…

Sexual orientation-based discrimination in schools has evolved from primarily blatant, overt forms to include more subtle and ambiguous forms, or microaggressions. To date, the unique experiences of microaggressions among adolescents in the context of the high school environment are underrepresented among the literature. In this qualitative study,…

Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) aspire to empower youth to address multiple systems of oppression, including those affecting transgender and racial/ethnic minority youth, yet there is little indication of factors contributing to youths' self-efficacy to do so. We examined individual and group factors predicting self-efficacy to address transgender…

Background: Sexual minority students have higher risk for health-related behaviors. We examined 5 domains including 34 health risk behaviors and health conditions among sexual minorities and unsure students in Rhode Island. We also included sexual contact of heterosexually identified students to capture heterosexually identified students who may…

Despite gains in the LGBTQ community, many schools still feel cold and unwelcoming for LGBTQ youth. Identity development is important for adolescents, but LGBTQ students often see the ability to freely share their identity limited in public education. Providing a gay--straight alliance (GSA) club within the school has been shown to increase…

Drawing on ethnographic research in an urban high school in the USA, this article highlights how schooling structures and practices produce and reinforce an ideology of heteronormative binary gender. The construction of gender and sexuality occurs in systematic ways, shaped through structural forces and mapped onto social spaces and bodies. Yet,…

Forced sex is a major issue experienced by individuals of all ages, genders, and sexual orientations. Little is known about how LGBQ, transgender, and non-binary young people experience sexual violence. This study examines experiences of forced sex, exploring the intersection of sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as how other…

Likeness, also known as homophily, describes the tendency for individuals to seek out others who are socially similar to themselves. As a society, we are attracted to "like" behaviors, but subconsciously the value placed on likeness can lead to undesirable outcomes including segregation, reduced diversity in peer groups, and narrower…

With recent decades showing an increase in educational literacy scholarship attending to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Queer (LGBTQ) people and texts with LGBTQ themes, we sought to extend this scholarship through examining collaborative composition for public audiences beyond a classroom and school. We explored these composing practices…

In this stimulus essay on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) bullying in schools, Keith Berry, describes assumptions and other aspects of his phenomenological lifeworld (everyday reality) that guide his orientation to this problem. He then turns to two recent surveys to explore the prevalence and meaning of bullying for LGBT youth as…

Participation in athletics by gender non-conforming (GNC) and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning (LGBTQ+) is lower in comparison to their participation in other school activities; LGBT students avoid athletic fields, locker rooms, and coaches. We examine the ways DeVita, a GNC student athlete in high school negotiated his…

Despite the best efforts of professionals to implement anti-bullying policies and curricula designed to foster tolerance and respect, bullying remains a serious problem in some learning communities. Surveys find that about a third of high school students are bullied in a given school year; seven percent of students noted they were bullied every…