Tips for gay, lesbian & transgender students | ABC7 New York

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By abc7NY

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

NEW YORK Click here to watch the full video on this topic from our Protect Our Children special

How bad is the bullying problem for LGBT students? What's the impact on LGBT youth?
Violence, bullying and harassment are the rule and not the exception in America's schools. According to GLSEN's 2007 National School Climate Survey,

Nearly 3 out of 4 LGBT students (73.6%) hear homophobic remarks often or frequently in their schools.

44.1% of LGBT students report being physically harassed (pushed or shoved) and 22.1% physically assaulted (punched, kicked, or injured with a weapon) at school because of their sexual orientation.

30.4% of LGBT students report being physically harassed and 14.2% o physically assaulted because of how they express their gender.

Transgender students report higher levels of victimization in school than male or female lesbian, gay, or bisexual students.

Nearly 9 out of 10 (86.2%) of LGBT students report being verbally harassed at school because of their sexual orientation, and 66.5% are verbally harassed because of how they express their gender.

Nearly 1 out of 3 LGBT students missed school in the past month because they were simply too afraid to go.

How many Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) are there in the United States?
More than 4,000 student clubs, commonly known as gay-straight alliances, are registered with GLSEN. This number does not serve as an exact number for how many exist. Many student groups work on LGBT issues but are not named GSAs, while other student clubs may exist without having the information to be in touch with GLSEN or choose not to register with us.

What is the effect of inclusive, anti-bullying policy on LGBT students?
According to GLSEN's 2007 National School Climate Survey, students who did not have (or did not know of) a policy protecting them from violence and harassment reported higher levels of victimization than those who did. Also, according to the data, students were more likely to report incidents of violence, bullying, and harassment to school authorities when a policy was in place.

For more on how to create GSAs, go to www.glsen.org