High school is a challengg time for most teens. It n be even more so for lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr stunts. Judy Chiasson of the Los Angel Unified School District and Eliza Byard, executive director of the Gay, Lbian and Straight Edutn Network talk about beg openly LGBT school.
Contents:
- WHAT'S LIFE LIKE FOR GAY KIDS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS?
- GAY KIDS COMG OUT YOUNGER, BUT PARENTS ASK "HOW DO YOU KNOW?"
- THE BT GAY-FRIENDLY SCHOOLS
- GAY, BISEXUAL HIGH SCHOOL BOYS RECEIVE LS HIV TN
WHAT'S LIFE LIKE FOR GAY KIDS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS?
For the first time, we know that some 1.3 ln kids, or roughly 8% of all high school stunts Ameri, report beg lbian, gay, or bisexual. * gay high school kids *
In November 2019, Jordan Steffy, a junr at LaPorte High School Indiana, said a fellow classmate posted a homophobic msage about him on Snapchat. "He told me that I was termated bee of my sexual orientatn and that they n't have someone that intifi as gay a learship posn, " Taylor told Insir.
When Seth Owen, a high school valedictorian, was kicked out of his home for beg gay, he was worried he wouldn't be able to go to llege — until his teachers stepped .
But at home, his relig parents found out that he was gay and told him to move he applied to his dream school, Geetown Universy, the school gave him a fancial aid package that was based on his parents' e even though he was not livg wh them.
GAY KIDS COMG OUT YOUNGER, BUT PARENTS ASK "HOW DO YOU KNOW?"
* gay high school kids *
"I would tell that sophomore kid to hold their head high, roll their shoulrs back and be exactly who they are, " Owen told NBC News.
A lawyer for the school nied the speech was blocked bee Young was gog to e out as gay, but bee he "didn't munite wh school admistrators and his parents and ed appropriate humor , " the Coloradoan LGBTQ advocy group named Out Boulr jumped and offered Young a safe space to give his valedictorian speech. ” Kann has been workg wh CDC data om high schoolers for 30 18% of lbian, gay, and bisexual stunts reported havg been raped at some pot their liv—more than three tim the rate of straight stunts. For s, while homosexualy was on the books as a mental disorr, the US turned a bld eye to the actual mental and physil health needs of LGBT people, while ntug to pathologize them—homophobia was basilly enshred the medil the 1970s, “gay people were nsired to be mentally ill, so no one was thkg about physil health, ” says Calyn Ryan, a clil social worker who has been workg on LGBT health issu for nearly 40 years California.
THE BT GAY-FRIENDLY SCHOOLS
A first-of-s-kd private school Geia aimed at attractg lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr youth and teachers is beg tablished Atlanta for stunts who feel bullied or not accepted tradnal schools. * gay high school kids *
”The Amerin Psychiatric Associatn voted to remove homosexualy om the Diagnostic and Statistil Manual of Mental Disorrs 1973, but the effects of years of pathologizg beg gay rippled on for Ryan began rearchg the US LGBT muny the early 1980s, at the height of the AIDS crisis, homosexualy was so taboo that scientists were rortg to phemisms their work. “There was a time when program officers at the NIH [Natnal Instut of Health, a key funr of rearch] were tellg proposers not to put words like ‘gay’ their proposals bee they would not get fund. ”In the 1990s, gay characters began to appear mastream culture, but at the same time Ryan watched the rise of relig nservatism the US sile efforts to clu qutns about sexualy on natnal surveys.
For example, thanks to the survey, Massachetts now knows that gay and lbian high schoolers who reported beg able to talk to “a teacher or other adult this school if you have a problem” had fewer suici attempts, lower rat of beg threatened school, and ls jected dg e. And then jt maybe a more tailored landspe of health and muny re for the kids will beg to take ’s sential, nsirg what Cahill se as a “disturbg trend” some stat to target gay health re.
GAY, BISEXUAL HIGH SCHOOL BOYS RECEIVE LS HIV TN
Gay kids are g out earlier — sometim middle school — and many are fdg acceptance. But some parents and teachers wonr if the kids are too young to really know their sexual orientatn. * gay high school kids *
Each year, seems, we hear the stori of the clash of culture and genr when a high school stunt who is gay is banned om attendg the prom, or pays a price for gog. This year is no different, om a Mississippi unty school board banng 18-year-old Constance McMillan, who wanted to wear a tux and brg her girliend, to the Miami gay senr who was crowned prom queen -only to be disowned by his own fay.
Today, we hear om a Los Angel school admistrator charge of equy and diversy, and om an advote whose anizatn has helped gui gay kids through the maze of high school life.