In the field of posive youth velopment programs, “empowerment” is ed terchangeably wh youth activism, learship, civic participatn and self-efficy. However, few studi have ptured what empowerment means to young people diverse ntexts. This article explor how youth fe and experience empowerment youth-led anizatns characterized by social jtice goals: high school Gay-Straight Allianc (GSAs). Through foc group terviews, fifteen youth lears of GSAs om different regns of California expla what they thk empowerment means and how they beme empowered through their volvement wh the GSA. Youth scribe three ter-related dimensns of empowerment: personal empowerment, relatnal empowerment, and strategic empowerment through havg and g knowledge. When the three dimensns are experienced batn, GSA lears have the potential for dividual and llective empowerment as agents of social change at school. By unrstandg the youth’s perspectiv on the meangs of empowerment, this article clarifi the nceptual arena for future studi of socially margalized youth and of posive youth velopment.
Contents:
- YOUTH EMPOWERMENT AND HIGH SCHOOL GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANC
- YOUTH EMPOWERMENT AND HIGH SCHOOL GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANC
- GAY-STRAIGHT/GENRS & SEXUALI ALLIANC
- LGBTQ YOUTH’S VIEWS ON GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANC: BUILDG COMMUNY, PROVIDG GATEWAYS, AND REPRENTG SAFETY AND SUPPORT
- GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANC, INCLIVE POLICY, AND SCHOOL CLIMATE: LGBTQ YOUTHS’ EXPERIENC OF SOCIAL SUPPORT AND BULLYG
- CHARACTERISTICS OF SCHOOLS WH AND WHOUT GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANC
- ORIGAL ARTICLEASSOCIATN BETWEEN LGBTQ STUNT NONDISCRIMATN LAWS SELECTED STAT AND SCHOOL DISTRICT SUPPORT FOR GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANC
YOUTH EMPOWERMENT AND HIGH SCHOOL GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANC
Gay-Straight Allianc or Genrs and Sexuali Allianc (GSAs) have been associated wh improvements school safety, a key ponent of school nnectedns, for all stunts. Rearch specifilly lks the prence of a GSA to greater feelgs of school nnectedns among LGBT stunts. * youth empowerment and high school gay straight alliances *
This article explor how youth fe and experience empowerment youth-led anizatns characterized by social jtice goals: high school Gay-Straight Allianc (GSAs). Whout qutn, most of what has been wrten about lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr (LGBT) youth has foced on non-normative velopment or risk out (Rsell 2005).
YOUTH EMPOWERMENT AND HIGH SCHOOL GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANC
This foc has overshadowed the ways that LGBT young people and their alli are actively engaged creatg posive change for themselv and their peers; for many youth, this active engagement is achieved through volvement and learship high school Gay-Straight Allianc (GSAs) (Fields and Rsell 2005; Herdt et al. Growg out of the civil rights movements of the 1960s, the women’s and femist movements of the 1970s, and the gay rights movements of recent s, sexualy, genr, and race have bee drivg forc the social jtice arena for youth. One of the most visible maniftatns of the ntemporary movement for social jtice is the emergence of Gay-Straight Allianc (GSAs) across the Uned Stat (Herdt et al.
GAY-STRAIGHT/GENRS & SEXUALI ALLIANC
The school-based clubs are partnerships between sexual mory and heterosexual stunts wh the purpos of promotg sexual jtice, supportg lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) stunts and their alli, and promotg posive change the school climate (Griff et al. The muny-based anizatns served as the first support anizatns for gay youth, and were followed by pneerg unselg groups schools (Uribe 1994). Some ntue to functn as unselg or support-groups, others are social anizatns, and many have bee clubs engaged tnal and activist activi aimed at challengg homophobia schools (Griff et al.
To the ends, GSA club activi clu displayg posters that challenge heterosexism, hostg a queer prom, anizg a day to regnize the silence that has characterized attentn to sexual mori lled “Day of Silence, ” holdg trag for teachers on LGBT issu and homophobia the school, and surveyg fellow stunts and school personnel admistrators to report on the school’s LGBT climate. Specifilly, youth lears of GSAs not only nont heterosexism and homophobia among their peers; they often nont bias and discrimatn on the part of the stutn of the school (s polici and practic), and of the adult thori schools.
We did not ask participants to disclose their sexual or genr inti bee the general practice of GSAs is that stunts are not required to disclose this rmatn; the urse of discsn, some of the participants intified themselv as lbian, gay, or bisexual, some as straight alli, and one stunt intified as transgenr (female to male).
LGBTQ YOUTH’S VIEWS ON GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANC: BUILDG COMMUNY, PROVIDG GATEWAYS, AND REPRENTG SAFETY AND SUPPORT
We foc our attentn on the fns of and discsns about empowerment; however, followg that discsn, subsequent qutns foced on the role of the GSA for youth wh different personal characteristics: lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, qutng youth and their alli; and youth om different racial/ethnic backgrounds (see Herdt et al. The only notable difference was that stunts the Central Valley of California more often scribed experienc of empowerment wh explic reference to homophobic and heterosexist environments; we note those distctns our prentatn of rults. For example, one GSA member om the Central Valley explaed:To me, empowerment is havg the abily to feel good about who you are and what you do, and that’s a very difficult thg for a lot of people bee everyday hearg the way gay and lbian and transgenr are ed everyday nversatns…negativy that nnot around .
” But I thk mak really good for the teachers to have the posters that say like lbian, gay, everythg, up on mp at school… that’s creatg awarens already and I thk that’s makg a lot of people feel safer. I’m straight, but I feel like…beg here helps me…’s kd of hard for me to expla…at school, ’s almost socially unacceptable to be seen sometim to associate wh gay people…and I fd that horrible. One youth said:I empowered myself by attendg the workshops, but I also empowered the people around and got them to the activism bee I realized, I ma them realize that wasn’t jt a gay issue.
It affected everyone every walk of life… the Bible study club, I went to that and said, “Look, you may not like the fact that this law vers gay people, but vers you and your right to practice ee speech on this mp, you’re allowed to pray on this mp bee this law vers you; and if people want to say somethg bad about your club they n’t really do that. Gay-Straight Allianc or Genrs and Sexuali Allianc have been associated wh improvements school safety, a key ponent of school nnectedns, for all stunts. Rearch specifilly lks the prence of Gay-Straight Allianc or Genrs and Sexuali Allianc (GSAs) to greater feelgs of school nnectedns among Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr, and Qutng (LGBTQ) stunts.
GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANC, INCLIVE POLICY, AND SCHOOL CLIMATE: LGBTQ YOUTHS’ EXPERIENC OF SOCIAL SUPPORT AND BULLYG
Eisenberg, ScD, MPHAbstractBACKGROUNDGay-Straight Allianc (GSAs) are school-based clubs that n ntribute to a healthy school climate for lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and qutng (LGBTQ) youth. Keywords: gay-straight alliance, adolcent, sexual mory, school-basedAdolcents thrive climat that foster healthy velopment; arguably the most important climat are those school and fay settgs. Gay-straight allianc (GSAs), as a part of a school’s climate, are a key strategy signed to ensure safety, support, and rpect for lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and qutng (LGBTQ) youth schools.
Of those who did not ment about GSAs, two were om Mnota, two om Brish Columbia, and four om Massachetts; the 8 were olr (7 of the 8 were 17 or 18 years old) and more likely to be livg an urban settg (63% pared to 29% of the total sample) but other ways were not mographilly distct om the 58 who did talk about 1Participant Sexual Orientatn and Genr Inty (N=58)FemaleMaleTrans and other labels^TOTALGay or Lbian`811221Bisexual`59317Queer and addnal labels~511218Straight--11Other--11TOTAL18211958In two lotns, participants provid nsent for themselv. Membership the GSA muny ed youth not to feel isolated their inty: “It was nice to know that there were other people like that, bee I would never have spected that anyone else was” (17-year-old, male, gay).
It was also monstrated participatn, as one youth exprsed tratn at missg a planng meetg: “I fot to go, and I’m, like, no, I need to go to that” (14-year-old, male, gay). Fac pop to your head, like our GSA advisor” (18-year-old, male, gay) om across all three study s discsed the specific typ of support and guidance they received om the non-parental, important adults.
CHARACTERISTICS OF SCHOOLS WH AND WHOUT GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANC
(16-year-old, “other” genr and orientatn)Another youth, when explag the Ally Week that their GSA hosted at school, stated, “…all people do is say, ‘Hey, I’m an ally, ‘ and teachers were [dog] that, and that was pretty ol” (17-year-old, male, gay). Through their volvement wh GSAs, youth spoke about disverg servic such as healthre clics, hotl, and support groups: “Bee I was so volved GLSEN [Gay, Lbian & Straight Edutn Network] and GSA work, that’s how I knew about all the rourc” (18-year-old, female, queer). This youth stated, “Durg the transgenr policy that was tryg to be implemented…both [Twter and Facebook] were ed hardre” (18-year-old, male, gay).
12487PMCID: PMC8063225NIHMSID: NIHMS1691425AbstractGay-Straight Allianc (GSA) and school polici foced on support for lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and queer/qutng youth may rce bias-based bullyg and enhance social supports schools.
Lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and queer/qutng (LGBTQ) youth often navigate more hostile school climat than their heterosexual, cisgenr peers.
ORIGAL ARTICLEASSOCIATN BETWEEN LGBTQ STUNT NONDISCRIMATN LAWS SELECTED STAT AND SCHOOL DISTRICT SUPPORT FOR GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANC
School ntext be even more important when we nsir the health and well-beg of LGBTQ youth, as they are more likely to experience school-based harassment, victimizatn, and bullyg than their cisgenr and heterosexual peers (Day, Perez-Bmer, & Rsell, 2018; Toomey & Rsell, 2016) programs such as Gay-Straight Allianc (GSAs; also known as Genr and Sexualy Allianc) and school polici foced on support for LGBTQ stunts (LGBTQ-foced polici) have also been intified as effective means for improvg school climat, pecially for LGBTQ youth (Chir-Teran & Hugh, 2009; Fetner & Elaos, 2015; Goonow et al., 2006; Heck, Flentje, & Cochran, 2013; Kosciw, Greytak, Giga, Villenas, & Danischewski, 2016; Marx & Kettrey, 2016; McGuire, Anrson, Toomey, & Rsell, 2010). Prev studi of sexual and genr mory youth school ntexts have often bed sampl of lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr youth; this is also among the first studi on measur of school climate related to social support and bullyg to clu genr inty pennt of sexual inty.