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“We’ve had no guidance from administration on how to handle students transitioning,” said Khayam, who wants to help a transgender student at her school. The Need for Trainingįor Loretta Farrell Khayam, a high school math teacher in Northern Virginia, the hesitation to support LGBTQ students reflects a simple lack of training.
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Meanwhile, the emergence of highly politicized issues like allowing transgender students to use bathrooms aligned with their identity has raised the LGBTQ profile nationally, but made constructive dialogue harder.
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And a lack of professional development on how to address LGBTQ issues and bullying has left teachers ill-equipped to establish LGBTQ-inclusive cultures or to identify anti-LGBTQ behaviors and harassment.
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Some teachers reported feeling uncomfortable talking to their students about sexuality due to their beliefs or perceptions about what’s appropriate-often conflating sexual orientation with sex-while others felt pressure from administrators or parents to keep tight-lipped. This lack of support for LGBTQ students stems from a variety of causes. Teacher Intervention Reported by Students And while 83 percent of educators felt that they should provide a safe environment for their LGBTQ students-by displaying visible symbols of support or disciplining students for using homophobic language, for example-only half had taken action to do so, according to the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), an organization that helps K–12 schools create safe environments for LGBTQ students. The researchers surveyed nearly 2,500 teachers and students across the country and found that teachers were less comfortable intervening with bullying due to sexual orientation and gender identity than with bullying based on race, ability, and religion. Tennessee is one of 32 states that do not have such protections in place.įrom cyberharassment to physical violence, bullying is a serious problem for many schools, but bullying LGBTQ students in particular is more likely to be ignored or mishandled by staff, according to recent research. “Most of the educators wanted to help, but did not know how or were limited in what they could do,” says Biggs, referring to Tennessee’s lack of legislation preventing the bullying of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning (LGBTQ) students.