Is That All There Is? GLBTQ Adolescent Support in the Best of Circumstances

Abstract

Acceptance of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer (GLBTQ) adolescents in high schools is growing. Yet, the experience of this family suggests that creating and maintaining a safe environment for GLBTQ students requires constant vigilance, even in the best of environments. As school administrators face competing pressures from stakeholders, GLBTQ advocacy is often left to the students, unlike other types of diversity advocacy based on race, culture, or gender. This case describes how one family chose a “safe” school and struggles to keep it so. The case challenges education administration students to experience school through the eyes of a young man who is gay, and his family, and to determine what is adequate student support.

Social Support in Schools and Related Outcomes for LGBTQ Youth: A Scoping Review

“…LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum appeared to be taught only in speci c classes, speci cally in social sciences, humanities, and health classes (Blackburn, 2007;Snapp et al, 2015;Wright et al, 2012). Making connections with LGBTQ-inclusive material allowed students to make authentic connections between their lives and the class content (Mayo, 2013b) which contributed to an increased psychological wellbeing and disrupted homophobia and other forms of oppression (Blackburn, 2007;Snapp et al, 2015a;Wargo, 2019;Wright et al, 2012). Teachers who incorporated LGBTQ material into their curriculum allowed youth to identify teachers as possible safe adults to discuss sensitive concerns (e.g., LGBTQrelated concerns, coming out).…”

“…hesitation to support LGBTQ students by school administrators(Lassiter & Sifford, 2015;Mayberry et al, 2013;Wright et al, 2012). Hesitations to support LGBTQ youth include the ban of GSA creation, sending a message regarding LGBTQ invisibility in school environments(Lassiter & Sifford, 2015).…”

Social support in schools and related outcomes for LGBTQ youth: a scoping review

“…When family (or caregiver) support was low, LGBTQ youths' level of emotional and behavioural distress was high [4,8,18,24,40,55,85,90,124]. A lack of social support in the family system (e.g., family harassment, low caregiver support, low communication and closeness) was positively associated with adverse social (e.g., disengaging from peers, running away from home [40,55,85,124]), emotional (e.g., depression, psychological distress, substance abuse, suicidal ideation [4,8,18,55,85]), and educational outcomes (e.g., school dropout [8]), for LGBTQ youth. However, studies have shown that family acceptance was a type of social support that fostered LGBTQ youths' critical thinking and advocacy for safe spaces in schools to support marginalized students [40,124].…”

Contesting hegemony: Re-imagining masculinities for early childhood education

“…Consequently, men who deviate from social norms are often sanctioned through taunts that imply gayness—“faggot,” “queer,” and “sissy”—followed by ostracism, other forms of exclusion, and brutality. Indeed, the worst thing for a man to be in many societies is gay (Kimmel, 1994; Wright, 2007; Wright et al, 2012). Such socialization begins at an early age when parents and friends give instructions to “act like a man,” “man up,” and not “be a sissy”; the socialization is reinforced regularly, as when boys are asked to join in games like Smear the Queer on elementary school playgrounds.…”

“…Men in childcare may seek promotion or leave the work altogether to avoid suspicion. Often, men who do care for children are stereotyped as gay (Wright, 2007, 2011, 2016; Wright et al, 2012), which is especially problematic given both the effects of homophobia and prevalent, vicious social myths that gay men are more likely to abuse and molest children (Wernersson, 2016). Likewise, given that some ethnic, cultural, and religious groups maintain more conservative and rigid constructions of masculinity (Jaeger and Jacques, 2017), deviation from social norms may provoke even more serious psychological and social risk in these communities.…”