LGBT- FAQs
What is homophobic bullying?
Homophobic Bullying is bullying executed by people who do not agree with the individual’s sexual preference. Homophobic bullying is also referred to as gay bullying or gay bashing.
Why Does homophobic bullying happen?
Homophobic bullying happens sometimes because people are afraid of what they do not understand. Since it is different, a lot of people in society do not want to accept it. Because of this, no one wants to be seen with someone who is a homosexual. In other instances, some parents pass on their hate for homosexuals to their children while other parents teach their children to accept everyone as they are and never to shun anyone for being different.
What is Sexual Orientation?
Sexual orientation is a person’s sexual identity as it relates to the gender to which they are attracted. Sexual identity terms have been abbreviated and are now commonly referred to as LGBTQ or the LGBTQ community.
LGBTQ does not include heterosexual individuals. Heterosexual or “Straight” individuals are attracted to the opposite sex.
Homosexual terms are each represented by a corresponding letter of the alphabet:
L – Lesbian – woman who is attracted to females.
G – Gay – male who is attracted to males
B – Bisexual – male or female attracted to both sexes.
T – Transgender – A person whose self-identity doesn’t conform to conventional typing. An example would be a person whose gender was designated at birth based genitalia but feels that the true self is the opposite sex or a combination of both sexes. (Non-identification or non-presentation as the sex one was assigned at birth).
Q – Queer – An umbrella term for persons who feel outside of norms in regards to gender or sexuality but do not wish to specifically self – identify as L, G, B or T.
Bullying is an aggressive and unwanted behavior inflicted upon a vulnerable child or teen and is usually repetitive. It can be physical, emotional, verbal, or written as a text message or email. Foul or explicit language, hitting, tripping, ignoring, staring, pushing, name calling, stalking, are all examples of bully tactics.
Like all forms of bullying, homophobic bullying can occur in different ways such as emotional, verbal, physical or sexual.
Some of the more common forms of homophobic bullying include:
Verbal bullying (being teased or called names, or having derogatory terms used to describe you, or hate speech used against you)
Being ‘outed’ (the threat of being exposed to your friends and family by them being told that you are LGLBT even when you are not)
Indirect bullying (being ignored or left out or gestures such as ‘backs against the wall’)
Physical bullying
Sexual harassment (inappropriate sexual gestures, for example, in the locker room after PE or being groped with comments such as, ‘you know you like it!’)
Cyber bullying (being teased, called names and/or threatened via email, text and on Social Networking sites)
In 2009, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did a survey of more than 7,000 LGBT middle and high school students (aged 13-21), and found that because of their sexual orientation:
•8/10 students were verbally harassed
•4/10 were harassed physically
•6/10 admitted they did not feel safe at school
•1/5 students were the victims of bullying
Verbal harassments tend to be more common than physical harassments, but one concern is that if the verbal harassments continue with no stopping them in sight, they may escalate to physical harassments and worse–violence. Another study stated that adolescents who identified within the LGBT community in grades 7-12 were more than twice as likely to have attempted suicide, as opposed to their heterosexual peers.
Creating a Safe Environment
Chronic bullying, suicide attempts, and an unsafe environment are not what we want our children to go through. As parents it’s important to make sure that your child has a safe, supportive environment so they can succeed in school and live a healthy adult life. Here are some tips on how to create a safe environment for LGBT youth, as prescribed by stopbullying.org.
•Establish strong connections in order to keep communication open and easy. Because some LGBT teens feel unwanted, it’s important for them to know that their families, friends, schools, and communities support them.
•Create a safe school environment by sending the message that no one should be treated differently because they identify themselves as LGBT. The protection of a student’s gender identity and their sexual orientation can and should be added to school policy.
•Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) can be created on campus to further the notion of safe school environment.
•Ensure the privacy of students by not disclosing or discussing anything that might reveal they are LGBT.
The CDC also has tips on how to protect LGBT Teens
•Encourage students to respect one another regardless of their gender identity and/or sexual orientation.
•Establish “safe places” on campus. This could be the counselor’s office, teacher’s office, of the headquarters of the Gay Straight Alliance (mentioned earlier).
•Allow and even encourage student-organized clubs that welcome those who identify as LGBT, and that promote the safe environment that is needed in all schools.
•Schools must take charge in informing and providing students with educational materials that contain HIV, STD, and pregnancy prevention information that is relevant not only to LGBT youth, but all youth, as well.
•Create and publicize trainings for teachers to attend on how to create safe and supportive school environments for all students, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity and encourage and require staff to attend these trainings.
•Provide access to community specialists who have experience providing health services, including HIV/STD testing and counseling, to LGBTQ youth. Also, access to community specialists who have experience in providing social and psychological services to LGBTQ youth is also important. Mental and physical health must be taken into consideration (CDC).
If parents and schools work together, we can make LGBT teens feel safe in school. It is important to make sure that the youth of this country feel welcome, wanted, and are given enough confidence and encouragement to succeed in life. This is especially true to LGBT teens, who unfortunately face a lot of challenges growing up.