Including queer
voices in our
equity dialogue
For individuals, schools
and school systems,
providing safer, more
inclusive school
environments for
LGBTQ+ youth can be
life or death work.
12
Leadership
Following graduate school
and prior to my first administrative post,
I taught summer school. At the end of the
summer, the entire school gathered to take
a group picture. Scrunched together, sev-
eral of the older boys began to lie on one
another. There was nothing remotely sex-
ual about this, until one of my colleagues
reminded the boys that they were “acting
gay” and that this type of behavior would
be punished if it continued.
Moving to the Bay Area, I expected that
the education community would radically
support our queer students and that my pre-
vious co-worker was an anachronism. How-
ever, that teacher wasn’t out of character for
many educators, even in the most progres-
sive hubs.
Leading my first professional develop-
ment session as an administrator, a veteran
teacher told me afterward that she was pray-
ing for me. My content wasn’t that bad, she
had just divined that I wasn’t straight. Out-
side of school, I’ve been called “faggot” and
had items thrown at me from car windows.
Life for queer folks isn’t always easy, despite
the immense social and political victories
that have happened within the past decade.
Beyond anecdotes, statistics show that
queer youth are in crisis. Lesbian, gay, bi-
sexual, transgender, queer/questioning and
other (LGBTQ+) students are more likely to
be bullied, have rumors spread about them,
and be sexually harassed (Greytak, et. al).
They feel less safe at school, and are more
than twice as likely to have missed school
in past month because they felt unsafe or
uncomfortable. Common sense says that
when students are bullied or don’t feel safe
in school, they cannot perform at their best.
This problem extends past our hallways and
impacts students their entire adulthood.
A 2013 study found that victims of child-
hood bullying were at increased risk of
poor health, wealth and social-relationship
outcomes in adulthood compared to their
straight, non-bullied peers (Wolke, et. al).
Unfortunately, there are a number of students
who see these outcomes and take their own
lives rather than deal with the daily torment.
By James Hilton Harrell