Inside Illinois Schools: The Experiences of LGBT Students surveyed 206 Illinois students about the level of harassment they receive in school, how much they skip school for being harassed, and how their grades are affected by this harassment.

The report showed that 89 percent of Illinois LGBT students experienced verbal harassment based on sexual orientation in the past year, 43 percent said they had been physically harassed and 21 percent said they had been physically assaulted.

“While we applaud Illinois for being one of only 11 states to pass a law that explicitly protects students from bullying and harassment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity/expression, Inside Illinois Schools shows just how much work still needs to be done to make sure LGBT students in Illinois are safe in school,” GLSEN Executive Director Eliza Byard said. “GLSEN is hopeful Illinois will continue to address this pervasive problem.”

Read the rest of the GLSEN report here.

On New York City’s Upper West Side, The Jewish Alliance for Change presented a benefit concert on Monday evening for marriage equality that featured a stunning array of stars. I spoke at the event and followed Linda Lavin ­ who played the lead in the television show Alice.  It was exhilarating to be among the Broadway glitz and glamour. Most important, the event encapsulated what the movement has worked decades to achieve: broad mainstream support and cultural acceptance.

Unfortunately, while our movement bathed in the well-deserved spotlight, not everyone felt its warm glow. There are still gay people ­particularly of school age ­ who feel the cool sting of homophobia. They are teased, harassed, humiliated and beaten on a daily basis. They enter the schoolyard in sheer terror ­as if it were a prison yard ruled by fearsome gangs.

Teachers ­- who are supposed to be in charge – act no better than prison guards, indifferent to the pain and suffering. The cries of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students often fall on deaf ears. It is a living Hell and one that too often ends in tragedy.

In 1998, I remember an effeminate male student in high school who was teased mercilessly. He was assaulted verbally and physically ­ and it got so bad he had to drop out. Teachers who allowed bullies to ruin his life curtailed his right to an education.

Thanks to groups like the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN)
much has changed. There are many openly gay GLBT students who have uneventful ­ if not enjoyable ­ high school experiences.

Still, if a student ends up in the wrong school ­ it might as well be 1988 (or even 1958). One such student is Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover. He was an 11-year-old boy who was taunted by bullies who repeatedly called him gay. On April 6, he hung himself in his Springfield, Mass. home.

It is heartbreaking to hear Sirdeaner Walker, Carl¹s mother, talk about her
son’s death. She did everything in her power to alert the school and they
failed to intervene.

“I have been homeless, but Carl made it through,” Walker told ABC News. “I
was a victim of domestic violence, and we made it through. The one thing we
couldn’t get through was public school.”

Last week, parents in Ohio sued a high school after their son, who did not
claim to be gay, shot himself after bullies clobbered him with anti-gay
epithets. This problem is as pervasive as it is perverse. It is an open
secret and offhandedly dismissed, as “boys will be boys.” Of course, this
response comes from the boys actually throwing the slurs and punches and not
the victims and their families.

Equally tragic is that this problem is not considered a major story in the
mainstream media. We are treated to countless hours of babbling baloney and
blithering buffoonery ­ but the preventable suicide by an 11-year-old boy is
considered an afterthought.

In my view, this tragedy should be on the front page of every newspaper in
the nation. Satellite trucks should be parked in front of Ms. Walker’s home
to address a serious issue that affects far more people than stories about
the latest star in rehab.

On Friday, April 17, students across the nation will participate in GLSEN’s
13th annual National Day of Silence, where they will take a one-day vow of
silence to shine a light on anti-gay bullying.  More than 8,000 schools are
expected to participate in this incredible show of solidarity.

Now, if the media will just end its “century of silence” and elevate this
issue, we might see less eleven year olds committing suicide.

Duncan made the pledge during a meeting with representatives of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network and a delegation of students and teachers.

It is the first time that a Secretary of Education has met with LGBT advocates. The Bush administration rejected calls to meet.

“It was moving to witness these students and teachers sharing their personal stories of pain, rejection, resilience and hope with the nation’s top education official,” said GLSEN Executive Director Eliza Byard who attended the meeting.

“Secretary Duncan showed great compassion for their experiences, respect for their perseverance and dedication to identifying effective responses to school climate issues. I am confident that we will see growing engagement with these issues at the Department of Education and truly positive change.” 

Duncan also expressed an interest in finding ways to highlight the problem of bullying and harassment in national discussions about education, and requested further data on a number of proposed interventions.

GLSEN’s biennial National School Climate Survey has repeatedly shown that LGBT students experience extreme harassment.

Forty-seven percent of junior/middle high school students identified bullying, name-calling or harassment as somewhat serious or very serious problems at their school. 

Additionally, 69 percent of junior/middle high school students reported being assaulted or harassed in the previous year and only 41 percent said they felt very safe at school.

Monday’s meeting with Duncan occurred a day before today’s Safe Schools Lobby Day, where participants are asking their legislators to support the Safe Schools Improvement Act, which would establish a federal anti-bullying policy.

The act would enumerate categories often targeted for bullying, including sexual orientation and gender identity/expression.

 But the study, by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, also found they are more likely to speak out about LGBT issues in the classroom.

Called ”Harsh Realities: The Experiences of Transgender Youth in Our Nation’s Schools,” it is the first comprehensive study on transgender students.

Nearly nine out of 10 transgender students experienced verbal harassment at school in the past year because of their sexual orientation and gender expression, more than half experienced physical harassment because of their sexual orientation and gender expression and more than a quarter experienced physical assault because of their sexual orientation and gender expression.

The levels of victimization were higher than those faced by the non-transgender lesbian, gay and bisexual students who participated in the GLSEN ”2007 National School Climate Survey.”

“[This] demonstrates the urgent need for educators, policymakers and all who care about safe schools to address the disproportionate victimization of transgender students and to improve the knowledge and understanding of all members of the school community about issues related to gender and gender expression,” said GLSEN Executive Director Eliza Byard.

“It is important to note, however, that in the face of extreme harassment, transgender students are resilient and taking the lead to bring up LGBT issues in school,” she said.

In addition to looking at comparisons between transgender and non-transgender students, “Harsh Realities” specifically examined the experiences of the 295 transgender students who took the ”National School Climate Survey.”

The high rate of victimization had a direct impact on school attendance and academic performance. Transgender students who experienced high levels of harassment were more likely to miss school because they felt unsafe and had lower grade point averages than those who experienced lower levels of harassment.

Less than a fifth of transgender students said that school staff intervened most of the time or always when hearing homophobic remarks or negative remarks about someone’s gender expression.

In addition, school staff also contributed to the harassment. A third of transgender students heard school staff make homophobic remarks, sexist remarks and negative comments about someone’s gender expression in the past year.

Aimed at grades 5-8, No Name-Calling Week is a week of educational activities designed to end name-calling and bullying of all kinds. The program is a project of GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, and Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing, in collaboration with nearly 50 national education and youth service organizations.

“While we wish every week could be No Name-Calling Week, this week offers schools and educators an opportunity to address the serious problem of name-calling and bullying in America’s schools,” said GLSEN Executive Director Dr. Eliza Byard.

“No Name-Calling Week’s message of tolerance and respect has a profound impact on creating safer and more successful schools.”

Many of the schools participating in No Name-Calling Week use lesson plans and resources produced by GLSEN and the other groups. They are available at the No Name Calling Web site and are aimed at grades K-8.

Schools also are participating in an accompanying Creative Expression Contest that encourages students to create a work that expresses their thoughts on bullying and name-calling.

Also available this year is a special educator’s guide that allows teachers to incorporate GLSEN’s Think B4 You Speak public education campaign into No Name-Calling Week. The campaign, created in partnership with the Ad Council, encourages students to think before they say hurtful terms such as “that’s so gay.” Public service announcements featuring Hilary Duff and Wanda Sykes are airing nationwide.

No Name-Calling Week was inspired by the young adult novel, The Misfits, by popular author James Howe. The book tells the story of four best friends trying to survive the seventh grade in the face of all too frequent name-calling, bullying and harassment. The students create a “No Name Day” at school in hopes of creating a safer environment.

No Name-Calling Week Coalition partners include the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, Girl Scouts of the USA, the National School Boards Association and the National Education Association.

In GLSEN’s 2005 report, From Teasing to Torment: School Climate in America, 47 percent of junior/middle high school students identified bullying, name-calling or harassment as somewhat serious or very serious problems at their school. Additionally, 69 percent of junior/middle high school students reported being assaulted or harassed in the previous year and only 41 percent said they felt very safe at school.

As people who have grown up negotiating a hostile environment, LGBT people are “naturals” at reading others and at diplomacy. 

But more importantly LGBT people in much of the world face horrific conditions including being put to death just for being gay.

Having the most powerful nation in the world represented by an (openly) LGBT Secretary of State would force the issue and perhaps lead to better treatment for some of our less fortunate brethren overseas.

Kevin Jennings is executive director of GLSEN.

Go back to the main story for more opinions on where we need LGBT officials.