Safe Schools

Safe Communities

Safe Schools

Safe Schools All students have the right to feel safe at school regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

GLBT students frequently are the subjects of harassment and bullying by peers, teachers, and school officials. Recent research by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) indicates that over 70% of GLBTQ youth are reporting hearing derogatory and anti-gay threats at school, and often they are unchecked by school staff and administrators. Such harassment and bullying undermines the positive learning environment that schools try to create, leads to lowered self esteem and can contribute to depression.

Despite the prevalence of such behavior, school officials in Virginia lack the training, information and resources about GLBT issues and schools lack resources to respond to and address the needs of GBLTQ youth. Recently we have seen a couple of minor changes locally, i.e. the addition of sexual orientation into the anti-discrimination policies at Henrico County Schools, but there continues to be limited public awareness or active promotion of such efforts.

Current statistics indicate that GLBT youth: make up approximately 33% of teenage suicides nationwide; are 60% more likely to be substance abusing/substance addicted than their heterosexual peers; and make up as many as 40% of calls to the national runaway hotline.

It is obvious that GLBT youth are not more at risk simply because of who they are; they are driven to depression and are forced to find other ways to cope with the negativity that they encounter daily from their teachers and peers. School professionals have an obligation to provide a positive environment for all of their students, and to role model and promote pro-social development for our youth, but they need to be educated on the risk and protective factors for GLBT youth and how to support these youth in facing most effectively given the unique challenges they may experience at home, school and in the community based upon their sexual orientation and gender identity.

Gay Straight Alliances (GSAs)

Gay Straight Alliances (GSAs) are clubs that seek to create a safe space for GLBT youth and foster understanding in heterosexual peers. GSAs are present in many high schools in Virginia (GLSEN reported 103 schools had such clubs as of June 2007). GSAs empower Virginia GLBT youth to succeed in the face of bullying and harassment and to make active steps to improve their school environment.

Nonetheless, some school officials and members of the Virginia General Assembly have shown continued resistance to the establishment and support of GSAs in Virginia schools. This prevents students from establishing a safe space and arming themselves with the tools that they need to begin to build bridges of understanding.

Fortunately, efforts to pass a state law banning the formation of GSA’s directly or indirectly have been unsuccessful. For example, Delegate Matt Lohr introduced a “permission slip” bill in 2007 that would have required all students to get a permission slip signed by their parents in order to participate in any extra-curricular activities. Despite its “neutral” tone, the bill’s genesis as a response to calls in the district Lohr represents for a state law prohibiting GSAs in schools made its purpose clear. After an amendment that gave school divisions the option to adopt either opt in or opt out policies, Lohr’s bill passed the House of Delegates but was defeated in a Senate committee largely because of arguments that the bill either was unnecessary or intruded wrongly on the prerogative of local school boards to set policies governing day to day school operations.

Responding to efforts to block the formation of GSAs, John Dougherty from the Richmond Organization for Sexual Minority Youth (ROSMY) said, "Failing to take a proactive step that promotes the dignity and rights of all students is an active step towards teaching inequality."

Virginia Law

Bullying
Safe Schools Virginia has no law that specifically protects GLBTQ youth from bullying, harassment or violence at school. There are laws on the books that can be read, however, to provide avenues for addressing in-school violence and harassment.

Virginia law requires school officials to develop programs to prevent crime and violence on school grounds and at school events, including the prevention of hazing (§22.1-279.9. ) Although there is no specific mention of sexual orientation or gender identity in the law, there is clearly reason to argue that violence against GLBTQ youth should be addressed in any such plan. Similarly, such issues come well within the definition of "school safety concerns" that are required to be addressed in a school safety audit ( §22.1-279.8) Nonetheless, despite the existence of this requirement, currently GLSEN reports that half of Virginia's students report not being covered by these comprehensive safe schools policies.

Virginia law also requires school officials to develop character education programs that “address the inappropriateness of bullying, as defined in the Student Conduct Policy Guidelines adopted by the Board of Education pursuant to § 22.1-279.6.”

The General Assembly has encouraged teachers, school volunteers and school officials to report bullying to appropriate authorities by affording them immunity from civil suit for making such reports in good faith. §8.01-220.1:2 The same statute also makes clear that the immunity afforded teachers for actions within the scope of their employment does not protect them from legal actions to redress “bullying” by them of students.

Gay Straight Alliances (GSAs)
There is no state law in Virginia that either bans or protects the formation of Gay-Straight Alliances. Individual school divisions have enacted local policies on student participation in extra-curricular activities; however, that may adversely affect the ability of students to join GSAs. School divisions, such as those in Rockingham County and Harrisonburg, have chosen to institute permission slip programs (opt-in programs) despite the litigation risk and administrative burdens involved. Others, such as those in Fairfax County, publish a list of active student clubs at each school and give parents the right to decline permission for their children to participate (opt-out programs). Still others, such as Chesterfield County, have held public hearings and have chosen NOT to institute a permission slip program.

Federal law provides some protection against discriminatory school policies that single out GSAs for adverse policies. Federal law explicitly prohibits such "viewpoint discrimination" in setting school access policies, the Equal Access Act, 20 U.S,C, sec, 401 et seq.

In addition, school board actions specifically designed to limit the formation of GSAs also would jeopardize students' fundamental rights to freedom of expressive association, as guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Virginia Bill of Rights. Both students and adults have the right to associate freely, and this right is not limited to political groups, but includes associations for social, legal and economic purposes. Roberts v. Jaycees, 468 U.S. 609 (1984); Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville, 422 U.S. 205, 212 (1975), Gay Alliance of Students v. Matthews, 544 F.2d 162 (4th Cir. 1976).

Tools to Use

Join Equality Virginia in supporting the work of ROSMY and GLSEN in promoting strategies to make schools safer including the establishment of GSA’s.
Participate in EV’s GenerationEquality by joining the GLBT organization at your school or college.
Start a GSA at your high school. See the Jump Start Guide in the resources section below.
Talk to your school board or local schools about setting up a training program for teachers and school administrators on GLBT issues. ROSMY provides fee-for-service training for school personnel, mental health professionals, court services and social service agencies. http://www.rosmy.org/.
If you have been the victim of harassment, discrimination or violence at your school Tell It! to Equality Virginia.
Meet with school board members and school administrators to educate them about the importance of GSA’s to the prevention of harassment and bullying. Ask them to include violence toward and hazing of sexual minority youth in their required crime and violence prevention and school safety plans. Prepare to oppose anti-GSA policies presented to your school board.
Meet with your state delegate and senator to educate them about the importance of GSA’s to the prevention of harassment and bullying. Prepare to oppose anti-GSA legislation.