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Any effort to get LGBT-inclusive anti-harassment and nondiscrimination policies at your school will need to be tailor-made to the particular circumstances in your school district, but these steps can serve as guideposts.
Get students involved. If your school has a gay-straight alliance or a diversity club, start there.
Talk to LGBT-supportive teachers, school social workers, guidance counselors, or administrators. School faculty may be able to help you understand how the school bureaucracy works. Parents who have been active in the school and other concerned community members are good resources too.
Also, find out if there are groups in your area who specialize in LGBT issues.
You also might find support from an area LGBT youth group.
Before focusing on the local situation, learn about state
laws. Eight states, plus Washington, D.C., have laws that
prohibit anti-LGBT harassment and discrimination in public
schools: California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, Minnesota,
New Jersey, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. Pennsylvania
and Rhode Island have statewide policies prohibiting anti-LGBT
harassment. See States
with Safe Schools Policies for more information.
Research the particulars of your school district's student policies and how they get enacted. Supportive parents or faculty may be able to help answer these questions.
- Does your school already have a nondiscrimination policy?
- Does it have an anti-harassment policy?
- If there are policies already in place, what do they cover? Is it a general policy
or does it cover particular categories like race, religion, gender, disability, etc?
Some ways to find the policies:
- check the student handbook,
- visit the school district website,
- ask the principal or another school administrator for a copy,
- ask the school district office for a copy.
To get a better idea of what you're looking for, check out these school policies.
Take a look at the ACLU Lesbian & Gay Rights Project's model policy.
Take a look at this
Wisconsin school district's nondiscrimination policy PDF),
which includes sexual orientation. Scroll down to the "Policies"
section on page 13 and look for "Nondiscrimination Policy."
Note this school district also has a harassment policy but
does not mention sexual orientation.
Here's
an example (PDF) of an anti-harassment policy from a Utah
school district that does not include sexual orientation.
Assuming your school's policies do not include sexual orientation and gender identity, the next
important questions to research are:
- Who makes the final decision on school policies? Are there other people involved in
making policy decisions besides the school board?
- Is there a certain time of year when changes to student policies are considered?
Answering these questions will help you put together a framework for what to do next.
Now that you know more about the situation in your district, what kind of changes will you propose? There are three likely proposals:
- adding sexual orientation and gender identity to an existing policy that already includes other categories like race, gender, etc.;
- changing a general policy to one that includes sexual orientation, gender identity, and other categories;
- creating an entirely new policy (in a situation where none exists).
If your school has an anti-harassment policy that outlines different types of harassment but doesn't include sexual orientation and gender identity, it's probably best to try to get the school to add to the existing policy. You will need to focus your proposal on explaining why sexual orientation and gender identity need to be added to the list of protected categories.
Many school districts have policies that address harassment but do not list particular categories like race, religion, gender, and others. Sometimes -- though not always -- this can be a sign that a school ignores anti-LGBT harassment.
If your district has one of these more general policies, you'll need to decide whether to propose a separate policy on sexual orientation and gender identity or to try to add to the existing policy. Either approach you take will require some additional work. There are likely other groups in your school who are affected by harassment due to religious, racial, ethnic, gender, or other differences. They will feel alienated if not included in the policy. It might be a good idea to work with a broad coalition of people to propose new safe schools policies that include a range of categories.
If your school has no policy, it's probably best to bring in allies from other groups from the beginning and work towards a policy that will benefit all those groups.
It's time to measure your chances of success. Some questions to consider: Is it possible that your school board and community might support your proposal? Is your school too hostile-and would you sacrifice your personal safety if you bring forward a safe schools proposal? Do you think the process of pushing the policy could significantly increase understanding and sensitivity to anti-LGBT harassment -- even if the actual proposal ultimately fails?
Research the school board politics. Are they likely to support diversity initiatives? Does your school board have a conservative majority? (Not every conservative is opposed to LGBT rights, but there's often a correlation.) Potential sources for information:
- school board minutes (should be accessible to the public);
- newspaper reporting on past school board issues;
- candidate surveys on school board members from past races (these may also be in local newspapers or available from local voter education groups).
Don't forget that even if the task seems insurmountable, many people who are or appear to be opposed to LGBT equality may simply lack access to LGBT people and accurate information about LGBT issues.
To organize the next steps, put together a timeline, working backward from the date when you want to present the proposal to the school board. What steps does the board require to have a proposal considered? What does your group want to accomplish between now and that date to build support? Besides the school board, who else will be key players in influencing the debate? For example, you might want to try to get the support of student leaders, the student body, parents, LGBT students, etc.
Spend some time writing or verbalizing your main arguments -- and keep them simple and concise. It might be useful to put together a small information packet presenting your argument with supporting information (see Key Tools and Other Resources for some ideas.)
Here are two main arguments for why safe schools policies are necessary:
- Anti-LGBT harassment is a serious, nationwide problem. A number of surveys have demonstrated the prevalence of harassment as well as the negative effects it has on students.
- Enacting an inclusive anti-harassment policy is one important step that
can help a school fulfill its legal duty to maintain a
safe school for every student. Schools that ignore
anti-LGBT harassment can be held accountable in court.
These lawsuits
aren't cheap for schools. It's in the best interest of
the entire community for a school not only to address
anti-LGBT harassment but to prevent it. The ACLU has written
a sample
letter that explains this to school administrators.
To convince the school board that it is necessary to enact safe schools polices, you will need to show that anti-LGBT harassment is a problem that needs to be addressed. Some ideas:
- Collect stories of anti-LGBT harassment in your school. It's important to show people that this is not an abstract problem -- that it happens in their school and to people they know. Compelling stories of actual harassment are the most persuasive tool you have for changing public perception. Include these stories in materials you distribute to school leaders.
- Work with the school student newspaper.Would the paper's staff write an article about anti-LGBT harassment? Would they publish a guest op-ed about the need for LGBT-inclusive safe schools policies?
- Circulate a petition.Use the petition to demonstrate student or community support. Don't forget school boards are usually elected by popular vote -- they care what voters think.
- Get the public support of parent groups, student leaders, teachers, and administrators. Will any school leaders speak out in support of the safe schools policies?
- Try to recruit representatives of educators, religious, women, disability, people of color, or other groups to your cause. This may be particularly easy to do if you are working to enact a safe schools policy from scratch (as opposed to just adding sexual orientation and gender identity to an existing policy). Having the public support of other community groups -- including other groups affected by discrimination -- can help build support for your cause.
- Consider approaching your local newspaper. Think carefully and talk to your supporters before taking your effort to the wider public. Consider whether going to local media would make your school more or less likely to support your efforts. It could inflame school board members who might otherwise support the effort. But it could also help build public support, especially if you provide the paper with compelling stories and factual information about anti-LGBT harassment.
While preventing anti-LGBT harassment would seem like an obvious goal for any school, you should expect to encounter opposition. The following are some of the excuses that you are likely to hear and the best ways to respond.
- No special rights. Opponents are fond of trying to make it seem that any measures to ensure equality for LGBT people are special rights. By asking for an anti-harassment policy, you are not seeking any type of special right. You are simply asking that the school board make it clear that anti-LGBT harassment will not be tolerated in the schools. Use statistics and stories of actual harassment to prove the need.
- There's already an anti-harassment policy. School boards with a generic anti-harassment policy may try to get around changing or enacting a new policy by claiming that the school already has a policy. If the policy doesn't clearly spell out what types of harassment are not acceptable, it won't prevent harassment. There is such a long history of schools ignoring anti-LGBT harassment that students think they can get away with it. By making an affirmative policy that the school will not accept anti-LGBT harassment, the school puts students on notice that unacceptable behavior will no longer be tolerated.
- An anti-LGBT harassment policy endorses homosexuality and gender non-conformity. The argument is that by enacting a policy to protect LGBT students, the school is endorsing and thereby encouraging students to become LGBT. It's probably best not to get into an argument on the nature of sexual orientation and gender identity. There is no widely accepted scientific explanation as to why people are LGBT. Keep the focus on the need for a policy to protect students -- even students who are merely believed to be LGBT -- from harassment and discrimination. Everyone doesn't need to have the same morals and beliefs to understand that students should go to school in an environment free of harassment.
- If we have a policy for LGBT students we'll have to have a policy for other groups. The school board may try to claim that creating a policy for LGBT students will open the door for other groups to come forward and demand an anti-harassment or nondiscrimination policy. Schools should protect against harassment and discrimination based on race, gender, religion and disabilities. Solicit allies to show the need for a comprehensive policy that includes these other classifications.
Present a case to the school board that (1) there's a need for a policy change (2) that people in the district support the proposal, and (3) that it is in the school's and the students' best interest to have a policy. Provide written materials for the board to consider before they vote on the issue. If the board allows a full presentation, assemble a solid line-up of speakers to present your case. This could include school leaders, leaders of community groups, parents, and students who can testify about their own experiences with harassment. Determine other ways to provide evidence of community support (for example, petitions).
>> Next: Key Tools and Other Resources
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