Safe Schools South Florida Mobilizes Programs for LGBT Youth
"Our sexual orientation shouldn’t matter; we all have the same rights. Being discriminated against is not something I enjoy, but it has given me the courage to step up and make a change so no one can be discriminated against for being who they really are."
That’s how, Maria, a local public school student described the way she deals with the day-to-day discrimination encountered -- like most LGBT teens in this area and in the United States overall -- during the school day.
In an effort to address this problem, Safe Schools South Florida (SSSF), consulting firm Perspectives Unlimited and the Stonewall Museum and Archives presented a July 26 seminar for teachers, counselors and peer educators. The educational professionals learned about all of the current programs the school systems in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.
As the SSSF liaison responsible for LGBT support, Lisa LaMonica teaches school staff how to foster respect for all students and how to maintain a safe environment for LGBT students. The response of educators to her presentations has been impassioned and overwhelmingly positive.
SSSF’s seminar training certainly fires them up. But what really brings the situation home to them are first-hand stories from students like Maria. "Most educators truly want to create the safest, most empowering school environment they possibly can for our youth," LaMonica added.
Founded in Miami-Dade in 1991, SSSF is a founding member of the Children’s Trust-funded Alliance for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning Youth. Well-publicized incidents of harassment and worse are only the ones that get reported.
A 2006 University of San Francisco study showed that teens are now coming out on average at age 13. For many of us, that is both surprising and encouraging. But coming out is never an easy process, and facing the taunts and blows of fellow students in middle and high school can be devastating.
It has been documented that 70 percent of LGBT students report verbal, sexual or physical harassment in their schools and over 90 percent hear anti-LGBT comments in school. LGBT students are four times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual counterparts and are twice as likely to skip school because of fear.
Despite these statistics, 75 percent of educators have not been trained to recognize and intervene in sexual minority harassment. In the United States, only 15 to 18 percent of school districts offer diversity training like SSSF’s.
LaMonica’s school was fortunate to be able to create extensive support and education programs with the full support of the Miami-Dade County School district. Miami-Dade County Public Schools now also support local branches of Gay/Straight Alliance clubs.
Broward County Schools have also long supported Gay/Straight Alliances. The Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All Students Bill in 2008 became the impetus for system-wide policy changes, revised guidelines, community support and training of personnel who can and advocate for help LGBT students.
This proactive stance represents a major turnaround from the days when Maimi-Dade became ground zero in the fight to roll back gay rights. In 1977, former beauty queen and Florida orange juice spokeswoman Anita Bryant, outraged when Miami-Dade County added LGBT protections to its human rights ordinance, started a "crusade" to repeal it.
Her campaign was the first major setback to the post-Stonewall momentum toward equality under the law, and formed the basis for the renewal of the Religious Right that remains very much a part of the American political landscape. The LGBT inclusion to the anti-discrimination law was repealed within a year; human rights protection for gays and lesbians was not reinstated in Miami-Dade County until 1998.
Peer Educators Share Their Stories of LGBT Harassment
The most dramatic part of SSSF’s presentation on July 26 were the impassioned stories from three LGBT students. They put a a fourth chair on the podium but kept it empty -- to honor students unable to speak because of fear and shame, in memory of those LGBT students lost to suicide to violence, they said.
Andrew told the group about how his own experiences with anti-gay harassment has given him a voice to speak out. "Once someone convinced me of my ability, speaking seemed to be the only path for me," he said. "People needed to learn about my past and I needed to heal. Both are accomplished when I let my story fly, every time."
All three students shared a hope that the assembled educational professionals would take back to their schools and districts the messages of self-acceptance and societal tolerance fostered during the workshop.
"In my opinion, no one truly understands until I tell them what it’s like to be in my shoes," said Maria. "Little by little, we help open minds, and little by little, we make a difference."
"In my opinion, no one truly understands until I tell them what it’s like to be in my shoes," said Maria. "Little by little, we help open minds, and little by little, we make a difference."
For more information, visit www.glsen.org, www.SafeSchoolsSouthFlorida.org, www.GSANetwork.org and www.PerspectivesUnlimited.com
