Bullying, Discipline and LGBTQ Persons of Color

The Huffington Post reports on two issue brief released in October 2014 from the GSA Network and Crossroads Collaborative groups that show Lesbian Gay Bisexual,  Transgender and  Questioning youths of color experience bullying and discipline in disproportionate numbers:

The groups began conducting their research in early 2012 through a series of surveys and focus groups, finding that LGBTQ and gender non-conforming youth of color reported often feeling singled out by school authorities and feeling blamed when they spoke up about bullying. The term gender non-conforming youth can include any student who does “not conform to stereotypical expectations of what it means to be and to look like a male or a female,” according to one of the reports.

“Our research shows that LGBTQ youth of color in particular face persistent and frequent harassment and bias-based bullying from peers and school staff as well as increased surveillance and policing, relatively greater incidents of

harsh school discipline, and consistent blame for their own victimization,” the report says.

[Tanayshia] Price, for one, says that she feels as though she has faced disproportionate discipline in school due to her status as a minority and a member of the LGBTQ community. Price says that she began feeling discriminated against as early as elementary school, where she was one of only a few African-American students.

“I was a plus-size, big African-American girl, and I did not fit that female look. It wasn’t shirts and dresses, it was hoodies,” said Price, who has since switched districts. “And then instead of my school trying to figure out things from my point of view, it was them trying to figure out things from the white person’s point of view … [Their solution was] just to get rid of me and have me at school for less days.”

Read the full article

See the issue brief