Teaching Tolerance

It's academic: Kids harassed for 'being gay' miss school days, get lower grades, and are less likely to go to college. Former history teacher Kevin Jennings is working to create safe learning environments for all children—and that starts with teaching students the ABCs of respect.

Photo by GLSEN

At a time when 84 percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) teens endure verbal abuse because of their sexual orientation and nearly 40 percent have been physically harassed, Kevin Jennings knows much work still must be done to create safe learning environments for all students. But as co-founder and executive director of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), Jennings, a former history teacher, is working to ensure that "every child learns to value and respect all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity." Through more than 2,500 high school clubs known as Gay-Straight Alliances, GLSEN empowers students and educators with the skills and resources they need to stop anti-LGBT bullying, work that earned Jennings an NEA Human and Civil Rights award last year. Jennings speaks with NEA Today's Kristen Loschert about the issues gay students face and ways educators can make a difference.

Why did you start GLSEN?

JENNINGS: I sort of came out in sixth grade, but like a lot of kids who get harassed for "being gay," it wasn't anything about my sexuality that prompted the harassment. It was because I was a boy who did his homework and paid attention in class and raised his hand and did all the things boys weren't supposed to do. I was harassed relentlessly through my junior high and high school years.

When I graduated from Harvard, I decided to become a teacher. I was pretty much forced out of my first job at a school in Providence, Rhode Island, because I was gay. And when I went to my second job I had a gay student who was really struggling. I saw how miserable he was and I saw how my own staying in the closet was kind of conveying to him a very damaging message that this is something to be ashamed of, something to hide.

I made a little promise to myself right there, and said, "I will do whatever I can so that the next generation has it better than we had it." So, I started GLSEN.

Have schools become any more accepting of gay educators?

JENNINGS: Yes, I think things have improved. However, there's still a lot of fear among a lot of gay people that they are going to be targeted unfairly if they go into professions that work with young people. There are only 14 states in which it's illegal to fire someone from their job because they're gay and only eight in which it's illegal to harass or discriminate against students because they are gay. So, while there's been more social acceptance, legally there is still an enormously long way to go before we have even basic protections in place.

Why has harassment of LGBT students been tolerated for so long?

JENNINGS: Primarily because nobody has ever told young people it's wrong. And sadly, according to our National School Climate Survey, in 83 percent of cases where students are harassed because of their sexual orientation, teachers rarely or never intervene.

I'm not saying teachers are the problem. I'm saying the system does not prepare the teachers to succeed. If you don't give them the policy support, if you don't give them the training they need, you're really leaving them to their own devices. And that's a recipe for disaster.

Are schools of education preparing future teachers to handle these issues?

JENNINGS: We have found very few teacher education programs that address these issues in any way. And when they do, it is at the discretion of individual instructors and is not woven into the curriculum. So we continue to send teachers out there who have no training, trying to figure it out on their own.

"It's not a question of teaching kids to approve of homosexuality. It's about teaching young people to respect people who are not like them, to teach students of different backgrounds and different value systems how to coexist in a respectful and peaceful way." —Kevin Jennings

At the same time, the average LGBT high school student comes out between 15 and 17. So they're coming out in school systems that have no more policies than they did when I was in high school, with teachers who have no more training. And then we're surprised when four out of five of these kids report that they routinely experience physical or verbal or sexual harassment. What did we think was going to happen?

Visibility is a mixed blessing. The great thing about visibility is yeah, now kids have gay-straight alliances. They know they're not alone. The bad thing is that when you're more visible, you're a bigger target. 

How does the harassment affect students?

JENNINGS: We know that students who are subjected to frequent harassment have demonstrably lower grade point averages—almost a full letter grade. We also know that they are much more likely to skip school. Over 31 percent of LGBT students have skipped at least one day of school in the past month because they are simply too afraid to go. 

What can educators do to create safer learning environments for their LGBT students?

JENNINGS: Supportive teachers make a big difference. When LGBT students know there's a teacher on their side, their grade point averages are a full letter grade higher. Meanwhile, those who do not have supportive teachers are two-and-a-half times more likely to say they don't plan to go to college.

Numbers Speak as Loudly as Words

More than 91 percent of LGBT students say they hear homophobic slurs or expressions frequently or often. Nearly 58 percent of LGBT students have had property stolen or deliberately damaged at school. More than 64 percent of LGBT students say they feel unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation. Roughly 37 percent of LGBT students do not feel comfortable discussing LGBT issues with their teachers. Source: GLSEN 2003 National School Climate Survey

When we polled teenagers to understand why they use homophobic language and what could get them to stop, 80 percent of girls and 68 percent of boys said that if a teacher they respected told them to stop using the language that would have a major impact on them. Teachers can make a huge difference. So, if you see something happening, do something. The worst thing to do is to say nothing because what you're doing is giving tacit permission for that behavior to continue. 

On the proactive side, think about how you can work this into your classroom in age-appropriate and educationally appropriate ways. If you're teaching younger ages and putting together a unit on families, for example, acknowledge that some families have two moms or two dads.

It's not a question of teaching kids to approve of homosexuality. It's about teaching young people to respect people who are not like them, to teach students of different backgrounds and different value systems how to coexist in a respectful and peaceful way. That to me is just as essential as reading, writing, and arithmetic.  

Heres more on GLSEN's work, as well as curriculum and educator resources for addressing LGBT issues.

Visit the NEA Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Caucus site for more on sexual orientation issues and their impact on students and school employees.