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GLSEN Study Finds Transgender Youth Face Extreme Harassment in School

According to Harsh Realities: The Experiences of Transgender Youth in Our Nation’s Schools, the first comprehensive study on transgender students, released today by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.  Transgender youth face extremely high levels of victimization in school, even more so than their non-transgender lesbian, gay and bisexual peers.

Nearly nine out of 10 transgender students experienced verbal harassment at school in the past year because of their sexual orientation and gender expression, more than half experienced physical harassment because of their sexual orientation and gender expression and more than a quarter experienced physical assaults because of their sexual orientation and gender expression. These levels of victimization were higher than those faced by the non-transgender lesbian, gay and bisexual students who participated in the 2007 National School Climate Survey, GLSEN’s biennial survey of LGBT students.

In addition to looking at comparisons between transgender and non-transgender students, Harsh Realities specifically examines the experiences of the 295 transgender students who took the National School Climate Survey.

90% of transgender students heard negative remarks about someone’s gender expression sometimes, often or frequently in school in the past year. · School staff also contributed to the harassment. A third of transgender students heard school staff make homophobic remarks (32%), sexist remarks (39%) and negative comments about someone’s gender expression (39%) sometimes, often or frequently in the past year.

The full report can be viewed at http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/news/record/2388.html