Many schools across the United States remain hostile environments for LGBT students despite significant

progress on LGBT rights in recent years, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Measures
to improve student safety and inclusion are urgently needed at all levels of government.
The 106-page report, “‘Like Walking Through a Hailstorm’: Discrimination against LGBT Youth in US
Schools,” documents a range of problems facing LGBT students. The concerns include bullying and
harassment, exclusion of LGBT topics from school curricula and resources, restrictions on LGBT student
groups, and discrimination and bigotry from both classmates and school personnel on the basis of sexual
orientation and gender identity.

In many schools, discriminatory policies and practices exacerbate the sense of exclusion students face.
Human Rights Watch found that teachers are made to fear adverse employment consequences for
identifying as LGBT or supporting LGBT students. Students in same-sex relationships are barred or
discouraged from attending events as a couple, and transgender students are denied access to facilities,
classes, and extracurricular activities because of their gender identity.

Many schools censor discussions about LGBT topics, even as LGBT people and issues have become
increasingly visible in public life. Eight US states restrict discussions of LGBT topics in schools, and
some school districts in other states impose their own restrictions. These laws and policies send a strong
signal to students that being LGBT is abnormal or wrong.

Students are often targeted for bullying and harassment in school because they are presumed to be
lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. A study found that 84% of LGBT youth experienced some form of
harassment at school (Kosciw, 2004). Research also shows that for every LGBT youth who reported
being harassed at school, four heterosexual youth reported harassment for being perceived as gay or
lesbian (Reis, 1996). A recent study of homophobic language and verbal harassment in North Carolina
schools indicated that 72% of respondents reported hearing homophobic remarks from other students in
school. Pejorative terms based on sexual orientation such as faggot and idiot were heard frequently or
often by almost two-thirds (64%) of students. The expression gay used in a derogatory manner was heard
frequently or often by 69% of students (Phoenix, Hall, Weiss, Kemp, Wells, & Chan, 2006). Verbal
harassment can escalate into physical intimidation, pushing, hitting, and shoving (Faulkner & Cranston,
1998; Human Rights Watch, 2001). A study found that lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) students were
four times as likely to have been threatened with a weapon at school compared to their heterosexual peers
(Garofalo, Wolf, Kessel, Palfrey, & Durant, 1998). Studies have shown that over half of LGBT students
reported having property such as cars, clothing, or books stolen or deliberately damaged (Garofalo et al.,
1998; Kosciw, 2004). Furthermore, 39% of LGBT students reported experiencing physical harassment
(i.e., being pushed or shoved), and 17% reported experiencing physical assaults (i.e., being punched,
kicked, or injured with a weapon) at school (Kosciw, 2004). Also, over half of LGBT youth reported
experiencing sexual harassment at school (Kosciw, 2004).

Homophobic language as well as verbal and physical harassment create a hostile school climate that
LGBT students perceive as unsafe. In a recent study, LGBT students were asked how bothered they were
from hearing terms based on sexual orientation used in a derogatory way, and 40% of youth stated they
were extremely distressed (Kosciw, 2004). In addition to being distressing for youth, verbal harassment
and physical violence create an environment where students feel unsafe. According to Kosciw, almost
two-thirds (64%) of youth reported they felt unsafe in their schools because of their sexual orientation and
over one-third (39%) reported that they felt unsafe because of their gender expression (2004, p. 12).
Harassment can affect students academically as some LGBT youth have difficulty concentrating in class
and focusing on schoolwork, and students may emotionally or physically distance themselves from school
(Hunter & Schaecher, 1987). Research documents that as a consequence of being harassed and feeling
unsafe at school, LGBT students often skip school (Faulkner & Cranston, 1998; Garofalo, Cameron,
Kessel, Palfrey, & DuRant, 1998; Hunter & Schaecher, 1990; Kosciw, 2004; Remafedi, 1987;), perform
poorly (Garofalo et al., 1998; Hunter & Schaecher, 1990; Kosciw, 2004; Remafedi, 1987; Rotheram-
Borus, Rosario, & Koopman, 1991; Russell et al., 2001), or drop out (Gardner, 2002; Garofalo et al.,
1998; Hunter & Schaecher, 1990; Remafedi, 1987). One study found that 29% of LGBT students missed
at least one day of school in the past month due to feeling unsafe. Also, LGBT students who frequently
experienced harassment had GPAs that were about 10% lower than those who did not (Kosciw, 2004).
Finally, another study found that 28% of gay and bisexual male youths experiencing harassment dropped
out of school (Remafedi, 1987). This rate of drop out is three times the national average (U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services, 1989). Bullying and harassment often leads to youth feeling rejected,
isolated, and hopeless, which can negatively affect students beyond their education. Harassment by peers
is one of the main propelling factors of suicidal behavior for some LGB youth (van Wormer, Wells, &
Boes, 2000). Rejection by peers and teachers can manifest into self-destructive behavior (van Wormer &
McKiney, 2003). Studies have found that LGB youth are two to seven times more likely to have
attempted suicide compared to their heterosexual peers (Faulkner & Cranston, 1998; Garofalo, Wolf,
Wissow, Woods, & Goodman, 1999; Remafedi, French, Story, Resnick, & Blum, 1998; Russell, Franz, &
Driscoll, 2001).
Over 25% of LGBT youths are high school drop outs because of the discrimination they are faced with in
the school atmosphere (“Today’s Gay Youth,” n.d.). The article also states the LGBT youths have a
greater risk of academic failure than heterosexual students. Furthermore they don’t get involved much in
student activities and have very little dedication to the school’s agendas because school isn’t a safe,
healthy, or productive learning environment. Therefore, LGBT youths make an attempt to live, work, and
learn with continuous fear of physical assault at school (“Today’s Gay Youth,” n.d.).
Physical abuse against LGBT youths usually occurs due to disregarded harassment (Human Rights
Watch, 2001, p. 42). Human Rights Watch (2001) says that the number of physical assaults that were
reported by interviewed LGBT youths had an enormous psychological impact on them, mainly because
the physical abuse followed constant verbal and non-physical harassment that was overlooked by school
officials (p. 42). For example, a lesbian student reported that several months of harassment and verbal
threats grew to physical abuse. “‘I got hit in the back of the head with an ice scraper.’ By that point, she
said she was so used to being harassed. ‘I didn’t even turn around to see who it was’” (Human Rights
Watch, 2001, p. 42). Another incident mentioned by Human Rights Watch (2001) involved a tenth grade
gay youth who was hit in the back of the neck with a beer bottle. He literally had to crawl to the nearest
friend’s house for immediate assistance. The same youth was beaten up in the seventh grade by a couple
of anti-gay kids (p. 42). One last example entails another gay youth who first suffered from verbal assault
and students throwing items at him. Subsequently, a group of anti-gay students strangled him with a
drafting line so bad that it cut him. Later that school year the youth was dragged down a flight of stairs
and cut with knives by his classmates (Human Rights Watch, 2001, p. 42). Fortunately, he lived to talk
about it.

Human Rights Watch (2001) implies that verbal and physical violence is a tension that LGBT youths
have gotten accustomed to; however, it is damaging to their psychological wellbeing (p. 68). Many of the
LGBT youths interviewed by Human Rights Watch (2001) reported signs of depression such as:
“sleeplessness, excessive sleep, loss of appetite, and feeling of hopelessness”(p. 69). One reported
incident involved a gay youth who could not take it anymore. He started to skip school so that he would
not have to put up with the harassment anymore. He stayed at home all day and ended up missing fifty-six
days of school. The youth explained, “‘It was mentally and physically stressful for me to go to that
school. I remember going home and waking up in the morning just dreading it; dreading the fact that I
would have to go back to that school’” (as cited in Human Rights Watch, 2001, p. 69). Other youths
reported that even when the harassment was not addressed directly toward them, they were affected by it.
One youth implied that discrimination and harassment makes him feel like he is backed up into a corner
and so sad that he wants to cry (Human Rights Watch, 2001, p. 69). It is no wonder LGBT youth turn to
drugs, alcohol, and suicide.
Cole (2007) claims that discrimination against LGBT youths can create repression along with a
deficiency in their natural growth. Discrimination also has a social and emotional impact on them. Instead
of being social individuals, LGBT youths remain in the closet and hide. The loneliness that they bear can
turn into depression which often leads to substance abuse or even suicide. LGBT youths have greater
chances of alcohol and substance abuse than heterosexual youths (U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, 1989, as cited in “Today’s Gay Youth,” n.d.). Also, roughly about one third of LGBT youths
have a drinking or drug problem. Human Rights Watch (2001) interviewed some LGBT youths who say
that they drink to the point of passing out or to feel good and normal (p. 69). The lack of support from
parents or schools can possibly make them feel like there is no hope of ever living a happy life and being
productive (Human Rights Watch, 2001, p. 68).

Being denied adoption rights has a similar effect. One study found that in states without discriminatory
laws, gay men who wanted to raise children had greater self-esteem and fewer symptoms of depression
than gay men who did not plan on children. But for those in states where discrimination was written
into marriage and adoption laws, gay men who wanted to raise children had lower self-esteem and
increased depressive symptoms than gay men who did not want to raise children. A recent video released
by a Russian neo-Nazi group of violence against LGBT people highlights the very real threat of hate
crimes. Estimates suggest that 20 to 25 percent of LGBT people experience criminal victimization
because of their adult sexual orientation. Further, as compared with other recent crime victims, LGBT
hate-crime survivors manifested significantly more symptoms of depression, anger, anxiety and post-
traumatic stress.  

Protecting LGBT people from violence and discrimination does not require the creation of a new set of
LGBT-specific rights, nor does it require the establishment of new international human rights standards.
The legal obligations of States to safeguard the human rights of LGBT people are well established in
international human rights law on the basis of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and
subsequently agreed international human rights treaties. All people, irrespective of sex, sexual orientation
or gender identity, are entitled to enjoy the protections provided for by international human rights law,
including in respect of rights to life, security of person and privacy, the right to be free from torture,
arbitrary arrest and detention, the right to be free from discrimination and the right to freedom of
expression, association and peaceful assembly.

References:
United States: LGBT Students Face Discrimination.
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Oppression and Discrimination among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered People and
Communities: A Challenge for Community Psychology
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Harassment, Bullying, & Discrimination of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Students
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The real cost of LGBT discrimination

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The Psychological Impact of LGBT Discrimination

https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/brick-brick/201402/the-psychological-impact-lgbt-
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