EQuALITY: Empowering Queer, Allied, and Trans* Youth

21st Century Social Justice, Sep 2020

LGBTQQ identified youth are often targets in school settings for harassment, maltreatment, and bullying. This negative treatment often leads to decreased academic performance and limited potential for successful long-term outcomes. Through school and community-wide programming, EQuALITY seeks to increase acceptance of LGBTQQ identified students, foster self-empowerment, and support young adults as they navigate different social environments and interactions between LGBTQQ identified students and allies. The authors hypothesize that with the creation and implementation of EQuALITY, a program designed to create a widespread shift in LGBTQQ acceptance and understanding from the school community, students’ feelings of isolation will decrease, feelings of acceptance will increase, and academic performance will improve. Furthermore, the services offered by EQuALITY will strengthen students’ sense of empowerment as leaders within the school environment and the community at large. While this article focuses specifically on the needs of students attending a middle school in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, the model is applicable in school settings nationwide.

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EQuALITY: Empowering Queer, Allied, and Trans* Youth

2 (1). Retrieved from https://fordham.bepress.com/swjournal/vol2/iss1/2 EQuALIT Y: Empowering Queer, Allied, and Trans* Youth Jessica J. Schpero 0 1 Amanda C. Hayden 0 1 Nazli Boroshan 0 1 Kathy Huynh 0 1 0 Jessica J. Schpero, Amanda C. Hayden, Nazli Boroshan, and Kathy Huynh Fordham University 1 Keywords: Youth , Young Adult, Empowerment, LGBTQ , School Programs , Identity, Community, Student Life, Counseling - School settings can be difficult for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQQ) youth to navigate, as these students are often targets for harassment, maltreatment, and bullying. The negative treatment students face because of their sexual orientation and gender identity often affects their health and well-being, and leads to decreased academic performance and limited potential for successful long-term outcomes. Furthermore, LGBTQQ students of racial and ethnic minorities are at an increased risk of low-level performance and negative outcomes. Services are needed nationwide to support LGBTQQ minority youth who are struggling with issues of acceptance and the impacts of the school's heteronormative culture. This article focuses specifically on the needs of youth attending a middle school in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York. The authors hypothesize that with the creation and implementation of EQuALITY, a program designed to create a widespread shift in LGBTQQ acceptance and understanding from the school community, students’ feelings of isolation will decrease, feelings of acceptance will increase, and academic performance will improve. Furthermore, the services offered by EQuALITY will strengthen students’ sense of empowerment as leaders within the school environment and the community at large. Although this program in particular is designed for the students and local community in Bedford-Stuyvesant, the model can be replicated in other school settings. EQuALITY aims to uphold social justice for LGBTQQ students by providing these students with the social services and support needed to reduce feelings of isolation, suicidality, and anxiety, and to increase attendance, performance, and the likelihood of long-term successful outcomes. All too often, students who identify as LGBTQQ face a lack of services in schools; EQuALITY offers these services to students with the intention of creating a student body and larger school community that is safer, more cohesive, supportive, open to diversity, and accepting of LGBTQQ identified students. Program Overview Mission Statement The mission of EQuALITY is to strengthen social and emotional support for LGBTQQ identified students and their allies, and build a more inclusive and LGBTQQ supportive school environment. Goals 1. Increase acceptance of students' diverse gender and sexual identities within the school. 2. Foster self-empowerment between LGBTQQ identified youth and their allies. 3. Support successful navigation of different social environments and interactions between LGBTQQ identified youth and their allies. Objectives Short-Term (to be evaluated at completion of 1 academic year of programming): 1. 70% of the entire student population understands the difference between gender, sexuality, and their spectrums. 2. 80% of LGBTQQ identified students have the knowledge to define oppression and the ability to relate it to their experience as a social pattern. 3. 80% of Q/GSA members demonstrate leadership skills in facilitation and mediation. Intermediate (to be evaluated 1 year post program completion): 1. 33% of student population, teachers, staff, and faculty report hearing less homophobic language used at school. 2. 40% of LGBTQQ students who were involved in the Q/GSA show an increase in self-esteem. 3. 80% of students involved in the support group achieve a GPA of 3.3 or higher, or work toward that goal by increasing their GPA by at least 0.5 points. Long-Term (to be evaluated 2 years post program completion): 1. 30% reduction of physical and psychological harassment involving LGBTQQ students at school. 2. 40% of Q/GSA members have taken on leadership roles inside and outside of school. 3. 33% of students who participated in EQuALITY and identify as LGBTQQ report feeling more comfortable being open about their sexual identities to their families and community. Social Problem School settings are often challenging environments for young adults who identify as LGBTQQ. Students who identify as LGBTQQ face increased levels of marginalization and systematic oppression. They are also common targets for bullying and harassment, conditions that produce a number of social, emotional, and academic challenges for this population, including higher risk of anxiety and depression, self-harm, and suicidality (Wernick, Kulick, & Inglehart, 2013). Additionally, LGBTQQ students who are bullied generally feel unsafe in school due to their sexual orientation and gender identities, and thus, are at an increased risk for truancy and l (...truncated)


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Jessica J Schpero, Amanda C. Hayden, Nazli Boroshan, Kathy Huynh. EQuALITY: Empowering Queer, Allied, and Trans* Youth, 21st Century Social Justice, 2015, Volume 2, Issue 1,