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
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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)