GLSEN's 2001 National School Climate Survey: Complete Findings

Apr 23, 2002

Introduction

The experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)students in schools have been under-documented. For this reason, GLSEN conducted its first National School Climate Survey in 1999 to assess the experiences of LGBT youth with regard to experiences of school-based harassment and victimization, the frequency with which they heard homophobic language in their schools and their overall comfort in school. Results from this first survey documented how homophobic language was pervasive in our nation's schools, that harassment was not an uncommon experience for LGBT youth and that youth were often uncomfortable in their schools because of their sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.

GLSEN’s National School Climate Survey is the only study to examine school- specific experiences of LGBT-identified youth nationally; there exists no other data with which to compare the prevalence of school-based harassment and assault of the youth in our study.

Given the limited attention paid by federal, state and local policy makers to LGBT youth and because GLSEN's fight to make all schools safe for LGBT students is an on-going one, it is important for us to keep informed on the experiences of LGBT students in their schools. For this reason,we conducted our second national survey -- the 2001 National School Climate Survey.

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