How to make schools welcoming for LGBTQ students, staff, faculty & administrators

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Throughout the world, on university and grade school campuses, in the workplace, in communities and homes, and in the media, issues of sexual identity and gender identity and expression are increasingly “coming out of the closet.” We see young people developing positive identities at earlier ages than ever before.

So during Back to School season, it’s a good time to revisit how we can make schools more welcoming for LGBTQ students, staff, faculty, and administrators.

Related: What do all the versions of the Pride flag mean?

Schools conduct educational efforts around several LGBTQ special events, for example:

• National Day of Silence: a day in mid-April each year when students across the nation take a vow of silence to call attention to the epidemic of oppressive name calling, harassment, and violence perpetrated against LGBTQ students in schools and in the larger society.
• National Coming Out Day: October 11 each year in the U.S., October 12 in the United Kingdom, set aside to take further steps in “Coming Out of the Closet” of denial and fear around issues of sexual and gender identity as a personal and community-wide effort to raise awareness.
• National LGBTQ History Month: originally proposed in 1994 by Missouri High School teacher, Rodney Wilson, it has become a nationally recognized observance of LGBTQ history…

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