Beyond sticks and stones: School bullying in the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth

Violence has garnered a focus all its own within public health, including issues of youth violence such as bullying. The developing literature suggests that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth bear a disproportionate burden of bullying, and often these young people find no institutional support or reprieve from such violence. A convenience sample of 18-19-year-olds (n=490) completed a self-administered survey examining experiences of and beliefs about bullying. Responses were indicated using a Likert-type scale. Respondents were university freshmen students of which 51% were female (n=250), 91.8% were White (n=446), and 88.9% had attended public high school (n=431). Data were entered and analyzed in SPSS Version 14.0. Results indicated gender differences for beliefs about bullying, with females reporting more compassion both for bullying victims in general and LGBT bullied youth. Respondents heard homophobic remarks more frequently (“Very Often” or “Often,” 63.8%) than racist (42.1%), sexist (61.9%), or negative religious (21.6%) remarks, and a majority (88.5%) reported hearing very often or often the phrase “That's so gay” or “You're so gay.” Interestingly, the top reason elected for bullying was body size (31.2%), followed by LGBT status (22.8%), gender identity (22.8%), and race (17.5%). The results of this project contribute to the growing literature exploring the scope of bullying, particularly as it applies to LGBT youth. Many schools do not have or enforce anti-bullying policies, and many state departments of education do not have policies – for students and staff – that include sexual orientation, despite the documented violence toward LGBT people.