Hard numbers: An analysis of harassment of LGBQ youth in Boulder County, Colorado

Through the 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), Boulder County, Colorado can explore harassment rates among local lesbian, gay, bisexual, questioning (LGBQ) high school students as compared to their heterosexual counterparts. These YRBS data will fill various knowledge gaps, in that they will: 1) offer an analysis of harassment, violence, and personal safety by sexual orientation unavailable from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) national YRBS data; 2) draw on a representative sample of Boulder County high school students to explore differences in rates of harassment by sexual orientation; and 3) include the voices of seldom-surveyed rural LGBQ youth. In filling these broad research gaps, the data will comprise evidence related to local social injustice to stimulate and inform school- and community-based intervention. This poster will first outline the data collection process, in which partners from Boulder County's school districts, community service organizations, and public health department collaborate to engage the community and to administer the YRBS. In including a question on sexual orientation by which the results of all other questions can be stratified, the local survey data are more LGBQ-pertinent than that from the national survey. Next, the poster will unveil the 2009 Boulder County YRBS results of LGBQ and heterosexual exposure to harassment, violence, and perilous environments. Based on these results, the authors will then suggest areas of intervention that promise to resonate with those struggling to mitigate LGBQ youth's elevated exposure to harassment, vulnerability to this violence, and repercussions of such behavior.