Study: LGBT Parents More Involved In Schooling

(New York City) A study of LGBT parents has found they are more likely to be involved in their children's K-12 education than the general parent population.

It found that the parents were more involved in school activities and were more likely to have consistent communication with school personnel. In addition, both LGBT parents and children of LGBT parents often report harassment because of their family structure.

Compared to data from the National Center for Education Statistics LGBT parents are more likely to attend a parent-teacher conference in the past year (94 percent to 77 percent) and more likely to volunteer (67 percent to 42 percent).

Current estimates indicate there are more than seven million LGBT parents with school-age children in the United States.

More than half of LGBT parents described various forms of exclusion from their school communities: being excluded or prevented from fully participating in school activities and events, being excluded by school policies and procedures, and being ignored and feeling invisible.

In addition, LGBT parents reported mistreatment from other parents in the school community and even from their children's peers at school. Twenty-six percent of LGBT parents in the survey reported mistreatment from other parents and 21 percent reported hearing negative comments about being LGBT from students.

The study found that nearly a quarter of students felt unsafe around other students at school due to others' negative attitudes toward people with LGBT parents.

Forty-two percent said they had been verbally harassed at school in the past year because their parents were LGBT. Over a third reported that they had been verbally harassed because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation and nearly a third had experienced verbal harassment because of the way in which they expressed their gender.

Additionally, the report said that nearly a quarter of students said that a teacher, principal or other school staff person had discouraged them from talking about their family at school, and more than a third had felt that school personnel did not acknowledge their LGBT family. Furthermore, 28 percent said they heard teachers or other school staff make negative comments about LGBT families.

full article