AHS GSA School Climate Survey - April 2006

Summary of Results (questionnaire and raw data are available - dpollock@lvusd.org)

Questionnaires were distributed on a single day to English classes. Two sets of responses were returned late. Note that the data for students who did not identify as strictly straight/heterosexual has been extracted and can be found in the second to last column of the attached chart.

GRADE - Number of questionnaires returned:

ORIENTATION

Straight/Heterosexual = 374 Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgendered/Questioning = 21 (broken down in the chart)

This extrapolates to 116 students who do not identify as straight/heterosexual in the student body. Only in three instances was there more than one of these students in a class.

GENDER IDENTITY - No students in the sample identify as transgendered or questioning.

1. Have you had education about lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) issues at school (presentations, speakers, classroom discussions)?

75% of students who do not identify as straight/heterosexual said “no”. Some improvement occurs with succeeding classes.

2. Do you know of any vandalism or graffiti being directed against students at school because people think they are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT)?

50% of students who do not identify as straight/heterosexual said no. Only 4 of these students answered "yes."

3. Do you know of any physical attacks occurring against students at school because people think they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT)?

These numbers tell us nothing about the number of attacks.

4. Have you ever been harassed or bullied on school property because you are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) or someone thought you were gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender?

Among students who do not identify as straight/heterosexual 5 responded with “4 or more times,” 3 with “2-3 times,” 1 with “1 Time,”

and 8 students with "Never".

5. How often do you hear anti-LGBT slurs directed at specific students, teachers, or staff?

About 41% of students hear an anti-LGBT attach at least once a day. These are comments aimed at individual students. It's a big number.

6. How often do you use anti-LGBT slurs directed at specific students, teachers, or staff?

While the majority of students does not make a practice of slurring LGBT students, there are 49 students who report that they feel comfortable using anti LGBT slurs directed at individual students and staff on a daily basis. This extrapolates to 272 students in the full population, a shocking and unacceptable number.

7. How often do you hear anti-LGBT slurs at school not specifically directed at an individual (example: “that’s so gay” to mean something is bad)?

Slang use of “fag,” “faggot,” “lez,” “homo,” etc. is rampant at AHS.

8. If you hear anti-LGBT slurs, do teachers or staff step in?

Students feel that they cannot count on staff to stop the attacks.

9. If you hear anti-LGBT slurs, do you or other students step in?

These numbers suggest that students are less likely to intervene than the staff in question #9.

10. Do you know of students who openly identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT)?

Obviously some students are public about their orientation. Almost all (18/20) of the LGBT students answered this "yes." This is one of the lowest "I don't know" numbers.

11. Do you know of teachers or staff who openly identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT)?

No faculty member is widely known as LGBT; although, it is true that 50% of LGBT students know LGBT staff.

12. If you wanted information and/or support about sexual orientation or gender identity, would you know where at school or in the community to go?

This could easily be fixed. LGBT responses are similar to those of the study group.

13. At school, it's okay for girls to be masculine?

The LGBT approval for masculine girls is skewed toward agreement, but not as strongly as approval for feminine boys. Acceptance increases at higher grades.

14. At school, it's okay for boys to be feminine?

The numbers among LGBT students are skewed toward agreement. Acceptance increases at higher grades.

15. I feel my school is a safe place for gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT), students, teachers and staff.

The response of the students not identifying as strictly straight/heterosexual are skewed toward the “not safe” end of this scale. Feelings of safety were recorded in increasing percentages at the higher grades.

16. I feel safe at my school.

Individual LGBT students seem to feel about as safe as everybody else. Feelings of safety were recorded in increasing percentages at the higher grades.

17. Would you like to see the results of this survey?.

How can a student not know? In any case, this is a big number.