Abstract
Bullying of sexual and gender diverse youth (SGDY) in our school systems occurs at alarming rates and is associated with mental health and academic concerns including depression, anxiety, suicidality, lower perceived safety and community at school, increased truancy, and poorer grades. Given the prevalence and negative impact of bullying on SGDY, educators must play an important role in preventing bullying and intervening effectively upon witnessing bullying. This chapter will highlight many effective strategies teachers can adopt to help prevent and respond effectively to bullying of SGDY. Methods for creating classroom environments that are safe and affirming of sexual and gender diversity, such as reducing heterosexist and cisgender bias, fostering prosocial and collaborative learning environments, facilitating school connectedness through group-based and service-learning activities supportive of LGBTQ persons, and adopting teaching materials (e.g., textbooks, lessons, vignettes) inclusive of affirming LGBTQ content, will be described. How teachers can serve as role models and support systems for their sexual and gender diverse students (e.g., serving as faculty sponsors of Genders and Sexualities Alliances (GSAs), being knowledgeable of LGBTQ community resources when appropriate, intervening effectively when bullying of SGDY occurs) will also be described.
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Theodore, P.S., Stoker, A. (2021). How Teachers Can Reduce Bullying of Sexual and Gender Diverse Students. In: Lund, E.M., Burgess, C., Johnson, A.J. (eds) Violence Against LGBTQ+ Persons. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52612-2_4
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