Learning Sexuality and Gender

Abstract

In recent years, advocates around the globe have drawn attention to worrying rates of discrimination and violence against LGBTQ youth, including youth in schools. LGBTQ students are at heightened risk of bullying and harassment, exclusion from school curricula, discriminatory treatment, and even expulsion from the school environment. While schools can function as sites of mistreatment of LGBTQ youth, they can also advance rights and well-being by providing resources, knowledge, and affirmation to students exploring their gender and sexuality. The development of protective school policies, teacher training, LGBTQ student groups, and inclusive curricula have all functioned to make schools safer and more welcoming for students. The following chapter explores the difficulties that LGBTQ youth continue to experience in different contexts around the globe. It details how state and non-state actors have increasingly recognized a responsibility to protect LGBTQ youth from discrimination and violence, including under widely ratified agreements like the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It argues that more work remains to be done to ensure that LGBTQ students are free from mistreatment in school environments, especially in terms of ensuring that LGBTQ advocates can work on children’s rights issues, implementing protections enacted by supportive states, and responding to backlash from opponents of LGBTQ rights.