Abstract
We examine the lived experiences of high-school students who participated in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ)-centered activism of some kind, highlighting the promise of gay-straight alliance groups by comparing the experiences of students at schools with gay-straight alliances (GSA schools) with the experiences of students at schools that did not have an LGBTQ-specific group (no-GSA schools). We compare students at GSA and no-GSA schools based on their experiences of harassment, experiences of support from authority figures, and patterns of friendships. We find that students at both types of schools experienced harassment and heard negative comments about lesbian and gay people. However, students at GSA schools reported more support from teachers and administrators than students at no-GSA schools, who have stories of teachers and administrators actively opposing equality for LGBTQ people. Students at GSA schools reported a wide variety of friendships across sexual identities, while students at no-GSA schools felt more isolated and withdrawn. This much-needed qualitative comparative analysis of students’ experiences brings a human face to the improved quality of life that schools with gay-straight alliances can bring to young people.
Highlights
Gay-straight alliances (GSAs) are student groups in high schools that have spread across NorthAmerica since the 1980s
The views of students who navigated the landscapes of their high schools—all of whom had an interest in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) equality, justice and activism—allow us to understand the contours of students’ experiences and the role of gay-straight alliances in shaping the context of high schools
We explore the terrain of these high schools through the lens of our participants in GSA and no-GSA schools
Summary
Gay-straight alliances (GSAs) are student groups in high schools that have spread across North. Toomey and colleagues [6] note that the benefits of having participated in a gay-straight alliance extend beyond the high school years into young adulthood (see [25,29]), while Poteat and colleagues [8] find that the presence of a gay-straight alliance in a school is associated with less truancy, smoking, drinking and suicide than no-GSA schools. This association is greater for LGBTQ students than for others, though positive for all students. By conducting a qualitative analysis, our comparison give students the opportunity to describe these feelings of safety, discomfort, or social isolation in their own words
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