According to Kate Frankfurt, director of Advocacy and Public Policy for the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), “Any School that believes they don’t have gay students probably is not a safe place for those students to be.”. According to GLSEN, a national organization dedicated to addressing anti-gay bias in public, private, and paroc

However, in order for a school staff member to understand what a teenager who has recently come out is going through, they must put themselves in the teenagers shoes and make them understand what the coming out process is like for students in High School. (Bart 4) Some students choose to talk to counselors before they come out. Although it is logical to think that a school counselor would be that one-person students could trust, they probably do more harm than good. (Bart 4)

With the amount of bigotry that gay students face every day at school they must be supported by educated adults. There are several suggestions that would help schools implement a safe haven for gay students.

Youths that come out during high school should expect little or no support from and of the staff, students, or the administrators, according to experts on gay and education. The U.S. Department of Educators Office for Civil Rights made it clear that school districts must take action and protect gay students from the everyday harassment that they receive. And every year GLSEN sends a list of six questions to school districts around the country to gather information about what sexual orientation protection policies are in place. Last year only three schools passed.

Learning about specific gay people in history provides role models for gay students, Frankfurt says and makes it less likely that straight students will make fun of gays. “What happens in a lot of gay-bashing incidents,” she says, “Is that the perpetrators in those incidents stop seeing the person whose head they’re bashing in as a real person. They just see him as a faggot.” (Jones 4) “If you call a black person a ‘Nigger’ the teacher will call you down. But if you call Johnny a ‘faggot,’ it tends not even to be recognized” Adds GLYA’s (Gay and Lesbian Youth Association) Nash. (Boyd 2)

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