The rapidly shifting political and legal climate impacting LGBTQ students in schools may also adversely impact their teachers, especially those who identify as LGBTQ themselves and provide much-needed support for students, according to a recent report published by the Brookings Institution.
President Donald Trump has issued multiple executive orders affecting students and young people — many of which are expected to be challenged in court — that have created pressure on schools to take action that runs counter to prior congressional and judicial decisions, the report found.
The LGBTQ community, particularly transgender individuals, are among the key targets of these recent actions, and while students are feeling the pressure, it could be adversely impacting their teachers too, especially those who identify as LGBTQ themselves.
The report notes that the recent spate of executive orders and anti-LGBTQ bills create new challenges for LGBTQ teachers. Despite their constitutionally protected employment rights, LGBTQ teachers could now be at risk for merely acknowledging their sexual orientation or non-conforming gender identity, according to the report.
“The K-12 teacher workforce has a higher share of individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual than the general adult population we compare against, using the most recent national data available,” researchers wrote. “Further, the research on LGBTQ+ teachers suggests they may be an important resource for otherwise marginalized students, and all teachers could benefit from training to help them create supportive learning environments.”
Similar to findings that outcomes among Black students improve when they’re taught by a Black teacher at some point in their TK-12 career, research suggests that having an LGBTQ teacher can have a positive impact on LGBTQ youth, who often find a caring, supportive adult and a positive role model. LGBTQ teachers are also more likely than non-LGBTQ teachers to report engaging in affirming and inclusive practices in schools, including informally discussing LGBTQ topics with students or serving as an advisor to a Gay-Straight Alliance or similar student club.
That sort of inclusion is vital for LGBTQ students who report higher rates of victimization, compared to non-LGBTQ youth for bullying and sexual assault, as well as higher levels of anxiety, depression and suicidality, and lower rates of feeling safe at school. About half of LGBTQ youth report feeling affirmed by adults in their school.
“Though no study directly explores the relationship between LGBTQ+ teachers and student academic outcomes, students’ feelings of belonging and inclusion are consistently shown to be positively correlated with many academic and non-academic outcomes,” researchers stated. “It seems reasonable to expect that LGBTQ+ teachers’ impacts on student belonging could translate to other outcomes, even if direct evidence does not yet exist.”
Teachers do not have to be LGBTQ to create a supportive learning environment — any teachers’ attitudes toward the LGBTQ community and their willingness to intervene against bullying and/or anti-LGBTQ rhetoric among students can influence the school culture. However, the report states, “vague prohibitions against LGBTQ+ speech in schools may further chill the environment for teachers to intervene, enabling those who use anti-LGBTQ+ insults to bully others by removing needed checks on their behavior.
“Rather than squashing what may be necessary and supportive speech to create respectful learning environments for all students in schools, we encourage a greater focus on helping to prepare teachers to address controversial topics with respect in the classroom,” researchers concluded.
