Toolkit for In Bounds

A 2011 GLSEN survey found that “[o]ver a quarter of LGBT student athletes reported having ever been harassed or assaulted while playing on a school team because of their sexual orientation … or gender expression … .” The same study also found that almost 80 percent of LGBT students did not feel safe talking to their PE teachers or coaches about issues they faced as student athletes. To address these issues in your school, consider assembling a committee of coaches, teachers, counselors, administrators and, if possible, students to create a survey that gauges the atmosphere for LGBT athletes and students. 

Essential Questions

1. What is the school experience like for LGBT students and athletes in my school community?
2. How can we make school safer for the LGBT students and athletes?
3. What role can students, teachers, coaches, parents and other community members play in creating safe spaces for LGBT students and athletes?

This toolkit suggests one way to study the inclusiveness of your school’s climate for LGBT students and athletes. The toolkit includes suggestions for assembling a committee, possible school survey questions and follow-up steps based on the results.

Before building your survey

• If possible, recruit LGBT students and student athletes to be on the committee or reach out to LGBT students to solicit ideas and feedback that can inform the committee’s work. 
• Visit GLSEN’s 2011 National School Climate Survey of LGBT students to locate data on your state. (State-specific data is only available for 30 states.)
• As a committee, watch the free GLSEN webinar on LGBT students’ experiences in sports and school athletics.
• Have the committee look at the safe climate checklist created by Changing the Game: GLSEN Sports Project. The topics and questions in this checklist can help your and your committee begin to build questions for your own school survey. 

Framing your survey

Consider starting the survey with key statistics about the experiences of LGBT student athletes across the country; this information will give all students a larger context for the survey and help raise awareness of the issue of LGBT safety in schools. The survey should also include opportunities for students to share their suggestions. 

Possible questions for your survey

If you identify as LGBT:

• Have you been called names because of your sexual orientation?
• Are you ever afraid to change in the locker rooms for PE classes or sports? If so, why?
• Have you ever been afraid to join a school sports team? If so, why?
• As an LGBT student, do you feel supported by the PE and coaching staff?
• What is one thing your teachers, coaches or fellow teammates could do to create more safety and inclusion for LGBT students and athletes at your school?

If you identify as straight:

• Have you ever witnessed another student bullying a teammate or classmate because of the student’s sexual orientation?
• Have you ever bullied a teammate or classmate because of that person’s sexual orientation?
• Would having an LGBT teammate or classmate make you uncomfortable?
• Do you think your school is a safe place for LGBT students? For LGBT student athletes?
• Have you ever stood up for an LGBT student who was being teased or bullied at your school?

After the survey results have been collected

• Consider creating a poster campaign to display around the school. Posters could include state statistics, highlights from the school survey results and questions for students, teachers and administrators about whether their school community is a safe place for LGBT students.
• Have the committee present the results at a school staff meeting. Have the entire staff identify things the school is doing well to create a safe environment for LGBT students and one or two areas for improvement. Split the staff into groups, and ask each group to create an action plan addressing a different area for improvement.
• Members of the committee could create a speakers’ bureau and bring the survey results to different audiences, such as school sports teams and coaches, parents’ associations and school board officials.