The tables chosen for this analysis from both the national and Florida survey illustrate the frequency of verbal and physical harrassment experienced by LGBTQ students. The report from Florida exposes that the most frequent form of verbal harassment received by students is often due to their sexual orientation, followed by gender and gender expression. The pattern is reflected in rates of both physical harassment, with incidences of physical harassment often being due to a student’s sexual orientation, similarly followed by gender expression and gender. The national survey offers similar results with respondents that cite frequent verbal and physical harassment being based on a student’s sexual orientation and slightly less frequently, their gender or gender expression. Physical harassment has mostly consistent rates of incidents with slightly more frequency when based on sexual orientation than gender.
The topic I found most interesting in the national GLSEN report was on the reasons for which LGBTQ students did not report incidents or harassment or assault. Some common factors included the lack of confidence that intervention would be effective, the fear of worsening the situation, discomfort in approaching school staff, perception that the harassment was not serious enough to warrant intervention, or the student’s were able to handle it without staff (Kosciw et al., 2020). The limitations and obstacles that are posed in the ways of these students when it comes to reporting any form of inappropriate behavior are a serious concern. Though most students have reported rare or no harassment in their experiences, the replies concerning reporting may suggest that many cases of harassment and assault have simply gone unacknowledged. As such, this determines a number of infrastructural issues within school culture that need to be addressed to offer all students a safe environment.
Reference
Kosciw, J. G., Clark, C. M., Truong, N. L., & Zongrone, A. D. (2020). The 2019 National School Climate Survey. GLSEN. Web.