The Extent of Public Education Nondiscrimination Policy Protections for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Students: A National Study

Overview & Synopsis

This article examines education and governmental nondiscrimination policies to determine the status of anti-homophobia protections in the 51 states. A review of existing case law literature is provided to illustrate the effect homophobia has on all students, regardless of their sexual orientation, and to induce the development of new public education policy protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students. An Anti-Homophobia Policy Taxonomy (APT), composed of eight anti-homophobia nondiscrimination policy guidelines, was formulated exclusively for this study as a guide to classify and measure the extent of education policy protections for LGBT students in states with education policies that evidence sexual orientation nondiscrimination protections. This research found an absence of civil protections in education statutes and a dearth of parity in public policy and civil rights protections for all students regardless of their sexual orientation throughout the United States. (Contains 5 tables and 1 figure.)