Verbal, physical, and sexual harassment is reported by gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual, and queer school students
The terms “homophobia” and “transphobia” signify a great deal of unnecessary misery in the lives of Canadian students. Knowledge of their distress and a determination to bring it to the consciousness of educators and parents motivated members of the Education Committee of Egale Canada to conduct a ‘climate survey’ of Canadian schools. University of Winnipeg professor Catherine Taylor launched the survey in December 2007, eventually collecting information from over 3,700 students across Canada.
The study is now complete [opens to PDF] and it found that Canadian school hallways are saturated with homophobic language and that 21% of LGBTQ students report being physically harassed or assaulted while almost two thirds—64%—feel unsafe at school.
We speak with professor Catherine Taylor.
