Leveraging Community Organizations to Support Better Overall Health Among LGBTQ+ Youth by Bridging Educators and Families

At a Glance

This project, led by GSAFE, addresses social and community factors that impact health for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and other gender-expansive (LGBTQ+) youth at home and in school through the development and evaluation of interventions in the areas of educational policy analysis, educational leadership and family engagement. Mollie McQuillan, PhD, UW–Madison School of Education, serves as the academic partner.

The Challenge

Health equity literature concerning lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and other gender-expansive (LGBTQ+) youth suggests that anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and poor school climate contributes to higher depression, anxiety, substance use and other risky health behaviors among these students compared to their straight, cisgender peers. Wisconsin’s Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) LGBTQ+ students experience even worse health outcomes than white LGBTQ+ youth in poor school climates. Although LGBTQ+-inclusive policies are linked to improved safety and well-being, Wisconsin does not mandate such policies at the state level. A significant portion of LGBTQ+ students who experience harassment or assault in school do not report incidents due to doubts about staff responsiveness. Positive relationships with educators and inclusive curriculum representation are identified as factors influencing LGBTQ+ student well-being.

Project Goals

This project aims to target important sources of stress-based health inequities for LGBTQ+ youth: policies, families and schools. The project will describe the educational policy landscape for Wisconsin LGBTQ+ students, and it will develop and evaluate two programs, the Educator Leadership Institute and Family Education Curriculum, aimed at improving educators’ and families’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviors concerning LGBTQ+ youth. These aims will be addressed through three specific goals:

1. Disseminate information on the importance and presence of Wisconsin school district policies.
2. Provide educators with strategies to support LGBTQ+ youth, build learning communities for ongoing support in implementing strategies and evaluate our educator programming.
3. Provide content information and strategies to promote family acceptance of and advocacy for LGBTQ+ youth.