1. GLBTQ No Name High School By: Brittany Dummer Michaella Fischer
Grant Nelson
Emily Ripley
Lisa Simonson
We are gathered here today to address a specific issue we are having within the school: respect. No Name High School is a place for students to learn and succeed. We are a community that supports each other and respects each other as people. However, an incident has occurred that does not meet our school’s standards. As you may know, a student who has come out as gay was beaten to the point of needing surgery. This will not be tolerated in our school. Every person deserves respect. I am afraid that this sort of bullying is caused by a general misunderstanding of the GLBTQ community. We are going to discuss misconceptions concerning these issues. Please know, whether you agree with the GLBTQ lifestyle or not, everyone deserves to feel safe at school. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect. We will being this discussion by addressing what GLBTQ stands for and then we will address some misconceptions.

2. What does GLBTQ stand for?
G-Gay: A male who identifies as being attracted to another male
L-Lesbian: A female who identifies to being attracted to another female
B-Bisexual: A male or female who identifies to being attracted to both genders
T-Transgender: A person who feels they are the opposite gender of what they are physically
Q-Questioning: Somebody who is in the stages of identifying their sexual orientation
It is important for everyone to understand GLBTQ means in order to address the biases and break misconceptions.

3. Why is this important for you, as students, to know?
Do any of these statistics come as a shock to you? Here at No Name High School, we have a zero tolerance policy in place when it comes to bullying. This building is meant to be an emotional safe zone to foster learning and positive experiences for everyone.

4. Card activity
The students will be given a note card. The teacher will say, “You each have a note card in front of you. Draw a check mark if you know someone who is part of the GLBTQ community. Draw a circle if you do not. We will pass in the cards, and they will be redistributed. I will ask you to stand if the card you received had a check mark, meaning that the person who filled it out knows someone who is part of the GLBTQ community.”
After the activity is completed, the teacher will say, “Almost all of you know someone who is gay. These may be family members, friends, acquaintances, and/or people you care about. These people are hurt when you bully them for being gay.”

5. Statistics Of Bullied GLBTQ Students
70% of students experienced verbal harassment based on their sexual orientation
30% of students experienced physical harassment (pushing/shoving) based on their sexual orientation
89% of students felt deliberately “left out” by peers
81% of students had mean rumors or lies told about them
62% of students were sexually harassed
54% of students experienced “cyberbullying”
54% of students who were harassed or assaulted in school never reported it to school staff
62% never told a family member about the incident
Only 48% of students who reported incidents, said the report resulted in effective staff intervention
According to 2011 State Climate Report (MN)
This is a huge problem. The majority of students experience bullying of all kinds. As you all know, bullying hurts people. Every one of you has experienced bullying. Imagine, however, that you do not feel safe coming to school. You can’t focus on school because you are concerned for your safety and are thinking about how to avoid bullies. Everyone deserves a safe learning environment.

6. Why Is This Happening?
Many have misconceptions concerning GLBTQ students.
We are going to address these misconceptions now.

7. Misconception #1: Gays want to convert other people to be gay.
Being gay is not a choice. It is also not a cult. GLBTQ people have no desire to “recruit” new people into their classifications. Although there is pride within the gay community, gay people do not seek to force others into their lifestyle.

8. Misconception #2: All feminine men are gay and all masculine females are lesbian.
Gender is a social construct, meaning the defined gender boundaries have little or nothing to do with biology. Within the genders, masculinity and femininity can vary greatly - everyone is different!

9. Misconception #3: Gays can be “cured.”
Being gay is not a choice. It is a part of who the person is.
No amount of therapy or counseling will “cure” a person identifying in the GLBTQ group.

10. Misconception #4: All gay men are attracted to every male they see and will “hit” on them.
Often times when you hear of students being bullied in the schools, students of the GLBTQ community will either be verbally or physically bullied because the bully felt as if they were being sexually harassed or advanced on in some way by the victim.
Why would gay men hit on every man they see? Do straight men do the same?

11. Bringing It All Together
Bullying and harassment has occurred in this school because we do not understand and respect each other. We do not value each other as individuals. It is time to change that.

12. What discriminatory actions are occurring in our school?
Verbal - “That’s so gay” and “No homo.”
Physical - Locker room incident, shoving into lockers
Bullying - exclusion from groups, rumors spread
Examples of incidents that have occurred in the school, demonstrating the relevance to student’s own lives.

13. This Needs to Stop “That’s so gay” and “No homo” Physical harassment
Spreading rumors and exclusion
“That’s so gay,” implies that being homosexual makes you stupid.
“No homo,” implies that being gay is something you would not want to be. It implies that being gay is at a lower position than being heterosexual.
No one deserves to be hurt because of who they are. You have the potential to scar someone or send them to the hospital. Do you want to be responsible for the loss of life? How would you feel if your safety was compromised every day? John was sent to the hospital because he was beaten in the locker room. He had broken ribs and wounds deep enough to need stitches. Yes, John is different than some of you. And some of you may not be comfortable with his lifestyle. You might not agree with his lifestyle. However, he should not be injured or die because he is different than you. No one deserves that. EVER.
Bullying, gossip, and rumors need to stop. It is not being respectful. Every student deserves to feel confident in who he/she is. Spreading rumors hurts, and we have all experienced that. No Name High School will not stand for that.

14. This Needs to Stop
The misconceptions are not true. Even if they were, no one deserves to be bullied.
Bullying destroys people’s lives.
How would you feel if you were constantly bullied because of who you were? Because of something you can’t change?

15. School-Wide Goals
Eliminating “That’s so gay,” and “No homo” from our speech.
No physical harassment of students.
Building up and standing up for all fellow students.

16. Implementation of Goals
Catch each other using derogatory phrases. Put a stop to it. Teachers will intervene when phrases are heard. If phrases are repeated, the teacher will give a detention slip.
Physical harassment will be punished through suspension the first time they occur.
Teachers and students alike will intervene when they see bullying occur. They will talk to an administrator who WILL take action.

17. Staying SAFE
Stand Positive and Strong- Appear confident and try not to show fear or anger.
Avoid the Situation- Don’t fight back or respond with more bad behavior. Try to ignore hurtful comments and walk away if possible. Think of your safety first.
Find Support- Find others who have similar experiences and support each other. Hang out with people who accept you for who you are.
Express your feelings- Don’t be afraid to talk about your feelings with family friends, teachers, or counselors. Seeking help is NOT “tattling”. It is helping you stay safe. When you experience negative feelings, practice saying positive statements.

18. Activity
The students will be given a cutout of a person. The teacher will say, “Pretend that this person is someone you know and care about. Think about the most important person in your life. Now pretend that you say to that person, ‘You are worthless.’ These words hurt people. Crumple up your person a little. Now you say, ‘You should feel ashamed of who you are.’ Crumple up the paper more. Say, ‘You deserve to be physically hurt because you are different than me.’ Crumple the paper even tighter. Lastly, you say, ‘You are a faggot.’ Crumple up the person as tightly as you can. Now, uncrumple your person. You have realized that you have hurt the person. Try to bring the paper back to its original state. (Waits for students to try this). Can your person return to the way it was? No. No matter how hard you try, the person is still wrinkled and scarred from what you said. Whenever you say something mean to someone, you hurt them in a way that can never be undone. Would you want your loved one to feel this way? This is how many GLBTQ students feel every day. At No Name High School, we build each other up. We are a family. And we will not stand for one of our own being hurt, abused, or bullied. We defend each other. And we will not crumple each other up.”

19. Resources
Students Responding to Name-Calling . (2012). In GLSEN: Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network.
Retrieved November 6, 2013, from
GLSEN. (2013). School Climate in Minnesota (State Snapshot). New York: GLSEN.
Retrieved November 6, 2013, from