US Schools as a Battleground for LGBT Children's Rights

Thursday, April 20, 2017

12:00 PM-2:00 PM

Ryan Thoreson, PhD (Human Rights Watch) presents his research on LGBTQ children's rights in the American school system.

Over the past year, LGBT youth issues have reemerged as contentious topics in legislatures, courts, the media and schools across the U.S. As these policy debates continue at local, state and federal levels, they have the potential to meaningfully influence the support that educators and schools are able to provide.

In this workshop, Ryan Thoreson of Human Rights Watch will discuss a series of policy goals to make schools more safe and inclusive for LGBT youth. Over the past year, Thoreson interviewed over 500 students, parents, teachers and others who work with LGBT youth in schools in Alabama, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas and Utah. Drawing from this qualitative research, Thoreson will review some of the key issues that youth are reporting in school environments and discuss recent legal developments and policy recommendations around issues like bullying, inclusive curricula, gay-straight alliances, and affirming transgender youth in bathroom and locker room access, extracurriculars, names and pronouns, and record keeping.

Join us as part of the Department of Politics LGBTQ Speaker Series.

To RSVP for lunch, please follow the link HERE.

Contact Information

Lauren Farmer
laf95@drexel.edu