Volume 59, No. 2 Spring 2009

Speak Out! School Psychologists’ LGBTQ Experiences in California Schools

By Brandon E. Gamble, Ed.D., NCSP

Cultural and Linguistic Diversity chair

Although the experiences of youth who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, or Questioning their sexuality (LGBTQ) have been addressed in the literature and within the National Association of School Psychologist’s website (www.nasponline.org), there is little that has documented the experiences of the adults who advocate on behalf of those students. There are even fewer studies that have addressed the experiences of school psychologists who identify as LGBTQ. Therefore, interviews were in order to provide a better understanding of the situation. When data is unavailable, capturing qualitative information from people’s experiences via interviews, observations, and/or documents is the way we advance our understanding of our situation and ultimately ourselves (Patton, 2002).

I conducted interviews with five school psychologists. The stories they shared changed me in the process. I hope we are all the better for their courage, compassion, and willingness to share their stories. Out of respect for them and their ability to do their job, most of their names have been changed, unless otherwise specified. I hope this article moves us toward some new actions in the California Association of School Psychologists’ (CASP) approach to our work with LGBTQ youth as well as our colleagues who are LGBTQ.

Looking for Answers

The Cultural Linguistic Diversity Committee held its annual meeting at the 2008 CASP Convention in Burlingame. In attendance were a host of school psychologists, including those who are activist school psychologists with their mentees, and other curious graduate students. However, this time the meeting was a little different. Then CASP President-Elect Doug Siembieda came by and asked a question, “What are we doing to address the issues of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Question youth?” As I rode home from that convention, I wondered why we could not provide a definitive answer. Some of my CASP mentors mentioned political challenges within an organization vying for support from a wide variety of sources, and that affiliations with LGBTQ causes would not be advantageous for the organization. This experience was not in keeping with the type of support I received in the community (Long Beach) where Mr. Siembieda and I worked as high school psychologists.

Silent No More

More than 7 years ago, at Cabrillo High School in Long Beach, a very supportive teacher and about 40 students decided to observe a “Day of Silence.” The Day of Silence website explains it this way,

“The Day of Silence … is a student-led day of action when concerned students, from middle school to college, take some form of a vow of silence to bring attention to the name-calling, bullying and harassment -- in effect, the silencing -- experienced by LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) students and their allies.” (http://www.dayofsilence.org/content/getinformation.html)

Cabrillo High School’s program has grown to include over 600 participants. At the end of the school day those who have been silent gather together to share what their day was like, as well as tell about the experiences they have had living in silence in support of LGBTQ youth. City council members, our local Gay and Lesbian Community Center staff and other supporters have participated in Cabrillo High School’s Day of Silence.

Cabrillo High School’s administration has been fully supportive of the day. They understood that the challenge was not with the students but with the adults on the campus. However, they were sometimes unsure about how best to support the Gay/Straight Student Alliance’s efforts. Sever (2003) indicates five barriers to the support of addressing the needs of sexual minority students in a high school. They are: 1) fear; 2) lack of administrative and faculty support, as well as administrative turnover; 3) misconceptions and ignorance about LGBTQ life; 4) demographics as well as student turn over; and 5) negative consequences for advocates. Cabrillo High School’s administration had addressed the fear; they were supportive, and endorsed several professional development opportunities about LGBTQ life such as a “Safe Zone” training (BiLaGA, 2003) from Long Beach’s Gay and Lesbian Community Center.

Sever’s (2003) fifth barrier (negative consequences for advocates) was on my mind as I considered my school psychology colleagues who were out as “Gay or Lesbian” to our staff but who had not been as active in the Day of Silence. My focus has developed into a sixth phenomenon, which I would dare add to Sever’s barriers and that, for lack of better term, I call “It’s-not-my-burden.” In private conversations with self-identified “heterosexual” staff they would say directly or indirectly, “If that LGBTQ staff member is not concerned then why should I trouble myself to support this?” The non-verbal language and the whispers of staff members who did not participate during the day spoke volumes. Goldstein, Collins, and Halder (2007) found similar challenges in a Canadian study that over 18 months investigated an “anti-homophobia” campaign, which found that more resources, possibly than was anticipated, were needed to support educators. In other words, the faculty and staff need more support than the students in understanding the issues that may impact LGBTQ youth.

Lifelines

There is a popular game show that allows contestants to call a friend when they are unsure of an answer to a question. They usually say to the host, “I need a lifeline,” and the host dials up friends who may be knowledgeable about answers to certain types of questions. My lifelines are colleagues that have had experiences with cases involving LGBTQ students and families as well as their own experiences as school psychologists who are out as LGBT.

The first was an interview with a school psychologist who had worked with a middle school student at a Kindergarten-8th grade school site. I asked the school psychologist to discuss her experiences advocating for the student, and the student’s experiences. Furthermore, I asked two other secondary level school psychologists, “What is it like to be a school psychologist who is out? Also, what is it like to watch your colleagues address LGBTQ issues in the school setting?” I also asked a Lesbian university professor about her experiences as a parent who interacts with others in her child’s school setting. Finally, I had the pleasure of interviewing a respected school psychologist-professor-LGBTQ-activist from the East Coast to give me a greater perspective on all these issues. Each of their responses encouraged me and left me more committed as a member of CASP to do more to support our colleagues and youth as we address issues that impact the LGBTQ community.

Glad She Got Away From That School

Josephina Frida (pseudonym) is an elementary school psychologist. I asked her to recall her experiences advocating for a trans-gendered youth at a K-8th grade school. The eighth-grade student in this case had been “born a boy” but identified her gender as a girl. Josephina indicated to me that two dynamics made the case a challenge. The first was that the student was a foster student at a local group home for LGBTQ youth. Staff and guardians for the child at the group home were in fact supportive and had an open view of the child’s situation. The second more challenging issue was the resistance of the school staff to not only the group home, but more directly to the ambiguity they felt toward the student. This was expressed in comments that Josephina heard in the teachers’ lounge, such as, “I just don’t know how to deal with ‘him’ or ‘her’ or ‘whatever’… The kid needs help.” Implied in the “help” was that it was some type of psychological help they could not provide. The case was treated as a “strange case,” Josephina said. The staff approached the case as if, “It’s a big deal because he’s gay… staff members would need support just to work with the student because they were so shocked and distracted.”

This type of dialogue was the least form of resistance. The lack of trust between the group home staff, Gay and Lesbian Center Staff, and the school staff was indicated by constant questioning by the school site administration of the school psychologist’s efforts to collaborate with the aforementioned agencies. Josephina’s greatest concern was that, “we never had a meeting. Communication was bad.” The Center offered to provide an in-service presentation and/or print resources but the school site administration felt it was not an option. The student ended up at a new school, a move the staff termed “fortunate.” The move was met with relief by the staff, rather than the staff being concerned for the student who was moved to another school in the middle of the school year.

Josephina said she was the lone advocate for the for students’ right to self determination and Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). This made me wonder about the stress placed on school psychologists who are often on the front lines of advocating for LGBTQ youth. From my experience, in most cases we are not advocating for the youth’s need for services or their “pathology,” but for their right to be.

This led me to ask school psychologists and other support staff who are members of the LGBTQ community, about the challenges of coming out in a hostile work environment, while simultaneously advocating for the rights of LGBTQ youth.

Would we treat the student differently?

Baldwin Langston (pseudonym) is a school psychologist for secondary charter schools in a large urban school district, who is gay.

Last year, Mr. Langston was providing Related Services counseling for a high school aged boy who was very clear about his sexuality as a gay young man. Moreover, the high school boy was also “effeminate and flamboyant in his mannerisms.” The young man felt like an outsider and eventually he left the school. He was not harassed overtly, but Baldwin believes that if the student had more support he would have returned to the school.

Another student at the high school level is a young woman who is an emancipated minor. In her case the administration seemed very supportive of her but avoided any discussion of her being a Lesbian. She received more relevant support regarding her life as she saw it from LGBT teachers who were out. Eventually, the young woman appreciated that type of support and chose to attend an alternative school run by the county for students who are LGBTQ. The school provides LGBTQ history, mentorship from out LGBT staff, and communal support free of harassment in ways a comprehensive high school cannot. She chose to segregate herself from the mainstream school system but, yet, chose a more supportive environment.

When it comes to working with his colleagues, Baldwin said that, “For the most part school psychologists are supportive and respectful,” [of his homosexuality]. However, regarding LGBTQ students, there are times when he finds himself asking fellow staff members, “Would we treat the student differently if they were heterosexual?”

Baldwin said that when advocating for students who are LGBTQ, he asks for gender neutral and inclusive wording when working with LGBTQ students. For example, he said, the assumption is often made that, “a boy has to have a girlfriend.” When Baldwin has made this or similar suggestions about inclusive wording in intervention meetings, he stated, “They (other staff members) just look at me like I am speaking another language… It makes me feel pretty bad… less comfortable.”

There is a consistent need for protection that oppressed American “minorities” such as the LGBTQ community members have had to endure for years as the “invisible minority” (Sever, 2003; Goldstein, Collins, & Halder, 2007). Some environments at schools are more open than others, and are sought out by members of the LGBTQ community in an effort at self preservation.

However, in Baldwin’s experience thus far in urban Southern California schools, people are more receptive of staff advocating on behalf of LGBTQ youth. He also indicated, as did others interviewed, that he knows of fellow staff members(i.e., administrators and teachers), who felt intimidated and stressed about their job situation as they feared being “outed” as Gay or Lesbian at work, especially while advocating for LGBTQ youth or families. He said, “I may not be so worried about reprisals as a ‘gay educator’ but being out is something we (LGBTQ community members) deal with constantly. It takes a lot of effort.”

We have to give people a chance

Fellow school psychologist and doctoral candidate, Billie Walker (pseudonym) has some insights on giving people a chance. Billie indicated that two years ago she was working with a school social worker who said, “We really need to do some trainings for our staff at the high school with the Gay and Lesbian Center in Long Beach.”

Billie, who is a lesbian, went on to state, “We (the school social worker and I) wanted to distribute a flyer at the high school where we both worked, so we went to visit the AP (Assistant Principal). The AP balked at it, and said, she was not going to promote it. ‘If you put it in people’s boxes that is ok but no administrative support should be given.’ I needed to be able to function, I was new at that school site and did not push the issue.”

Billie knows what it is like to keep advocating for an issue that is important to her, only to have it rejected.