What's it like attending school in Nevada as a member of the LGBTQ+ community?

That's what a recent survey sought to answer, the results of which are described as heartbreaking.

Here to explain why are Andre Wade, State Director of Silver State Equality; Jessica Munger, Program Director from Silver State Equality; and Zach Billot, a UNLV student who serves on Silver State Equality's LGBTQ+ Student Advisory Council.

Thank you all for joining us.

Silver State Equality is a statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights advocacy group and the group behind this survey.

This is the first year that you are doing this survey.

And when you describe it as heartbreaking, it was you who described it that way, Andre.

Why?

(Andre Wade) It's heartbreaking because of the findings.

And when we started this student advisory council, it was in 2020, the summer, our board of advisors wanted to do something to address students' mental health, given the stay-at-home measures that were in place.

And we were getting reports of suicide completions and struggling with academic performance, and so we decided to tackle this issue by creating a student advisory council.

And the way I designed it was to have it primarily be students with some adult mentors that are involved to help guide the students through their work and would require for them to conduct a statewide survey to find out from students what is happening, what they want to see changed.

And that is something that we finally were able to do last year when the council was implemented.

-And you had to do it when school was back in full person, correct?

-Yeah.

It took a while because we had to seek funding, we had to see what the COVID-19 measures were going to be, and get staffed up for it.

So once Jessica got on board, was able to hand the program off to her.

And she implemented things, and here we are today talking about the survey.

-All right.

For Zach and then Jessica, do you agree with Andre that the findings are heartbreaking?

And were the results surprising to you?

Why or why not?

Zack first.

(Zach Billot) Yeah, I certainly agree with Andre.

And I think the results are not surprising, but they're certainly concerning.

And I think what the survey highlights is that young people, much like adults across the country, are experiencing a lot of hardship.

And whether that sort of was born out of COVID-19 or whether it was exposed in a higher light because of it, I think it's really important that the survey be taken seriously as a measure to improve the well-being for students across the state.

-Jessica, heartbreaking?

(Jessica Munger) Absolutely, yeah.

Yeah, and I would say both shocking and expected.

I think that even though the results confirmed a lot of things that we have heard from other places in the country and, and expected was going on with our students, it's still disturbing.

And that's shocking to hear.

-So the findings themselves, what stands out to each of you?

I'll start with you, Andre.

-You know, one of the findings were that a lot of students identified not having inclusive curriculum.

Curriculum that shows LGBTQ+ history, history makers, was difficult to find not in their curriculum, because it's powerful to see yourself when you're reading.

And it's powerful for your peers to be able to see who you are in the books that they're reading.

And so for them to identify that that is a concern is heartbreaking, but it's also good because of a bill that was passed in 2021.

-So then how well do you think that bill has been implemented, which is to talk about and teach about diverse perspectives?

If you are finding this in your survey that-- we'll put up the specific percentage of how many students reported not having the access to that or not being instructed on that.

But yeah, where do you think that bill stands?

Because it is law.

-Yeah.

So with the bill passing in 2021 and being fully implemented in 2022, it's still going to take some time for school districts to implement the curriculum, because they're in like about seven-year cycles.

-Of textbooks?

-Textbooks, overall curriculum.

-Okay.

-And teachers have to get trained on the curriculum.

So it's a long process.

And so it's gonna be a little while before we actually see the students benefiting from that inclusive curriculum.

-So then from here, where do you go?

I mean, is it time to say, Hey, why isn't this in effect already, or do you stand back and wait?

-It's time for us to put this report in front of decision makers, lawmakers, folks at the Department of Education and at local school districts, to let them know that this is what we're finding.

And it's commensurate with national studies that have been done by groups like GLSEN.

And so as Jessica mentioned, it's heartbreaking but not surprising because we've seen these results in studies before.

So we just have to do our advocacy to make sure that things are implemented, no matter what the laws are in place.

-Jessica, what stood out to you from the findings?

-You know, one thing that really shocked me was the number.

I think it was 79.4% of respondents said that they have faced discrimination by those in authority at schools for their LGBTQ+ identity.

That's a shocking number to me and, and has stood out since since that number came in.

So yeah, I really feel for the fact that so many students in our state are experiencing institutional discrimination at school.

That's a problem.

-How is that possible when teachers are meant to be there in a supportive role?

Anybody have any perspective on that?

Zach?

-Well, I think this goes back to something that's important about what Andre is speaking on.

Policy is really important.

And I think the survey certainly highlights that there's areas of improvement.

But there's certainly ways that we stand out as a pillar of the community for LGBTQ people compared to other states.

But I think it's very difficult to legislate on some of the cultural issues that might exist.

You can change curriculum, but it doesn't mean you're going to change minds right away.

So I think that the important thing that this survey highlights is that there are a lot of students who feel like policy supports them, but then their LGBTQ identity holds them back compared to their other peers, because there's sort of these cultural expressions that either their teachers or authority figures might still maintain or hold that then can hold them back in the classroom.

-And this is something we discussed off-camera that you can get legislation passed, but how do you change what you term "cultural expressions" or the sentiments of people?

How do you do that, Andre?

-You know, it takes time.

The equality movement has had great success over the past couple of decades, some of the most success of any civil rights movement.

And it's about changing hearts and minds.

We've done that with marriage equality.

And there are a lot of other facets of our life that we need to have that same sentiment change as far as acceptance.

And so training is one thing, but there's a lot more that we need to make sure it's being done.

So there's national recommendations for teachers and administrators to have at least one hour of LGBTQ+ specific trainings.

That's something we want to make sure that's happening across Nevada.

We're not saying it's not happening at all.

We just want make sure that it's happening at some point.

-Zach, I did not ask you what stood out to you among the findings.

-I think the finding that was most shocking to me was the students citing a lack of LGBTQ-specific resources, almost 75% of the students that we surveyed.

And whether those resources are earmarked for mental health or physical health or maybe just a specific safe space or inclusion area for LGBTQ people, I think it highlights that there's certainly work to be done to make educational institutions in the state feel more welcoming for LGBTQ people who for a long time have sort of been pushed into the darkness.

And I think it would be great if schools across Nevada could sort of serve as that light to help some of these students that are really struggling at this time, even beyond the pandemic and just in the regular classroom, really grow into themselves.

-Will you explain what a safe space looks like, where it's usually located, when it's accessed.

And this is within a school, correct?

Jessica?

-Sure.

So some of-- some of what we were asking about included spaces on campus that might have a rainbow flag or some indicator that the people who work there have an openness to your identity.

And if you've not experienced sort of feeling excluded from a lot of spaces, that might seem like a small thing.

But as a person who is looking for allies in your spaces, it's important to see spaces designated saying, We are specifically here to be allies for you, and you specifically are welcomed here.

So even if it's just, you know, physical designation that, you know, We've had training, or We accept you, that goes a long way for people.

-And, Zach, you are four years, about four years removed from high school in Nevada.

I think you told me Spring Valley is where you went.

So what was your experience like as a member of the LGBTQ+ community in a Nevada school?

-Yeah, so I wasn't out in high school.

-Okay.

-But I do think that the dynamics that play out in high school environments can make it difficult to feel comfortable coming out.

And whether that be peers or authority figures, like some of the students cited in the survey, I think it's important that we recognize that everyone's experience and their process of coming out is different.

And for me, specifically, because I wasn't out, it sort of made the environment less hostile.

But obviously, there were a lot of situations where people make microaggressions or derogatory statements about the community.

And as someone who might not be out, it can make it really difficult to feel like you can accept your own identity if people are willing to sort of make those statements, even though they know that they are people in the community that have the identity.

-They're aware of that presence, yet they continue to say that kind of thing.

What about parents, though?

What role can they play to improve the experience of their students in Nevada schools?

Who wants to take that one?

-Well, there is research done by Dr. Caitlin Ryan out of San Francisco with the Family Acceptance Project.

It's been around for a couple of decades now, research based, and it shows that the more accepting parents are of their LGBTQ+ identified child, the more likely they are to have positive outcomes.

And we've really seen a lot of parents embrace their, their kids.

On the flip side, you've seen parents attacked for accepting their kids, especially those who are transgender and gender nonconforming, which is completely heartbreaking.

We spent decades trying to get parents to be more supportive.

Now that they are, you know, in general, now they're getting push back.

And so we just want parents to feel supported, to feel empowered to advocate on behalf of their children, going to school board meetings, which there are some that go and speak out on behalf of their children and others.

And so we want to make sure that they have the tools and resources like this study to show to their, their school administrators like, Hey, something needs to change, if there are reports that things aren't going well on campuses.

-And I bring this up because I came across this from the ACLU of Nevada.

"Nevada requires school districts to adopt policies that protect students' privacy and allow them to use the school facilities that match their gender identity.

But it is up to the students' families to contact the school to create an individualized gender support plan for the student."

How well is that going over or actually being utilized by parents?

-So I've heard in settings that there are some individualized plans that aren't being implemented, or teachers aren't-- or parents aren't aware of the resource for their children.

And so we have to raise awareness about that resource being available to parents.

And then once the parents have submitted the request, that it's actually followed through and implemented.

So there are a lot of reasons and steps why it's not happening, but there are some reports that there are a lot of students out there without these individualized plans.

-Jessica, let's talk about this survey.

In particular, how it was conducted, how many people were surveyed, demographics, etc.

-Sure.

So the students on the council helped to create the concepts that they wanted to survey.

They were curious about the school experiences of their, of their peers.

So we put together this survey, and we sent it out, not just through the students and mentors, but then through Silver State Equality email list--we have a robust list in the state--through social media, through our organizational partners and coalitions, and the really fantastic progressive networks in Nevada.

So this is a very hard-to-reach population, right, LGBTQ+ junior high and high school students in Nevada.

And I'm really proud that we were able to get 76 folks to respond to us in full and tell us all about their experience.

And then we had follow-up conversations with eight students to go a little bit more in depth into what they're experiencing.

I absolutely love the image of students from six different Nevada counties coming together and voicing what's going on for them.

What an empowering opportunity.

So we had, like I said, six counties represented.

We had a decent amount of rural representation, which was very important to us.

So another thing we did was to go out and do on-the-ground outreach to these, these students.

So we went to pride events all across the state, including rural prides.

And we talk to students and parents and teachers.

We met with some student groups directly and really tried to recruit the voices of the rurals, which I'm very glad that we were able to do.

-So I imagine this continues in 2024?

-Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

So the council is excited to, to jump off from where we started with this survey, continue to collect student stories.

I really think that it's powerful to have the voices and direct words and stories of students out there as you're talking about changing hearts and minds.

In my experience, there's so much power in stories from individuals.

And so I'm really excited to continue that, that process.

-Thank you all for joining us.

We ran out of time, but I appreciate this important discussion.