Higher learning for all: Why supporting LGBTQ students matters, especially now
June marks Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride Month, a monthlong celebration of the LGBTQ community — its history, its struggles, its culture, its joy, its people. Higher Learning Advocates is celebrating Pride Month to uplift LGBTQ-identifying students, and our work will help to build a system of higher learning where all of today’s students have the opportunity and support to succeed. We celebrate Pride Month by uplifting students who identify with a sexual orientation other than heterosexual (nearly 17%) and the many transgender and gender non-confirming students who pursue higher learning (1.7%).
The process of “coming out” — when a person comes to terms with their sexual orientation or gender identity, and shares that with others — is a rite of passage made easier when people of all ages have family and friends within their communities at school and work who support their growth. For today’s students, “coming out” is easier when professors, advisors, RAs, peer mentors, administrators, and classmates provide a supportive environment in which to grow. Leaders in higher learning must foster an environment that places the culture, safety, and well-being of students first in order for students to feel safe and welcomed in their own communities. LGBTQ-inclusive counseling programs and events like Campus Pride Month are all signs that institutions of higher education are moving in the right direction. Every LGBTQ-identifying student should feel safe and welcome while pursuing higher learning.
A study released last month by The Williams Institute puts the needs and experiences of LGBTQ students into context. In their survey of LGBTQ individuals aged 18–40 who pursued postsecondary education in the past:
- 33% reported being bullied, harassed, or assaulted while pursuing higher learning
- 35% characterized their mental health as “not good” all or most of the time while in college
- 37% were not out to their peers
- 60% were not out to any faculty or school staff
- 39% said their colleges had LGBTQ-supportive counseling services
We are committed to supporting programs at the federal level that increase funding for mental health supports, like Garrett Lee Smith Campus Suicide Prevention Grants. These grants are time-tested and successful in increasing students’ access to mental health services. Higher Learning Advocates continues to advocate for increased funding for these grants, because we know how important they are — including for LGBTQ students, who have higher rates of mental illness when compared to heterosexual and/or cisgender peers.
Legal protections against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity are patchy at the state level and provide varying degrees of support against employment and housing discrimination. Today’s students are often working and renting; these issues affect them, too. The federal Equality Act includes sexual orientation and gender identity as categories protected against discrimination “in areas including public accommodations and facilities, education, federal funding, employment, housing, credit, and the jury system.” If signed into law, the Equality Act would help ensure that LGBTQ students could work, find housing, participate in education, and more without discrimination for who they are.
Today’s students deserve to learn, work, and live without question of who they are. While many social, cultural, and legal barriers exist that make it harder for some to be “out and proud,” Pride Month presents an opportunity for us all to celebrate the LGBTQ community’s contributions to the cultural fabric of our colleges and universities. Higher Learning Advocates is proud to support and amplify the lived experiences of students who identify as members of the LGBTQ community.
