Ontario Schools and LGBTQ Acceptance Programs

Bullying over sexual orientation or gender identity has long been linked in research to poorer mental health outcomes for LGBTQ youth. Public attention to the issue has risen and fallen at several points across North America, and commentators disagree about how much of the change reflects real trends and how much reflects more open reporting. The subject reliably moves into schools, community groups and online campaigns.

This article reviews three kinds of approaches discussed in Canadian commentary, using them as examples of how bullying of LGBTQ youth has been addressed in Ontario.

Online messages of hope

One high-profile response was the It Gets Better Project, started by the writer Dan Savage, which gathered videos in which adults described how life improved after a hard adolescence. Critics argued that the message asked young people to wait instead of changing present conditions. Supporters replied that sharing hopeful stories costs little and that the campaign also backed efforts aimed at concrete change. Writers who grew up queer in small towns have noted that local conditions matter alongside online material, since a young person in a small community may have few visible role models nearby.

Programs inside schools

A video can reach a teenager at home, but the next morning that teenager still walks into a school that may or may not be welcoming. For that reason, in-school programs form a major part of the response. These include student clubs such as gay-straight alliances, which give queer and allied youth a supported space, and classroom presentations delivered by community groups, some of them led by straight allies. Such presentations typically describe their method as promoting acceptance, moderating discussion among differing viewpoints and addressing common misconceptions about homosexuality.

Provincial policies on student-led clubs and school safety have varied over time, and debate involving parents, school boards and governments has been recurring.

Paying for the work

Programs like this need money, and community groups have long relied on inventive fundraising. Examples have included charity calendars, art exhibits, benefit performances and small grants. A photography exhibit connected to a fundraiser may be held at a community archive or gallery, with a reception that doubles as a sales event. Such efforts are usually small in scale and depend on volunteer labour.

A shared aim in different forms

Viral storytelling, classroom presentations and community fundraising operate at different scales, yet all three rest on the belief that acceptance has to be built locally, in places such as schools. Groups and campaigns come and go, and whether any individual program mentioned in past commentary is still active is not covered here.