The “Transcending Tolerance” program is intended to bring awareness about current school climates with regards to student attitude and behavior toward its gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning population. It is intended to educate students on the very real and negative effects of heterosexism, discrimination, and bullying on the physical and psychological well-being of the LGBTQ student. Even though some schools currently implement “tolerance”-based programs to address these issues (Avery, Sullivan & Wood, 1997), the overall goal of this program is to move beyond the discourse of the term tolerance and into an area of respect and empathy; there are too many negative connotations with the word that sends the wrong message to students (Nieto, 1992; Nieto, 1994; Seligman, 2012; Von Bergen et al., 2012). In addition, the middle school population is more vulnerable to and impacted by bullying than the high school population, regardless of the number of incidents (Gruber, 2007;
Smith, Madsen, & Moody, 2006). Therefore, this program is intended to be implemented at the middle school level for 7th and 8th grade students, during the typical onset of puberty and sexual identity awareness. Middle school counselors will facilitate the Transcending Tolerance program over the consecutive course of four weeks (one activity per week) by leading discussions and activities with the students based on the
overarching themes of respect and empathy for LGBTQ students.
Recommendations for Implementation
Promoting empathy and respect for all students regardless of identity or orientation should be seen as positive and obvious for everyone at the school site and
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surrounding community. Unfortunately, there still exists controversy surrounding the rights and treatment of LGBTQ individuals (Brown, 2015; CNN, 2015; D’Marko, 2015).
In order for a school to effectively implement the Transcending Tolerance program, a collaborative team should be created by supportive individuals and stakeholders that believe in the message that this program promotes. This collaborative team could consist of supportive school counselors, teachers, administrators, parents, and students. They should educate themselves on the merits of programs like Transcending Tolerance by doing their own research (as well as being informed about the negative consequences of not having this type of program in school). Therefore, if met with resistance by the community or school board to implement this program, this team of supporters can be proactive in laying out the positive outcomes this program has to provide its student body and community. The collaborative team should be well-versed in GLSEN’s “responses to resistance” from the facilitator’s manual in case they come across community members, parents, or school board members that are unsure of approving this program at their middle school. Once approved, the facilitators of this program must not forget that they will not only be speaking to the targeted students of the program (students who identify as heterosexual and who do not understand or support any minority sexual or gender identity) but also the students who identify as LGBTQ. In order for them to feel empowered and not left out of this program, it would be a good idea for school counselors to talk to any students who are openly LGBTQ and ask if they would be willing to offer their points of view to the intended student audience. Most students who identify as LGBTQ at this age are very likely not “out” yet and therefore, facilitators must be mindful of this and keep the activities inclusive of all students (there are notes in
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the facilitator’s manual that help with including LGBTQ students in all the activities without creating feelings of exposure or embarrassment for these students specifically).
Recommendations for Future Research
It would be very beneficial for facilitators of Transcending Tolerance to collect data on the effectiveness of the implementation of this program. Distributing pre- and post-surveys assessing students attitudes toward LGBTQ related issues, previous knowledge before implementation and knowledge retained after the conclusion of the program. If data is carefully collected and measured, it would result in knowing whether or not promoting respect and empathy toward LGBTQ students was positively regarded.
If the results are positive, then data should be further collected on the overall school climate and attitude of the student body, somewhat longitudinally, weeks and months after the program was implemented. If school counselors are able to show positive correlations between the implementation of the Transcending Tolerance program and improved student behavior, it would not only be beneficial for the sake of the program, but helpful for other schools that wish to implement this program who are having difficulties with their respective school boards or community.
Conclusion
Significant progress has been made for LGBTQ rights, and in record time in relation to other civil rights movements over the last century in America (Barabak, 2012).
But gay, bisexual, and transgender students are still being reported as committing suicide today, allegedly due to being bullied over their sexual and gender identities (Dotinga, 2013; San Diego Gay & Lesbian News, 2015). The likelihood of everyone accepting LGBTQ individuals as “normal” and for bullying, discrimination, and rejection to
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completely disappear is not realistic. What is realistic is for people to start taking responsibility for their own community’s well-being and for schools to be open to adopting policies and programs that promote positive regard for diversity, and in particular, for LGBTQ students who are many times more likely to take their own lives than other student populations (Chesir-Teran & Hughes, 2009). No matter the
controversy surrounding this issue, if the focus is on respecting one another and being able to “walk in their shoes,” there is hardly any way to argue against the positive merits of that idealism. It is not an “agenda” being pushed onto anybody; it is a way for schools across America to let students know that it is not okay to harm others because they might be different from what they understand in their own worldview. It is the responsibility of school personnel to act in the best interest of the students while at school, and not in the care of their parents. By acting as agents of change, school counselors and personnel are demonstrating and modeling to the student body that affirming diversity is awesome, not scary or weird. We would be performing a service to the students by enacting a
Transcending Tolerance program because in the end, everyone benefits from respect and empathy.
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