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Education Department Will Include Gender Identity in National Bullying and Hate Crimes Survey
WASHINGTON, DC, July 20, 2015—The U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics has announced it will include gender identity in the 2016 School Survey on Crime and Safety. The survey will examine incidents of hate crimes and bullying based on sexual orientation and gender identity as separate biases. The decision follows the National LGBTQ Task Force’s urging to examine gender identity and sexual orientation separately in hate crimes and bullying against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) students.
“The new language in the School Survey on Crime and Safety will help protect LGBTQ students from bullying and harassment and will allow us to better understand the challenges they face. Reliable data on what motivates bullying and hate crimes will help educators and lawmakers prevent harassment and violence that disproportionately affect LGBTQ students. We thank the Department of Education for its work to prevent anti-LGBTQ bullying in schools and look forward to continuing to work with President Obama and the administration,” said Rea Carey, Executive Director of the National LGBTQ Task Force.
LGBTQ youth, especially transgender and gender nonconforming students, are more likely to be bullied and harassed than their peers. Ninety percent of transgender students face derogatory remarks sometimes, often or frequently at school. Forty six percent of transgender students report missing school out of fear for their safety. Moreover, LGBTQ youth are more likely to be disciplined and policed, putting them in contact with the criminal justice system at a young age.
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The National LGBTQ Task Force works to secure full freedom, justice and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people. For over forty years, we have been at the forefront of the social justice movement by training thousands of organizers and advocating for change at the federal, state, and local level. http://www.thetaskforce.org
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