Review of "A Culturally Proficient Response to LGBT Communities: A Guide for Educators," by Lindsey, R., Diaz, R., Nuri-Robins, K., Terrell, R., & Lindsey, B., 2013. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. 164 pp
Potentially disenfranchised students need support in school and on the street
This group of authors with different personal and professional background does a very good job of explaining how to go about establishing an environment of learning and respect in a school building. What is here is also good for use on the street with unhoused persons, including teens.
This team of experts takes for granted all educators are concerned about treating students as individuals who deserve a place to learn. However, the authors do not assume all educators are comfortable with persons who are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT). They provide this guide for teachers and administrators in an attempt to help educators come to terms with the realities of diverse learning communities and how to create one for themselves.
Readers should remember that the intersection among LGBTQ and homeless populations—especially among young trans individuals is especially high (Castaldelli-Maia, Ventriglio, & Bhugra, 2022, p. 395).
In fact, the Trevor Project reminds us that “Overall, 28% of LGBTQ youth reported experiencing homelessness or housing instability at some point in their lives” (“Homelessness and Housing Instability among LGBTQ youth, 2022). This online article refers to the “2021 National survey on LGBTQ mental health. The survey also shows that “LGBTQ youth who experienced homelessness or housing instability reported higher rates of mental health challenges, compared to their stably housing LGTBQ peers.”
An article by Fraser, Pierse, Chisholm, and Cook (LGBTIQ+ Homelessness: A Review of the Literature, 2017) reminds us that much of the research on persons belonging to these two often-disenfranchised groups (LGBTQ+ and homeless) are often conducted and reported on in different “silos.” This is truly unfortunate as it slows down and complicates interventions and services to persons in both communities.
The team writing this book provides us with the school side of the services, support, counseling, and organization needed to help students from the school side of the equation. We can make good use of this information as we attempt to help students who belong to the homeless community and/or the LGBTQ+ side of town.
In eleven chapters, the authors set up the plan for how to embrace students for who they are and for the learners they deserve to be in any school in our nation. There are four main sections in the book. The first one provides four chapters on the background, challenges, and opportunities of designing an environment in which LGBT students can be free to communicate, learn, and succeed. It is one thing to talk about issues of diversity and quite another thing to embrace diversity on a school-wide basis, with purpose, with planning, and with determination.
The second section of the book contains six chapters on valuing diversity and welcoming it into our educational institutions. Included here are chapters on managing responses to diversity and on adapting to diversity. The authors use the model of institutionalizing cultural knowledge throughout the school. They provide a case history to show how change can be encouraged, shaped, and brought to reality.
The third section consists of one single chapter, the final one, which is titled “Moving from Bystander to Ally.” The authors provide an invitation here for educators to welcome all their students into the diverse learning community that we are trying to create. For each educator, there is a four-page form that helps you to reflect on “your personal journey” as you learn more about the LGBT cultures and the individuals learning in your school.
In the fourth section, the authors provide a long list of resources, starting with a study guide for the book itself. For each of the eleven chapters, there is a bank of “content questions to consider” and a bank of “personal reaction questions to consider.” This study guide sets the book apart from other similar ones that have been published recently.
There are other resources listed, from design ideas to organization and contact information to help set up the kind of environment we are hoping for. I recommend this book because of its fair treatment of pressing issues, because of its focus on fairness and diversity, and especially because of the study guide section in the resources list.
This book could be used beneficially in professional development (PD) sessions for teachers and administrators—if those sessions allow for enough reflection along the way. It would be good for PD programs over time, such as during a whole summer (with other related readings) or in a semester-long format. It is also good for teachers and administrators to keep handy as they welcome diversity and as some of them embrace the LGBT community even though they never saw themselves in the past as being able to grow this way.
The book could also be helpful in serving teens and other unroofed persons on the street—many of whom are also members of the LGBTQ+ communities. Recognizing need, planning to address it, and then attempting to get the intervention right is the work of advocates, social workers, counselors, and street helpers.
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For further reading:
Castaldelli-Maia, J., Ventriglio, A., & Bhugra, D. (Eds.) (2002). Homelessness and mental health. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Fraser, B., Pierse, E., Chisholm, & Cook, H. LGBTIQ+ Homelessness: A review of the literature. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2019 Aug; 16(15): 2677. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6695950/).
The Trevor Project. (2022). Homelessness and housing instability among LGBTQ youth. (https://www.thetrevorproject.org/research-briefs/homelessness-and-housing-instability-among-lgbtq-youth-feb-2022/).
The Trevor Project. (2021). National survey on LGBTQ youth mental health 2021. (https://www.thetrevorproject.org/survey-2021/?section=ResearchMethodology).