This kind of anti-LGBTQ+ bullying has been shown to influence the tragically high rates of suicidality among LGBTQ+ youth; according to The Trevor Project, LGBTQ+ youth are four times as likely as their cisgender, heterosexual peers to contemplate, plan, or attempt suicide. Disparities like this are partly what led to the creation of Spirit Day — and also what led a team of researchers led by Dr. Ilan Meyer, a senior scholar at the UCLA’s Williams Institute, to study the impact of state-level anti-bullying statutes on LGBTQ+ youth.

All 50 states have anti-bullying laws, but only 21 (including Washington D.C.) have laws that prohibit bullying based on a student’s (perceived) sexual orientation and/or gender identity. This discrepancy is not exactly news; in fact, it has long constituted a key issue for LGBTQ+ advocacy groups focused on school reform. The question for Meyer and his team was whether the specific inclusion of these characteristics would be associated with a decrease in suicidality (along with other mental health stressors) among LGBTQ+ youth. The answer, it turned out, was yes.

Upon closer inspection, however, Meyer’s results weren’t so straightforward. The researchers found that LGBTQ+ youth were less likely to consider, plan, or attempt suicide in states that explicitly barred queer and transphobic bullying, but they also found roughly equivalent reductions among cisgender and heterosexual students in the same states. In other words, these policies helped reduce suicidality among all students; they did not reduce the disproportionate rates of suicidality among LGBTQ+ youth compared to their non-LGBTQ+ peers.

Meyer’s findings suggest that certain states’ adoption of detailed anti-bullying laws could reflect school systems that are already more adept at and/or invested in general bullying-prevention. More importantly, Meyer explains, is the notion that laws forbidding bullying based on someone’s (perceived) sexual orientation and/or gender identity do not necessarily make people less queer/transphobic.

As part of a multifaceted approach, one that involves both top-down and bottom-up solutions, Spirit Day emerges as not only a moving tribute to those we’ve lost to bullying, but also a rousing call to action.

Meyer’s work, therefore, along with other recent studies, points to the necessity of a more holistic approach to anti-bullying measures, one that treats state-level statutes as a foundation for the implementation of more specific school-by-school reforms. Such bottom-up measures can include incorporating LGBTQ+ history into curricula, creating queer-friendly affitnity spaces, such as Gay-Straight Alliances, and providing increased training for school personnel. “Activists have focused on state laws enumerating [protections for] LGBTQ youth,” Dr. Meyer says, acknowledging the proven significance of these measures. “We’re just saying that’s not enough.”

In fact, studies have shown that these school-based efforts make a real impact. GLSEN’s National School Climate Survey found that LGTBQ+ students at schools that offered queer affinity spaces (such as GSAs) were roughly 16% less likely to hear “gay” used as a pejorative, 15% less likely to hear homophobic language, and 13% less likely to miss school because of safety concerns. Similar reductions were associated with schools that taught positive representations of LGBTQ people, history, or events, as well as with schools where students could identify affirming faculty and/or staff members. “What we really want to achieve through our educational system are students who learn the importance of including LGBT issues, and LGBT people and kids who can feel free to be who they are,” as Dr. Meyer puts it.

Of course, school-by-school solutions and state-level policy changes are not mutually exclusive, which brings us back to the unique power of an event like Spirit Day. Alone, the holiday could hardly be called sufficient to address the layered issue of anti-LGBTQ bullying. But as part of a multifaceted approach, one that involves both top-down and bottom-up solutions, the event emerges as not only a moving tribute to those we’ve lost to bullying, but also a rousing call to action. “Spirit Day only takes place one day out of the year, but it’s easy to participate in,” Brittany McMillan once said of the campaign she pioneered. “And it reminds us that we need to stand up to bullying every single day.”

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