Torment from his classmates drove Cy-Fair ISD middle-schooler Asher Brown to kill himself in September, his parents say. The 13-year-old's mother and stepfather say he was "bullied to death," partly because of his homosexuality. Physical and verbal harassment, including bullying, is routinely experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students, according to a national school climate survey from the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network. It's not just one's espoused or perceived sexuality, but gender expression that may cause LGBT children to be targeted by bullies, said Thomas Schanding, an assistant professor in the University of Houston's school psychology program. He also chairs the National Association of School Psychologists' GLBTQ committee, which focuses on the issues faced by gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth in public and private schools. Schanding spoke recently with Chronicle reporter Cindy George about bullying.

Q: What is bullying?

A: It could be the snide comment, the name calling, the texts, the post on the wall of your social media. It's almost always evolving because kids find new ways to push buttons. It's cyber-bullying, verbal harassment, physical harassment, physical assault and sexual harassment.

Q: How did you get interested in studying LGBT bullying?

A: Since I got into graduate school at the University of Southern Mississippi. When I was there, I worked at (a high school in the Hattiesburg, Miss., area) and, at one point, we had the issue of a few girls who came out as bisexual. There were a lot of fights and a lot of harassment surrounding those girls, from guys saying: "Well, I can turn you straight — you don't need a girl." And then the girls who were dating would break up and date other girls and they would start fighting. It was just kind of a mess. When I tried to talk to the principal at the school, he said: "This is not for us to address," and that we weren't going to deal with those types of things. I was interested in how schools are dealing with this and what we really could do. There aren't as many researchers out there that really get into this because it is really kind of an invisible topic within schools.

Q: Describe your research on the issue.

A: I have a handout that was accepted for the Helping Children At Home and School third edition. It's a guide for parents about how to support a gay or lesbian child. Another project that I'm doing right now is looking at the intersection of biological sex, gender identity and sexual orientation and which of those factors seems to put someone more at risk for being victimized, having self-esteem issues or school problems. Some of the research that I've looked at shows that it may not necessarily be your sexual orientation that may set you up for rejection from peers or bullying, but that it may be that you're not conforming to your gender role.

Q: How are you conducting your study?

A: One of the measures that I used was created by a researcher in Boston — a conformity to masculine norms inventory and a conformity to feminine norms inventory. It's a survey that basically gives you a score. It's my proxy for how you are gender conformity-wise. This study is looking at 12- to 19-year-old students. I also ask them about physical harassment and assault. It's a crude measure of how much victimization and bullying that they might have experienced.

Q: Do adults bully these youth?

A: Yes. This would take the form of an adult telling you "You're not man enough" or "You're too manly" if you're a girl. I've heard stories of teachers who've told students: "This is not how you're supposed to be" and "This is what boys do" and "Don't do this."

Q: What should adults — teachers, parents or administrators — do about a kid being ostracized because of gender identity or sexual orientation?

A: I would hope an adult would take a stand for that kid, confront the aggressor to give support to the kid who's being victimized and to tell that other kid that's not acceptable behavior. Also, make sure school officials are aware so they can go back and think about the school's policies on bullying.

Q: What if you're the target of LGBT bullying?

A: They need to know that adults will support them and that they can go to them to talk. That was one of the findings out of the GLSEN survey: 62 percent who were harassed don't even report that harassment to adults and of those who do, 34 percent said the adults don't do anything about it. That perception needs to change so that kids know if I do tell you, things are going to change, it is going to be addressed and I can be safe here at school.

Q: What about the bullies?

A: For the perpetrators of that violence, they need to have some type of intervention as well. The problem is that there aren't a whole lot of intervention programs out there that necessarily show success, so we need to have more research in that area and more discussion about how we change these attitudes and deter someone from engaging in this sort of aggression towards others.

Q: What's your advice to the parent of a child who is being bullied because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity?

A: If this is occurring at the school, they have to get in touch with the school and they have to take a stand with the administration and say: "You will make sure my child is in a safe, respectful environment because that is their right."

cindy.george@chron.com