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BOOK REVIEW

Cianciotto, J., & Cahill, S. (2012). LGBT Youth in America’s Schools. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-03140-5.

It has been long recognized that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth are targets for school violence. However, there has not been a comprehensive text that describes the problem and provides specific actions for researchers, practitioners, and decision makers until now. Jason Cianciotto and Sean Cahill’s recently published LGBT Youth in America’s Schools is a timely resource for schools and communities striving to pro- tect LGBT youth and to establish caring and supportive climates that enable them to thrive. Jason Cianciotto is an independent consultant specializing in applied research and public policy analysis. Sean Cahill is director of health policy research at the Fenway Institute in Boston, MA, and is adjunct assis- tant professor of public administration at New York University. This book demonstrates their considerable collective expertise on policy and research issues relevant to school violence among LGBT youth.

The book is divided into the following three sections: (a) A Comprehensive Review of Social Science Research on LGBT Youth and Their Experiences in School; (b) A Comprehensive Review of School-Based Practices and Federal, State, and Local Laws and Policies that Affect LGBT Students; and (c) A Research Agenda to Guide and Inform Future Policy. It presents a great deal of information in a highly readable style. The indi- vidual sections and chapters build on one another, but can easily be read as stand-alone pieces. Each chapter includes one or more brief profiles of LGBT youth and their experiences at school. These profiles serve to bring the conceptual issues to life, and also to recognize young people whose struggles should be studied, recognized, and rectified for future generations.

Section 1 has two chapters. In Chapter 1, the authors comprehensively describe LGBT youth populations. In addition to LGBT youth, they go on to review the literature on gender-nonconforming youth, intersex youth, children of LGBT parents, LGBT youth of color, and LGBT youth who are homeless and/or in foster care. This chapter is a valuable resource to those new to the field of LGBT health because of the considerable attention paid to clarifying language.

Chapter 2 includes a review of the scientific literature on harassment and violence toward LGBT youth as well as its impacts. The presentation of

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statistics is detailed, but not overly technical. The authors’ description of what LGBT-focused school violence looks like at different developmental periods (i.e., in elementary, middle, and high school) is particularly valuable. One caveat for this chapter is that it assumes a level of familiarity with terms rel- evant to violence. Words such as violence, aggression, bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, bias, and discrimination were used without an initial clarification of their definitions. There is a need to clarify and improve termi- nology throughout the school violence field, and this book reflects that need.

The two main critiques we have of Section 1 stem from the fact that there are limited data available to characterize the circumstances of LGBT youth. First, the section would have benefited from a more in-depth discus- sion of geographic differences among LGBT populations. For example, what are the different circumstances for LGBT youth in cities versus rural areas or in the southern U.S. versus the northern U.S.? Such a discussion would be particularly helpful to readers in locales with fewer resources to support LGBT youth and/or with a climate that is less accepting of LGBT youth. Second, the authors rely quite heavily on research from a few sources (e.g., Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Surveys in just a few states and reports from the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network [GLSEN]). These shortcomings underscore the need for more research on school violence as well as the need to synthesize this research more completely in order to capture such nuances.

In Section 1, the authors appropriately highlight that the antecedents of mental, emotional, and behavioral problems among LGBT youth stem from social factors such as peer and family rejection, violence, and a lack of positive role models. In Section 2, they continue that line of thinking as they address how policies relate to LGBT youth in schools. The chapters in this section address federal, state, and local laws (Chapter 4); school programs and policies (Chapter 5); the No Child Left Behind Act (Chapter 6); and comprehensive sex education (Chapter 7). The authors consider the role of schools in the health of LGBT youth, and also fully recognize that schools are embedded within the broader context of neighborhoods, states, and the nation as a whole.

Section 2 serves as a critical resource for researchers, school vio- lence professionals, youth workers, educators, advocates, and policy makers. The information presented provides a strong justification for the aforemen- tioned professionals to advance protective policies to foster safer school climates for LGBT youth. This can include specifically naming LGBT youth in anti-bullying policies, infusing LGBT issues within the standard course curriculum, and sponsoring gay–straight alliance groups (GSAs). At times, this section placed emphasis on what schools have done wrong. While it is important to raise attention to the seriousness of these cases and to note the damage caused by inappropriate school responses, it also would be helpful to have had more case studies of positive responses and proactive efforts made by other schools to ensure the safety and well-being of LGBT youth.

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This also points to the need for more research on best practices for working with LGBT youth in schools.

The final section proposes a bold research agenda across three chap- ters: “Political and Methodological Issues Affecting Research on LGBT Youth” (Chapter 7), “The Need for Research on Understudied LGBT Populations” (Chapter 8), and “Conclusion and Policy Recommendations: Making It Better for LGBT Students” (Chapter 9). This section will serve as a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners, whether they have limited exposure or con- siderable expertise in this area. One of the strengths of this section compared to earlier sections of the book was the clearer critique of research and discus- sion of the limitations of extant studies. The authors also offer a generous and impressive list of emerging research questions for the field. This list is one that every researcher and policy maker with an interest in this area should review. Indeed, these questions sparked new ideas for our own research agendas, and we hope other readers will be equally inspired.

As researchers invested in understanding the experiences of LGBT youth and in promoting their resilience, reading this book provided us an even broader framework in which to situate our work and it illuminated several ways to link and make our work relevant to policy and programming efforts. We believe that other researchers, youth practitioners, educators, and policy makers will find this book to be an equally useful resource that is impressive with its integration of research and policy. Despite the limitations we have raised (e.g., an overreliance on certain studies, less attention to regional differences, a need for greater attention to best practices), this book makes a pivotal and substantial contribution to the field that extends beyond the contributions of many other existing resources. In sum, it provides a comprehensive review of how factors at multiple levels and in multiple contexts interact to shape the experiences of LGBT youth in schools, all while offering recommendations for those who work in this area. As such, we recommend this book highly to researchers, school violence professionals, youth workers, educators, and policy makers in hopes that it will serve as a catalyst in our collective efforts to promote the overall health and well-being of LGBT youth.

Renee M. Johnson School of Public Health

Boston University Boston, MA, USA

E-mail: [email protected]

V. Paul Poteat Lynch School of Education

Boston College Boston, MA, USA

E-mail: [email protected]

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