Lesbian, gay, and bisexual high school students experience high rates of violence

Today the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report Sexual Identity, Sex of Sexual Contacts, and Health-Related Behaviors Among Students in Grades 9-12 – United States and Selected Sites, 2015 that gave data showing  that lesbian, gay and bisexual students experience physical and sexual violence and bullying at levels multiple times higher than that of their heterosexual peers.

Lesbian, gay and bisexual students reported the following:

• Being forced to have sex (18% LGB vs. 5% heterosexual)
• Sexual dating violence (23% LGB vs. 9% heterosexual)
• Physical dating violence (18% LGB vs. 8% heterosexual)
• Being bullied at school or online (at school: 34% LGB vs. 19% heterosexual; online: 28% LGB vs. 14% heterosexual)

This is first nationally representative data on the health risks of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) high school students drawing data from the national 2015 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS).

PreventConnect has had several web conferences and podcast on how to develop prevention efforts that address LBGTQ populations and homophobia, including:

• Partners in Prevention: Connecting Sexual Violence Prevention and LGBTQ-Inclusive Campus Culture (web conference)
• Harmful Gender Norms: How can alliances be built with queer (LGBTQ) movements to help prevent sexual and domestic violence more effectively? (web conference)
• Harmful Gender Norms: Moving beyond binary and heteronormative approaches to preventing sexual and domestic violence (web conference)
• Queering the Curriculum LGBTQ Inclusivity in Sexual Assault Prevention (podcast)
• Preventing Sexual and Domestic Violence in LGBTQ Communities: Interview with the Richmond Area Partnership (Podcast)
• Findings on victimization by sexual orientation (Web Conference)