Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Presented By:
Scott Anthony Oliver Laurie Zimmerman John Gaffney
Residence Hall Director Residence Hall Director Residence Hall Director
Kincannon Hall Crosby Hall Guess Hall
The University of Mississippi
Department of Student Housing and Residence Life
Mission of Presentation
This presentation and training is geared
toward Housing and Residence Life staff.
It is designed to promote and increase
awareness of sexual orientation issues in
college students and to decrease
discrimination against homosexual,
bisexual, and transgender college
students through education and action.
Presentation Objectives
1. Establish Need Base
2. Establish Ground Rules
3. Increase Awareness Base
4. Increase Knowledge Base
5. Outline Skills
6. Call to Action – ALLIES / Safe Zone Network
7. Closure and Evaluation
Why is this IMPORTANT?
Why is it important that Housing
and Residence Life Staff be
aware of sexual orientation
issues and receive training in
sexual diversity?
Some Basic Ground Rules
1. Participation is PARAMOUNT.
2. Accept others as they are.
3. Listen Actively
4. Respect others opinions and their willingness to
share them
5. Speak for yourself not the collective group
6. Try to refrain from “absolute” statements
7. Confidentiality
Awareness
1. What are some gender stereotypes you heard growing
up?
2. Have any of those stereotypes limited you in your life
experiences?
3. Growing up, what were all the names (positive, negative,
neutral) that you heard related to gays, lesbians,
bisexual and transgenders?
4. Growing up, what are some of the stereotypes that you
heard about lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and
transgenders?
5. What are some of the things you heard about these
groups growing up that you have come to find out are
not true?
Awareness (cont).
Knowledge
Definitions
Sexual Orientation
The desire for intimate emotional and sexual
relationships with people of the same
gender (homosexual), the other gender
(heterosexual), or either gender (bisexual).
(Adams, Bell, Griffin 1997)
Knowledge
Definitions (cont).
Gender Identity
One’s psychological sense of oneself as a
male or female
(Adams, Bell, Griffin 1997)
Knowledge
Definitions (cont).
Transgender Person
A person whose self-identification
challenges traditional notions of gender
and sexuality. Transgender people include
transsexuals and others who do not
conform to traditional understandings of
labels like male and female or homosexual
and heterosexual.
(Adams, Bell, Griffin 1997)
Knowledge
Definitions (cont).
Heterosexism
The societal/cultural, institutional, and
individual beliefs and practices that
assume that heterosexuality is the
only natural, normal, acceptable
sexual orientation.
(Adams, Bell, Griffin 1997)
Knowledge
Definitions (cont).
Homophobia
The fear, hatred, or intolerance of lesbians,
gay men, or any behavior that is outside
the boundaries of traditional gender roles.
Homophobia can be manifested as fear of
association with lesbian or gay people or
being perceived as lesbian or gay.
(Adams, Bell, Griffin 1997)
Knowledge
Definitions (cont).
Homophobic Behavior
Homophobic behavior can range from
telling jokes about lesbian and gay
people to physical violence against
people thought to be lesbian or gay.
(Adams, Bell, Griffin 1997)
Knowledge
Some Data & Statistics
• 7.2 million Americans under age 20 are
lesbian or gay (Singer & Deschamps (1994)
• In young men age 13 to 24 – 50% of ALL
AIDS cases reported in 1999 were among
men who have sex with men (www.cdc.gov 2001)
• Up to 94% of homosexuals report
victimization due to their sexual orientation
(Franklin 2000)
Knowledge
Some Data & Statistics (cont).
• 1 in 10 young adults admitted physical violence
or threats against presumed homosexuals (Franklin
2000)
• 30% of suicides at ages 15 to 24 are related to
turmoil over sexuality (England 1999)
• Approximately 90% of the violence against gays
is undocumented (Franklin 2000)
• It is impossible to determine the proportion of the
population who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or
transgender (Buhrke and Stabb (2000????)
Knowledge
Some Data & Statistics (cont).
• On a college campus in all likelihood, there are
students, faculty, and staff who are lesbian, gay,
bisexual or transgender.
• Some of those will be open about their sexual
orientation, others will deny or hide their sexual
orientation.
• The college environment is likely to be
homophobic and heterosexist. (Buhrke and Stabb 1995)
Knowledge
Some Data & Statistics (cont).
• In general students attitudes toward lesbians
and gay men in the U.S. are negative (D’Agelli and
Rose 1990).
• Gay students often describe the campus
environment as being hostile towards them
(Reynolds 1989).
• The United States has been described as “one
of the more homophobic of the world’s cultures”
(Hammersmith 1987, p 174).
Knowledge
Some Data & Statistics (cont).
• Contemporary studies have shown that most
adults who self-identify as lesbian or gay realize
their attractions to others or the same sex during
adolescence. (Hershberger & D’ Augelli 2000)
• Many students undertake a quest for their true
identity during their college years (Lees 1998)
Knowledge
Some Data & Statistics (cont).
• Residence halls are one way that students round
out their education by learning social values and
norms of interaction while living in a community
environment (Robison 1998)
• The American Psychological Association
estimates that one in six college students are
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender and of
those 1/3 live in residence halls (Sherrill and Hardesty
1994)
Knowledge
Some Data & Statistics (cont).
• Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual students may
experience feelings of fear, loneliness, anxiety,
guilt, shame, anger, self-hate, betrayal, and
depression because of societal values regarding
their sexual orientation (Buhrke and Stabb 1995)
• Students may experience academic difficulty as
a result of turmoil created by the threat of or
actual disclosure of one’s sexual orientation to
classmates, roommates, and faculty (Buhrke and Stabb
1995)
Knowledge
OF
Knowledge
• The effects of homophobia –
psychologically, emotionally, spiritually,
and physically.
• The coming out process
• The challenge of creating solid, true,
relationships – friends as well as partners
• Isolation from self others and community
Skills – Transition toward Action
• Come to terms with your own
feelings/thoughts/emotions about sexual
orientation issues
• Acknowledge the skills that you have to identify
and interrupt homophobia and heterosexism.
• Be familiar with campus and community
resources.
• Remember Confidentiality – your friend trusted
you, don’t tell unless they want you to.
Skills – Transition toward Action
• What should you do if a friend, coworker,
student, roommate, etc… tells you that he or she
is gay?
• What does that mean about you?
• Will people think I am gay if I have gay friends,
coworkers, students, or roommate?
• How will I ever manage to accept my roommate
or friend’s sexuality?
• How can I ever relate to them?
• What if you are with friends that begin making
jokes and rude comments about GLBT’s? What
would you do?
Call to
It is incredibly important that our
students feel safe and welcome on
our college campuses.
Housing people:
• First to meet
• Usually…opportunity to make most
influence
Call to
• If you have an ALLIES / SAFE
ZONE Program on your
campus…Join IT!
• If not…START ONE!! All the
information is in the booklet.
Closure
Closure
From the 2013 version of the site. Details, prices and links may be out of date, so check them against your own campus policies.