Promoting Sexual Diversity in Housing & Residence Life Staff Training

1. A SEXUAL DIVERISTY TRAINING FOR HOUSING AND RESIDENCE LIFE STAFF SEAHO – 2003 Baton Rouge, Louisiana Presented By: The University of Mississippi Department of Student Housing and Residence Life

2. 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.

3. Presentation Objectives • Establish Need Base • Establish Ground Rules • Increase Awareness Base • Increase Knowledge Base • Outline Skills • Call to Action – ALLIES / Safe Zone Network • Closure and Evaluation

4. 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?

5. Some Basic Ground Rules • Participation is PARAMOUNT. • Accept others as they are. • Listen Actively • Respect others opinions and their willingness to share them • Speak for yourself not the collective group • Try to refrain from “absolute” statements • Confidentiality ANYTHING YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD??

6. Awareness STEREOTYPES • What are some gender stereotypes you heard growing up? • Have any of those stereotypes limited you in your life experiences? • Growing up, what were all the names (positive, negative, neutral) that you heard related to gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgenders? • Growing up, what are some of the stereotypes that you heard about lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders? • What are some of the things you heard about these groups growing up that you have come to find out are not true?

7. Awareness (cont). IMAGINE THIS...

8. KnowledgeDefinitions 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)

9. KnowledgeDefinitions (cont). Gender Identity One’s psychological sense of oneself as a male or female (Adams, Bell, Griffin 1997)

10. KnowledgeDefinitions (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)

11. KnowledgeDefinitions (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)

12. KnowledgeDefinitions (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)

13. KnowledgeDefinitions (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)

14. KnowledgeSome 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)

15. KnowledgeSome 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????)

16. KnowledgeSome 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)

17. KnowledgeSome 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).

18. KnowledgeSome 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)

19. KnowledgeSome 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)

20. KnowledgeSome 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)

21. Knowledge RITES OF PASSAGE... COMING OUT

22. KnowledgeISSUES • 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

23. DOES IT MATTER??

24. 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.

25. 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?

26. Call to ACTION 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

27. Call toACTION • If you have an ALLIES / SAFE ZONE Program on your campus…Join IT! • If not…START ONE!! All the information is in the booklet.

28. Closure LOSSES EXERCISE

29. Closure ?? QUESTIONS ??

30. EVALUATIONS