1. How an Out Administrator is
Helping to Change the
Landscape of A District
Presented by Ali Michael Cannon
Student Outreach Coordinator
San Leandro Unified School District
Bullying Prevention for LGBT Youth & Allies:

2. CALIFORNIA STATISTICS
Bias-related harassment is prevalent
Type of Harassment Percentage of students
Any harassment: 37.4
Any bias-related harassment: 27.4
Race, ethnicity, or national origin: 14.3
Religion: 9.1
Gender (male or female): 10.3
Actual or perceived sexual orientation: 7.5
Physical or mental disability: 4.9
Harassment for some other reason: 23.1
Not harassed: 62.6
CA Safe Schools Coalition: 2004 Safe Place to Learn Report (200,000+)

3. BIAS-RELATED HARASSMENT
AND RISK OUTCOMES
21 22
30
14
19
24
27
16
20
24
30
14
24
27
35
1918
11
22
6
17
7
24
5
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Race, ethnicity, NO
Religion
Gender
Sexual Orientation
Not biased related
Not harassed

4. WHY ARE WE HERE?
THE LAW
If school personnel witness an act of discrimination,
harassment, intimidation, or bullying, he or she shall
take immediate action to intervene. (Education Code section
234.1(b)(1))

5. EDUCATION CODE
 Education Code § 200 – State Anti Discrimination policy
 Protected categories:
 Disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, nationality, race or
ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation
 Education Code § 210.7 – “Gender” means sex, and includes a person’s
gender identity and gender expression. “Gender expression” means a
person’s gender-related appearance and behavior whether or not
stereotypically associated with the person’s assigned sex at birth.
 Education Code § 212.6 – “Sexual orientation” means heterosexuality,
homosexuality, or bisexuality.
 Education Code 262.4 – allows enforcement of the anti discrimination
law by civil action.

6. SEXUAL ORIENTATION /
GENDER IDENTITY
Defining our terms
Sexual orientation
 emotional and sexual attraction to others
 includes heterosexual, lesbian, gay, or bisexual
 everyone has a sexual orientation
 separate from gender identity
Gender identity
 internal, deeply felt sense of being male, female, and/or
transgender
 may or may not match biological sex
 separate from sexual orientation

7. AND BULLYING
 91% of California middle and high school students
hear their peers use slurs about sexual orientation
 More than 40% hear their teachers making those
kinds of negative comments or slurs
California Safe Schools Coalition, 2004

8. LGBT HARASSMENT
AND BULLYING
 27 % of students report being harassed because
they are “not masculine enough” or “not feminine
enough.”
CA Safe Schools Coalition, Preventing School Harassment Survey, 2004

9. Transgender Harassment
 62% of those who identify as transgender report
harassment based on gender non-conformity
 57% of transgender students report being harassed
because of gender non-conformity more than once.
California Safe Schools Coalition, 1550 Bryant Street, Suite 800, San Francisco, CA 94103, www.casafeschools.org

10. LGBT HARASSMENT
AND BULLYING
 For every gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender
youth who reports being harassed…
four straight youth say they are harassed
for being perceived as gay or lesbian
Safe School Coalition, Anti Violence Documentation Project, 1996

11. RISK OUTCOMES –
SUICIDE
 Students harassed based on actual or perceived sexual
orientation are more than twice as likely to report
seriously considering suicide and more than twice as
likely to report making a plan for suicide as compared
to students who are not harassed.

12. More than 30% of LGBTQ
youth report at least one
suicide attempt within
the last year.
(Based on National Statistics)

13. Women's Health Activist Newsletter
May/June 2009
By Stephanie Brill and Jennifer Hastings, MD
“Because of society’s lack of awareness of a simple, yet
complex part of human identity — gender — transgender
children and teens are deeply misunderstood. ..A known, or
recognizably transgender person is frequently a target
for discrimination and violence. The shame and rejection
felt by these children in turn leads to self-harming behaviors,
increased drug use, homelessness, HIV/AIDS infection,
depression, and suicide. One-third (33.2%) of transgender
youth have attempted suicide.1”
1. Clements-Nolle K, Marx R, Katz M, “Attempted suicide among transgender persons: The
influence of gender-based discrimination and victimization,” Journal of Homosexuality
2006; 51(3):53-69.

14. TEACHER RESPONSES
 Presence of supportive staff leads to:
greater
sense of
belonging
fewer
school days
missed
more
students
planning to
go to
college
greater
sense of
safety
GLSEN National School Climate Survey, 2008

15. Everyone Has A Gender Identity
Your Personal Gender
Journey
Gender Impacts Our Lives
 Growing up, did you think of
yourself as a boy, a girl, both,
neither or some other way?
How did you come to the
recognition? When?
 What messages did you
receive from those around
you about gender? Did those
messages make sense to you?
 What’s your first
memory of gender
defining or impacting
your life?
www.genderspectrum.org
510-567-3977; info@genderspectrum.org

16. FEELINGS OF SAFETY
 Students who learn about LGBT issues through classes
and curriculum feel safer at school and report less
harassment.
This is true for both LGBT students and heterosexual
students alike.
California Safe Schools Coalition, 2006

17. Ali Michael Cannon: My Story

18. Coming Out to Students: How An Out
Transgender Administrator is Creating Change
as a Caring Adult through Advocacy and
Courageous Conversations
• Club Rainbow
• 12th Grade Feminist Literature – Notions of Gender as
a Culminating Lesson
• Panels with LGBT Students in the District and the
Community

19. PREVENTION
Attend to school climate around LGBT
and gender issues specifically
 Policy
 Inclusive curriculum
 Physical environment that is safe and
welcoming
 Teacher attitudes
 Student attitudes and interactions
 Expectations of respect and inclusivity

20. Questions and Answers
Thank you for showing up and participating. Together
we can bring about real change for our students.
Ali Michael Cannon
Student Outreach Coordinator
San Leandro Unified School District
Some Data courtesy of Dora J. Dome, Esq.
Dora Dome Law, www.doradomelaw.com