LGBTQ+ alliance groups can have a positive effect on entire student populations
Teens can be targeted for race, religion, and weight on top of their LGBTQ+ identity. (Eliott Reyna/Unsplash/)Many kids experience bullying in their lifetime—some estimates show 20 percent of youth aged 12 to 18 have grappled with it here in the US. But for LGBTQ+ youth, those numbers and resulting health risks are even higher.A new study of more than 29,000 LGBTQ+ teens nationwide shows that 91 percent of them had been bullied at least once. What’s more is that these individuals weren’t just picked on for their sexual orientation or gender identity: At least 73 percent of them reported being targeted for reasons other than their queerness, including race, disabilities, and body weight among others. “There’s so much data at this point that shows that there are these health disparities for LGBTQ youth,” says Leah Lessard, a psychologist at the University of Connecticut and main author of the paper, published in...