Only 28 States Have Known LGBTQ School Board Members, Report Finds
the report presents results from the first nationwide survey assessing the number of school board members who are openly part of the LGBTQ community.
The LGBTQ Victory Institute, a national organization focused on electing leaders within the LGBTQ community, conducted its survey among known LGBTQ school board members in April.The report comes amid an elevated awareness about threats levied at school board members across the country during the coronavirus pandemic.
Many of the known LGBTQ school board members contacted for the LGBTQ Victory Institute's survey told researchers they have been targeted specifically by anti-LGBTQ attacks, the report said.The institute's report also comes in the wake of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signing legislation known as the "Don't Say Gay" bill into law, book bans that the American Library Association said often target stories "by or about Black or LGBTQIA+ persons" and political battles over transgender athletes' participation in sports.U.S.
schools "have been ground zero for anti-LGBTQ vitriol this year," LGBTQ Victory Institute President Annise Parker said in a press release shared with Newsweek. "In many cases, school boards have the power to determine the rights LGBTQ kids do – and don't – have."The institute's survey "reveals that LGBTQ people are seriously underrepresented" on school boards across the country, Parker said. "Those that do serve face attacks for showing up as their authentic selves and standing up for LGBTQ kids.
