Background/Purpose Recently, substantial media attention has been directed toward the victimization and bullying of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) young people. These individuals often experience discrimination, victimization, and even violence based upon their sexual orientation. One possible explanation for such damaging experiences is unsupportive attitudes toward the LGBTQ community. The purpose of this study was to investigate college students' attitudes and access to LGBTQ education on a university campus.
Method Students (N= 364) enrolled in a large university in the Southeastern United States completed online surveys regarding experiences with discrimination/violence, perceptions of LGBTQ individuals, and access to LGBTQ-related education.
Analysis/Results Results of a regression analysis indicated that sex/gender, sexual orientation, and age were significant predictors of perceptions of the LGBTQ community. Specifically, females, students who self-identified as LGBTQ, and upperclassmen displayed more positive beliefs. Over half of respondents had witnessed someone experience discrimination (60.78%) or verbal harassment (58.82%) based on his/her actual/perceived sexual orientation -some of which (25%) occurred on a college campus. In addition, almost half of students (48.8%) reported receiving no education regarding LGBTQ issues at their university.
Conclusions Findings from this study indicate that a large percentage of college students have witnessed some type of victimization related to sexual orientation. In addition, students reported receiving little to no educational information regarding the LGBTQ community on their campus. These findings highlight the importance of providing educational information to students, specifically underclassmen and straight males.
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