Immigration, Citizenship, and School Experiences of LGBTQ Students: "Building the Wall" Around "the American Dream"

• In Event: 77.025 - Migrations and Education: Immigrant Educational Narratives in Xenophobic Times

Abstract

Increasing anti-immigrant rhetoric and governmental actions illustrate the complex environment negotiated by LGBTQ immigrants in the United States. Research has explored how the intersection of sexual orientation, gender, race, and other identities manifest in unique experiences across the LGBTQ population. More recent work has begun to explore how nativity and citizenship status, as markers of cultural legitimacy, function in the lives of some LGBTQ people. In this paper, we specifically examined experiences of LGBTQ youth in school vis-à-vis nativity status (U.S.-born vs. non-U.S.-born), citizenship status (citizen vs. documented vs. undocumented), and native language (English vs. other languages) on school-based victimization due to sexual orientation, gender expression, and race/ethnicity, as well as changes in incidence of experiences in recent years.

Author

• Joseph G. Kosciw, GLSEN:Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network