The Implementation Guide: How to Make Sure that Your State's Safe Schools Laws are Effectively Enforced and Administered

After years of activism, lobbying, and tremendous effort by students and adults in your state, you may be very pleased – finally – that your state has a law that is intended to protect actual and perceived lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students and educators in your state’s schools. However, laws are only effective if they are administered and enforced – implemented -- by those entrusted to do so, usually state agencies and individual school districts. There are three primary reasons why LGBT-related safe schools legislation is often not implemented fully or effectively:

Lack of awareness about the law:

Most people still don’t seem to know about our state’s LGBT-inclusive safe schools law.

Lack of support for students and educators:

Our state’s safe schools law did not include any mandate for teacher training on LGBT-related issues.

Lack of accountability to ensure that the law is implemented:

Nothing seems to happen when students are harassed, discriminated against, or violated.

To view or download a full copy of The Implementation Guide or the key finding that accompany the guide, click onto the 'Related Documents' folder to the right.