ABSTRACT
In the last decade, thousands of LGBT1 youth have made themselves visible by “coming out” in large numbers to schools, organizing student groups, lobbying various states for LGBT friendly legislation, and suing in a demand for their educational rights. Simultaneously, however, the religious right continued its campaign against LGBT students and the LGBT community at large. “Nearly half of the antigay initiatives filed in 1995 dealt with school issues … Eight states actually require schools to teach that homosexual behavior is unacceptable and/or illegal” (Lipkin, 1999, p. 8). School boards, and individual schools, aided by a strong homophobic parental voice, have also responded negatively to queer students by denying them the ability to form GSA clubs, preventing them from attending prom with a partner of the same sex, and refusing to allow transgender students from cross-dressing on their campuses.
