Do My Teachers Care I'm Gay? Israeli Lesbigay School Students' Experiences at their Schools

This empirical study explores the subjective experiences of Israeli lesbigay school students and their perceptions of the school climate. It provides descriptive data on different socio-demographic characteristics of Israeli lesbigay youth and presents the participants' experiences of school climate in the context of lesbigay issues. Further, it explores how students' characteristics, school environment, and school resources affect students' sense of belonging to school and sense of respect by peers. In order to delve into Israeli students' experiences, the authors conducted a School Climate Survey that was completed by some 300 participants-mostly on-line. Nearly half of the sample, which ranged in ages from 11 to 18, reported occasionally hearing homophobic remarks uttered by most of the teachers. One-third reported experiencing some form of harassment or violence by other students.