VIII. SCHOOL COUNSELORS

As the first school officials to whom students may turn for information on issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity, school counselors have a special role in providing support to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth. We heard from several students who credited their school counselors with providing them with guidance and support at critical points in their lives.

Unfortunately, too many youth hear misinformation and perceive bias from their school counselors. In large part, the failure of many counselors to serve lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth stems from a lack of training. To correct this problem, school districts should provide specialized training for school counselors on issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity.

Even when counselors are prepared to address the needs of these youth, many students will not approach them for information on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues unless they understand that their conversations are confidential. Confidentiality is an important aspect of any counseling relationship, mandated by the ethical codes of the American School Counselor Association, the American Counseling Association, the National Board for Certified Counselors, and other professional associations. For youth grappling with issues of sexual orientation or gender identity and social stigmatization, harassment, and violence, confidentiality is critical. Counselors should always advise students of the parameters of counselor-student confidentiality.

We heard several cases of counselors who disclosed youths' sexual orientation to their parents, violating professional standards and potentially placing the youth at risk of rejection, abandonment, or violence by parents or guardians or local communities.

The Value of Supportive Counselors

"Unlike their heterosexual peers, lesbian and gay adolescents are the only social minority who must learn to manage a stigmatized identity without active support and modeling from parents and family," Caitlin Ryan and DonnaFutterman note.32 School counselors are well-positioned to help youth who are coping with social stigma, feelings of isolation, and the effects of harassment.

We heard from several youth who told us that they greatly appreciated the support of the school counselors. "We do have really good counselors," said Jenna I. "My counselor is great. I couldn't ask for somebody more supportive." She noted that a district superintendent's order has resulted in training on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues for all counselors.33

Similarly, Kimberly G. told us that she had often talked to her counselor about being a lesbian in high school. "I had a great counselor; he was always there for me," she said.34

And Andy S. told us that she learned about Out Youth, an Austin group for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth, from her counselor. "I was going to the counselor lady. That's not why I was going, but that subject came up, that I was gay, and she gave me a pamphlet."35

Asked what lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students need, Kimberly G. replied, "Good counseling. There should definitely be more counselors."36

Misinformation and Bias

But many more youth spoke to us about negative experiences with school counselors. "A lot try to be very understanding, but most have kids of their own and when you tell them they freak out," Dahlia P. observed. "They don't want their own kids exposed to gay people."37 When Dempsey H. went to talk to one of his school counselors about the issues he faced as a gay youth, he reported, "She told me she was biased and could no longer speak to me on this topic."38 Philip G. recounted that when he asked teachers at his school to make donations so that students could attend a youth lobby day in Sacramento, a guidance counselorreplied, "I'm not going to donate to that. Is it for that gay thing?"39 In fact, a 1992 study of school counselors found that two out of three of those surveyed had negative attitudes about gay and lesbian youth.40

The Need for Training

In particular, youth expressed concerns about the training their counselors received on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues. Erin B. remarked of her school's counselors, "They seem to be nice, but a lot aren't educated on gay issues. Once I went in to get advice about a friend of mine who was taking pills. Everything turned into about me being gay. I got no advice about my friend. That made me mad."41

Our interviews with counselors confirmed that students' concerns were well-founded. "I haven't found a way to ask if sexual orientation is an issue," said one counselor in Georgia, who is gay himself. He explained, "I don't do a lot of pushing. If they need help, I get them the help they need. Let the professional deal with it."42

When Manny V. went to speak to a school counselor about the isolation and depression he felt, he reports that he left with his needs unaddressed:

Here if you ask for a counselor, they'll send in a student who's got some counselor training. Some of the student counselors have issues of their own. They'd say things to other students. What you tell them would leak out. When I went to talk with the student counselor, she didn't say much. She just shrugged her shoulders and acted supportive. Finally I asked if I could call in a friend of mine to talk to instead. I asked to see the school psychologist. I never got an appointment. I was not helped out at all.43

"I've heard about kids getting harassed for being gay," a second counselor told us. "This came to the attention of another counselor. The student washarassed because he was effeminate. In fact, the counselor thought he was a girl at first. The counselor didn't deal with the issue in the best way. She changed his schedule after talking with the other students, when the abuse continued. To me, that's punishing the kid."44

As a result, it is not surprising that the 1992 study of school counselors also found that most lesbian, gay, and bisexual students saw their counselors as ill-informed, unconcerned, and uncomfortable with talking to them about their sexual orientation.45 Such impressions are reinforced by the fact that many students report that school counselors provide them only with career planning assistance rather than comprehensive school counseling.46

In recognition of the fact that school counselors can be an important source of support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth, the American School Health Association recommends that "every school district should provide access to professional counseling by specially trained personnel for students who may be concerned about sexual orientation."47

Providing such support begins with an awareness by counselors of the language they use. For example, "the assumption must not be made that males only date females or that sexual feelings only happen across gender," note two researchers.48

More generally, counselors should be familiar with the issues their lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students face and be able to refer them to appropriateresources.49 "We need to have educational programs on diversity and sexuality," said Dempsey H. "I think all counselors should have to go through that kind of workshop to let them know what it is. It's a sexuality, not just something we're doing to get attention."50

"What would help?" Eric C. pondered. "I don't really know. You can't tell all gay students to come out until you have better resources, counselors. . . . Counselors need to be able to tell them where they can go for help. Where to go to meet people just like them."51

As a counselor at San Francisco's Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center emphasized, training should include a component directed to the needs of transgender youth. "We need even more sociological training dealing with young trans people, the issues young trans people are going to face. Issues that come up for young trans people include depression and suicide based on feeling like you're one way yet physically being another."52

And because youth are grappling with issues of sexual orientation and gender identity in the fourth or fifth grade, elementary school counselors must be prepared to address these issues in age-appropriate ways. "Some of us realize that we're gay in elementary school, but we don't get the information we need until high school," said Philip G.53

"Having someone at school to talk to would really help," said Javier R., "maybe a special counselor." 54 Similarly, Sabrina L. told us, "We need them to be proactive. We're not given the resources and information we need."55 Eric C. explained that he needed more than what he could get from a peer support group. "I wanted to talk to a professional, but I didn't see anybody like that" at the youth group he attended. "I wanted to talk to somebody who knows what they're doing, somebody who doesn't just fluke things out."56

But schools should recognize that some students will not be willing to approach their counselors for information about sexual orientation or genderidentity. Noting that his school has a peer hotline, Dempsey H. suggested, "I think all schools should have those. Students may not feel comfortable going to the school counselor and saying they're gay."57

The Importance of Confidentiality

"Confidentiality is critical in clinical work with sexual minority youth and their parents and families," write Michael W. Bahr, Barbara Brish, and James M. Croteau, noting that "confidentiality has a seminal role in assisting these individuals in accessing support through counseling relationships with school staff or an eventual referral to a community resource."58

All schools should establish and implement policies providing confidentiality in discussions between counselors and students. Counselors should always advise students of the existence of counselor-student confidentiality and its limits. Counselors should refer to the ethical standards of the American School Counselor Association, the American Counseling Association, the National Board for Certified Counselors, and the National Association of Social Workers for authoritative guidance in determining when confidentiality should be breached. In those limited cases in which confidentiality cannot be maintained, counselors should take care to ensure that they disclose only the minimum that is necessary to protect the youth or others.

Ethical Obligations

As Caitlin Ryan and Donna Futterman note, "Virtually every health profession is bound by a code of ethics that mandates client confidentiality, which is also governed by state medical records laws, federal funding statutes, and the right to privacy."59

The American School Counselor Association recognizes that students have "the right to privacy and confidentiality," which "must not be abridged by the counselor except where there is clear and present danger to the student and/or otherpersons."60 The ethical codes of the American Counseling Association and the National Board for Certified Counselors contain similar guarantees of confidentiality.61

School counselors may be social workers, psychologists, or members of other professions with their own ethical obligations. For example, the National Association of Social Workers' Standards for the Practice of Social Work with Adolescents calls upon social workers to maintain confidentiality in their professional relationship with youth.62

And the National Education Association (NEA) calls on all of its members, whether or not they are counselors, to refrain from disclosing "information about students obtained in the course of professional service unless disclosure serves a compelling professional purpose or is required by law."63 With regard to students who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender or who are questioning their sexual orientation or gender identity, the NEA recommends that school personnel "[r]espect the confidentiality of students who confide the fact or suspicion of their homosexual orientation or who ask for assistance in this matter."64

Youth are often not aware that they have the right to expect confidentiality from health professionals. A 1993 study of high school students in Massachusettsfound, for example, that over half had never discussed confidentiality with their health providers; two-thirds did not know that they had the right to confidential care.65

The right to confidentiality varies from profession to profession and from state to state. In particular, many states have "duty to warn" provisions that require health professionals to notify others when a client is at risk of harming himself or herself or others.

The need to protect youth from harm to themselves while maintaining confidentiality may present dilemmas for counselors. A Georgia counselor described one such case to us. "I had a ninth grader, he admitted some suicide ideation to me. He said, `The kids are calling me a wimp and some other things I can't say.' I explained that we'd have to call his dad and take him in for an assessment. You have to call the family in every case. The protocol calls for preventive intervention, some immediate intervention."66

"Outing" Students

We heard a number of instances in which counselors not only failed to discuss confidentiality with students but also disclosed their sexual orientation to their parents. Gail Goodman spoke to us about one case:

I took a call from one sixteen-year-old who came out to his counselor. The only other person he'd told was his friend in California. The counselor said, "I can't help you with that." After he left, the counselor called his mother to make sure she knew. The youth went home that night not knowing that he'd been outed to his parents. Sitting around the dinner table, his mother said to him, "I got a call from the school counselor today. We're not going to have any gay kids in this family." His father took him outside and beat him up.

People at the school found out and started harassing him. He became suicidal. Ultimately he was able to move in with a family in [a different city] and finish school there.

Goodman notes, "School counseling is my background. As a mental health professional, you have a duty to your client. You don't out a kid no matter what the school policy says."67

"Confidentiality needs to be heavily touched on for those working with trans youth. I've known people who were outed by counselors or teachers, those who they go to for support. They've been outed to the rest of the school community," another counselor told us. "It means that gender issues become the defining factor of who they are among their peers in school. Suddenly they're walking around and everybody knows them as `oh, that transsexual person.'"68

The practice of "outing" students to their parents or guardians runs counter to the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which advises that "[t]he gay or lesbian adolescent should be allowed to decide when and to whom to disclose his/her sexual identity."69 Disclosure under these circumstances also violates the ethical codes of the American School Counselor Association, the American Counseling Association, the National Board for Certified Counselors, and the National Association for Social Workers, all of which require confidentiality to be preserved unless disclosure is required to prevent "clear and imminent danger" or a similar level of harm.

In the case Goodman describes, disclosure of the student's sexual orientation was not only unnecessary to protect the student or others from any clear, imminent danger, it also put the youth at risk of harm. Caitlin Ryan and Donna Futterman advise:

Providers should be aware that the decision to disclose one's lesbian or gay identity, particularly to parents, may have long-term consequences. Most adolescents are dependent on parents for financial and emotional support. Although coming out can reduce stress and increase communication and intimacy in relationships, disclosure during adolescence may result in abandonment, rejection, or violence when parents abruptly learn or discover that their child is lesbian or gay.70

In addition, such actions violate the youth's basic right to privacy. "It's not like you can tell one person and have them keep it a secret," Dahlia P. notes. "I told a few and then everybody found out."71

Confidentiality is particularly important for youth who are survivors of assault, including sexual abuse and hate crimes. "Family and peer support are important resources for recovering from trauma; in many cases, an adolescent victim may not have `come out' previously to parents or peers," caution Caitlin Ryan and Donna Futterman. "Parents may react to the assault with anger and `blame the victim' if the adolescent's sexual orientation is initially disclosed as a result of the incident."72

Reflecting the importance of confidentiality, school policies should include a prohibition on disclosing students' sexual orientation or gender identity to their classmates, parents or guardians, or local communities.

32 Caitlin Ryan and Donna Futterman, "Lesbian and Gay Youth: Care and Counseling," Adolescent Medicine: State of the Art Reviews, vol. 8 (1997), p. 213. See also Michael Radkowsky and Lawrence J. Siegel, "The Gay Adolescent: Stressors, Adaptations, and Psychosocial Interventions," Clinical Psychology Review, vol. 17 (1997), p. 191.

33 Human Rights Watch interview, Orange County, California, October 21, 1999.

34 Human Rights Watch interview, Austin, Texas, March 15, 2000.

35 Human Rights Watch interview, Austin, Texas, March 15, 2000.

36 Human Rights Watch interview, Austin, Texas, March 15, 2000.

37 Human Rights Watch interview, Austin, Texas, March 15, 2000.

38 Human Rights Watch interview, Lubbock, Texas, March 21, 2000.

39 Human Rights Watch interview, Los Angeles, California, October 20, 1999.

40 See J.T. Sears, "Educators, Homosexuality, and Homosexual Students: Are Personal Feelings Related to Professional Beliefs?," Journal of Homosexuality, vols. 3/4 (1992), p. 29.

41 Human Rights Watch interview, Atlanta, Georgia, March 2, 2000.

42 Human Rights Watch interview, Atlanta, Georgia, December 14, 1999.

43 Human Rights Watch interview, Los Angeles County, California, October 21, 1999.

44 Human Rights Watch interview, Atlanta, Georgia, December 14, 1999.

45 See Sears, "Educators, Homosexuality, and Homosexual Students," p. 29.

46 The American School Counselor Association defines the school counselor's role as including the development of "comprehensive school counseling programs that promote and enhance student learning," noting that school counselors "are specialists in human behavior and relationships who provide assistance to students" by, among other means, meeting with students "individually and in small groups to help them resolve and cope constructively with their problems and developmental concerns." American School Counselor Association, "The Role of the Professional School Counselor," June 1999, www.schoolcounselor.org/ role.htm (accessed on November 30, 2000).

47 American School Health Association, "Gay and Lesbian Youth in School," 1997, in Compendium of Resolutions (Kent, Ohio: American School Health Association, August 1998), www.ashaweb.org/resolutions1.html (accessed on June 12, 2000).

48 Amy L. Reynolds and Michael J. Koski, "Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Teens and the School Counselor: Building Alliances," The High School Journal, vol. 77 (1993-94), p. 90.

49 See also American Psychological Association, Guidelines for Psychotherapy with Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Clients, Guideline 11, www.apa.org/pi/lgbc/publications/guidelines (accessed on January 23, 2001).

50 Human Rights Watch interview, Lubbock, Texas, March 21, 2000.

51 Human Rights Watch interview, San Francisco, California, January 27, 2000.

52 Human Rights Watch interview, San Francisco, California, January 28, 2000.

53 Human Rights Watch interview, Los Angeles, California, October 18, 1999.

54 Human Rights Watch interview, Bergen County, New Jersey, October 31, 1999.

55 Human Rights Watch interview, Los Angeles, California, October 18, 1999.

56 Human Rights Watch interview, San Francisco, California, January 27, 2000.

57 Human Rights Watch interview, Lubbock, Texas, March 21, 2000.

58 Michael W. Bahr, Barbara Brish, and James M. Croteau, "Addressing Sexual Orientation and Professional Ethics in the Training of School Psychologists in School and University Settings," School Psychology Review, vol. 29 (2000), p. 222.

59 Ryan and Futterman, "Lesbian and Gay Youth," p. 240.

60 American School Counselor, "Position Statement: The Professional School Counselor and Confidentiality," 1999, www.schoolcounselor.org/ethics/index.htm (accessed on December 14, 2000). See also American School Counselor Association, Ethical Standards for School Counselors, June 25, 1998, www.schoolcounselor.org/ethics/standards.htm (accessed on November 30, 2000).

61 See American Counseling Association Code of Ethics, section B, www.counseling.org/resources/codeofethics.htm (accessed on November 30, 2000); American Counseling Association Standards of Practice, section B, www.counseling.org/resources/codeofethics.htm (accessed on November 30, 2000); National Board for Certified Counselors Code of Ethics, October 31, 1997, sections B.4-B.8, www.nbcc.org/ethics/nbcc-code.htm (accessed on November 30, 2000).

62 See National Association of Social Workers, Standards for the Practice of Social Work with Adolescents, April 1993, Standard 9, www.naswdc.org/practice/standards/adolescents.htm (accessed on November 16, 2000). See also Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers, 1999, Ethical Standard 1.07(c), www.naswdc.org/Code/ethics.htm (accessed on November 16, 2000).

63 National Education Association, Code of Ethics of the Education Profession, 1975, Principle I-8, www.nea.org/aboutnea/code.html (accessed on June 12, 2000).

64 National Education Association, "Teaching and Counseling Gay and Lesbian Students," Human and Civil Rights Action Sheet (Washington, D.C.: NEA, 1994).

65 See T.L. Cheng et al., "Confidentiality in Health Care: A Survey of Knowledge, Perceptions, and Attitudes Among High School Students," Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 269 (1993), p. 1404.

66 Human Rights Watch interview, Atlanta, Georgia, December 14, 1999.

67 Human Rights Watch interview with Gail Goodman, executive director, Out Youth, Austin, Texas, March 14, 2000.

68 Human Rights Watch interview, San Francisco, California, January 28, 2000.

69 American Academy of Pediatrics, Statement on Homosexuality and Adolescence (1993), in Ryan and Futterman, "Lesbian and Gay Youth," p. 368.

70 Ryan and Futterman, "Lesbian and Gay Youth," p. 220.

71 Human Rights Watch interview, Austin, Texas, March 15, 2000.

72 Ryan and Futterman, "Lesbian and Gay Youth," p. 249.