ABSTRACT
Research has demonstrated that LGBTQ individuals, including staff and students in schools, are exposed to micro-aggressions which perpetuate heterosexism and exclude those with LGBTQ+ identities. Parental protests against LGBTQ+ curricula in the United Kingdom in recent years have created a hostile climate for LGBTQ+ inclusion in schools. Although legislation is meant to protect the rights of individuals who are LGBTQ+, evidence demonstrates that LGBTQ+ young people continue to be not always safe in schools. Sixty-four countries have laws that continue to criminalize homosexuality and in some of these countries homosexuality is punishable with lengthy prison sentences. Shockingly, the death penalty is the legally prescribed punishment for same-sex sexual acts in Brunei, Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and in some northern states of Nigeria. In five countries, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Qatar, Somalia, and the United Arab Emirates, there is no legal clarity, and the death penalty could be applied. Thirty-three countries in the world recognize same-sex marriages, and thirty-four others provide for some partnership recognition for same-sex couples.
