During the spring of 2015, the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) student group at HS high school will participate in a photovoice project to better understand gender and sexual minority (GSM) youth experiences at the school and advocate for a more inclusive environment for these populations. Compared to their cisgender or heterosexual peers, GSM adolescents are more likely to engage in risky behavior and experience poor health outcomes. GSM youth experience high rates of tobacco and other drug use, suicide, self-harm, sexually transmitted infections, and physical and sexual violence (Saewyc, 2011; Davis, Stafford, & Pullig, 2014; Goodenow, 2006). GSM youth experience discrimination in the form of homophobia and transphobia on all levels of the social context (Saewyc, 2011; Kuper, Coleman, & Mustanksi, 2013; Heck, Flentje, & Cochran, 2013). Many GSM youth experience some form of internalized homophobia and transphobia and shame around their identities (Kuper et al., 2013). Programs working with GSM youth often focus solely on the internal shame of GSM youth rather than focusing on their social environments. GSM youth are constantly weighing the benefits and consequences of disclosing their identity to others for fear of rejection, harassment, or violence (Kuper et al., 2013; Klein et al., 2014). Therefore, GSM youth more often experience fear of stigmatization and discrimination rather than feel shame about their identities (Klein et al., 2014). GSM youth experience high rates of discrimination and harassment within the school context. According to a 2013 National School Climate Survey conducted by Kocsiw, Greytak, Palmer, and Boesen (2014), 95% of the GSM youth in North Carolina had heard the word "gay" used in a negative way, 87% had heard other homophobic remarks (e.g., dyke, fag), and 81% heard negative remarks about gender expression. GSAs are student groups that provide social and emotional support to GSM students and their allies as well as advocate to create a more 2 inclusive and safe school environment (Heck et al., 2013; Mayberry, Chenneville, & Currie, 2011). The photovoice project described in this master's paper will collaborate with a GSA in a rural county in North Carolina to challenge the homophobia and transphobia in their school and wider community. Photovoice is a community-based participatory research method in which participants use photography to explore problems that affect their community and develop action steps to address those problems (Wang & Burris, 1997). The GSA will use a modified version of photovoice to 1.) Identify the unique challenges that GSM students at their high school experience, 2.) Create awareness on the homophobia and transphobia that exist within the school, and 3.) Enhance group cohesion and establish projects to continue to challenge the silence surrounding these issues in the school and community at large.Master of Public Healt
