A few weeks ago, I shared the work of a terrific group of young people at a Chicago-based organization called Gender Just in a post titled “For Many Marginalized Youth It Does Not Get Better.” This was written in response to Dan Savage’s laudable “It Gets Better” campaign to highlight the fact that LGBTQ youth are confronted by an inordinate amount of systemic violence.

A few days ago a friend shared this terrific video with me which extends the points made by the youth at Gender Just. I think that it is so important that we hear the voices of LGBTQ youth in our communities. They are disproportionately represented in juvenile detention and on the streets. I am thrilled to see that this particular campaign is underway.

Reteaching Gender and Sexuality from PUT THIS ON THE MAP on Vimeo.

Just today, a new study suggests that:

Gay and lesbian teens in the United States are about 40 percent more likely than their straight peers to be punished by schools, police and the courts, according to a study published Monday, which finds that girls are especially at risk for unequal treatment.

The research, described as the first national look at sexual orientation and teen punishment, comes as a spate of high-profile bullying and suicide cases across the country have focused attention on the sometimes hidden cruelties of teen life.

The study, from Yale University, adds another layer, finding substantial disparities between gay and straight teens in school expulsions, arrests, convictions and police stops. The harsher approach is not explained by differences in misconduct, the study says.

“The most striking difference was for lesbian and bisexual girls, and they were two to three times as likely as girls with similar behavior to be punished,” said Kathryn Himmelstein, lead author of the study, published in the journal Pediatrics.

I have said this before but it is critical that we gain a much better understanding of the mechanisms that push youth from the cradle to prisons. This type of study adds another important layer of understanding to this process. LGBTQ young people are disproportionately impacted by the school to prison pipeline and now we have some empirical data to support this anecdotal reality.

For more information about the study, click here.