One way to do this is with small businesses, which are an important part of any community. We want to help celebrate those spaces of belonging and make them easier to find. Finding those spaces has often been hard for the LGBTQ+ community. This brief describes those issues, presents concrete policy recommendations, and then offers model statutory code language to implement many of those recommendations.There’s little that compares to the feeling of walking into a place and being immediately comfortable-your shoulders loosen, your breathing slows, you physically relax, knowing you can be yourself. Court records and academic research reveal a highly troubling pattern of mistreatment, negative consequences, and a dramatic failure on the part of many educational institutions to adequately address LGBT-related issues and concerns. Gay and gender-non-conforming students continue to be confronted with challenges that can become overwhelming. Advances in law and policy have helped lead to much more fulfilling and productive lives for many LGBT persons, but the problems facing LGBT youth in America‘s public schools are still substantial. In part because of this, the suicide rate for LGBT students continues to be 3-4 times higher than that of their straight counterparts, and in some parts of the country LGBT runaways may comprise up to 40% of the entire teen homeless population. Far too often teachers and administrators do nothing in response. Over 85% report being harassed because of their sexual or gender identity, and over 20% report being physically attacked. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students face a unique set of safety concerns each day.

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