Claim Your Rights

If you have experienced bullying, harassment, or discrimination in school because of sexual orientation or gender identity, you’re not alone. According to GLSEN, approximately 85% of high school students report being harassed in school because of their real or perceived sexual orientation and 64% of students report being harassed for being too masculine or too feminine.

State protections are sorely lacking, and only 18% of LGBTQ students report that their schools have policies which offer comprehensive protections. It’s clear that many school communities are in desperate need for a way to address bullying, harassment and discrimination of LGBTQ students.

So what can we do to protect the rights of LGBTQ students in our school communities? We can take action to ensure that reports are being collected to make the case for laws and policies that will address this issue, but we need your help. You can start by downloading the Claim Your Rights Fact Sheet for your youth group or school. Give a copy to your school administrators.

Common Questions

What Should I Know About Filing a Report?

There are a few important things to know about filing a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Education:

• You are entitled to file a bullying, harassment, or discrimination claim with the OCR.
• A complaint must be filed within 180 days of when the discrimination or bullying and harassment occurred.
• Your confidentiality is assured. Every claim remains confidential and will not be shared without permission.
• The person making the complaint doesn’t have to be the one who experienced the bullying, harassment, or discrimination. A third party (friend, family member or school faculty) can file the complaint.
• It’s safe. The school cannot retaliate against anyone who has made a complaint, or testified, assisted, or participated in any manner in an investigation or proceeding under Title IX.
• You must fill out the entire form, since your claim will be delayed or dismissed if it’s incomplete.

What is Title IX, and how is it Relevant?

Nearly every public school that receives federal funding is protected under Title IX. Title IX prohibits harassment directed at an LGBTQ student that is sexual in nature, and also prohibits gender-based harassment, including protections for gender expansive students who don’t conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity and femininity. However, Title IX does not explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, so it's important to report "sex" as one of the bases for discrimination. Learn more about Title IX.

What is the Office for Civil Rights?

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the Department of Education enforces Title IX. If you have been or you know of someone who is the victim of bullying, harassment, or discrimination in school you should file a complaint with the OCR. Learn more about the Department of Education.

Are there OCR offices near me?

The Office for Civil Rights has field offices in 12 states across the country. You can contact them--or the main office--as follows:

Why is My Report Important?

We can’t fix what we don’t know. Your report helps us measure, and combat, anti-LGBT bullying and harassment. It helps us make our nation’s schools safer spaces for everyone.

What Should an Office for Civil Rights Complaint Include?

The Office for Civil Rights investigates Title IX claims of bullying, harassment, or discrimination on the basis of actual or perceived sex, race, color, religion, national origin or disability. Not, it bears repeating, on the basis of sexual orientation. That means that your complaint will need to address the intersection between discrimination based on sexual orientation/gender identity and the classes protected under Title IX: the perception that a student is too masculine or too feminine, or doesn’t conform to stereotypes based on how they dress, their mannerisms, their speech patterns, or their choice of extracurricular activities. 

Reports can be filed online at http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/complaintintro.html, or you can fill out this form and send it in to the Office of Civil Rights by mail, fax, or email.

I Filed a Report. What Next?

When the Office for Civil Rights finds that bullying, harassment, or discrimination has occurred, they work with the school to develop a voluntary agreement that requires the school to take steps to restore a nondiscriminatory environment. Those steps include, but are not limited to:

• Informing schools of their obligation to provide a nondiscriminatory environment
• Helping schools adopt effective anti-bullying policies, staff and student trainings, to address the incidents in question
• Issuing guidance calculated to stop bullying, harassment, or discrimination when it occurs and prevent recurrence
• Enforcing compliance in cases raising sexual harassment issues
• Providing technical assistance in tandem with state and local education and law enforcement agencies, as well as students and their parents, to help educational institutions improve their anti-bullying policies and procedures

In the unlikely event that a voluntary resolution is not obtained, Office for Civil Rights may suspend, terminate, or refuse to grant or continue to administer federal funding to the school, or may refer the case to the Department of Justice, which can in turn take legal action on your behalf to determine and enforce your legal rights.

What if I Need More Help?

Contact Diego Sanchez, Director of Policy at PFLAG National
Phone: (202) 467-8180 ext. 221
Email: [email protected]

Contact Nathan Smith, Director of Public Policy, GLSEN
Phone: (202) 621-5815
Email: [email protected]