Perceptions of sexual diversity among school-aged adolescents in the city of Cuenca

Abstract

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are a minority group, whose recognition awakens emotional reactions, perceptions and attitudes; the majority with negative tendence. The perceptions and attitudes of rejection are due in large part to the prejudice against this group, which often leads to a stigmatization of LGBT people. Assessment of the perceptions of adolescents towards LGBT individuals was the main purpose of the research. A survey, consisting of a series of qualitative and quantitative questions offering the surveyed people the possibility of providing to the questions personal comments and observations, was applied to 1130 college students and 31 teachers. The students in general stated that it is incorrect mistreating LGBT people. They strongly perceive that family, school and especially the society as hostile environments for LGBT. Moreover, most of the surveyed adolescents expressed serious concern that if they were LGBT, they would worry about the emotional reaction of family, friends, teachers and peers. In the worst case, they even expect being rejected by friends and peers, experience pressure from their family to change attitude, and likely be confronted by an indifferent attitude of their teachers as the latter usually seldom care about the personal situation of students. Given the widespread public opinion and the risk to become the target of strong negative attitudes some adolescents stated to be very reluctant to make public their sexual orientation. It is believed that for achieving social equity for LGBT people one has to work towards the liberation for the broader society from sexual oppression, requiring the initiation of a series of activities, such as the initiation of educational programs aiming de-ligitimization of the prejudice and the opening of people’s mind.