The U.S. Department of Education released the final rule to Title IX today. The rule explicitly provides protections for LGBTQI+ students from discrimination, harassment, and assault based on their sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics in educational programs that receive federal funding. However, the regulations leave some issues unresolved, including transgender sports participation. 

This rule protects an estimated 3.6 million students in the U.S. who identify as LGBT, including about 300,000 who identify as transgender. Several Williams Institute studies have documented widespread and pervasive harassment and bullying of LGBTQ+ students at school A recent study found that one-third of LGBTQ people experienced bullying, harassment, or assault at college, compared to 19% of non-LGBTQ people.

Using U.S. Census data and climate risk assessment data from NASA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), our new report finds same-sex couples are at greater risk of experiencing the adverse effects of climate change compared to different-sex couples. LGBT people in same-sex couple households disproportionately live in coastal areas and cities and areas with poorer infrastructure and less access to resources, making them more vulnerable to climate hazards.

The latest findings from the U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study finds that the majority of adult offspring of lesbian parents had a consistent gender identity and sexual orientation from adolescence (age 17) through emerging adulthood (age 25) to adulthood (ages 30-33). The paper was published this month in Sexuality Research and Social Policy.

Research on this same group of offspring has shown that they develop in a healthy manner and possess efficient coping skills to deal with stigmatization.

- Nanette Gartrell, M.D., study author and NLLFS Principal Investigator 

Thank you to everyone who joined us on April 5 for our Annual Update Conference, The Golden State of LGBTQ Rights: California’s Role in Advancing LGBTQ Policy. We were honored to hear from three panels of experts discussing California as both a microcosm of issues playing out on the national level and a policy innovator in protecting LGBTQ+ rights. If you missed the conference, you can watch all of them below or on our website.

Featuring panels on the state of LGBTQ policy in California and speakers from ACLU Southern California, the Movement Advancement Project and more!

The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law is an academic research institute dedicated to conducting rigorous, independent research on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy.