If growing up in America today is like traveling a rocky road, growing up gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender is like traveling through a minefield. Nowhere are the dangers more real and the pressures greater than in our schools, where GLBT students are at the center of a number of controversial, emotionally charged issues.

An overview of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) students in our schools—what they endure, their special needs, and the programs and groups that support them.

Diverse Sexuality and Schools: A Reference Handbook is an eye-opening report on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender youth in our schools—the isolation they feel, the hostilities they face, their unique developmental and emotional needs, and the innovative ways schools, communities, and organizations are working to support them.

Author David Campos offers a compelling, often harrowing, tour of the lives of GLBT students, including what researchers have learned over the past half-century and what the schools, the courts, and the government are doing to keep them safe regardless of their sexual orientation. But perhaps the book's greatest impact comes from the way Campos gives voice to this often neglected population, providing a forum for these students' painful testimonies of harassment, violence, and despair.

• Directory of organizations, associations, and government agencies associated with GLBT youth
• Comprehensive introductory chapter providing an overview of terms and definitions, historical and legal perspectives, and demographics of the GLBT youth population