Sameer Jha is Teaching Educators to Fight Back Against LGBTQ+ Based Bullying
Growing up in Freemont, California, Sameer Jha, 20, was bullied for being feminine. "I faced a lot of homophobic slurs and bullying and that was really my only source of understanding what the LGBTQ+ community was," Sameer told Seventeen. It wasn't until Sameer transferred for high school that they started to meet LGBTQ+ students and even teachers. Sameer joined the new school's Gender & Sexualities Alliance Club and eventually realized that they identified as queer. Now, Sameer's goal is to make sure that no student faces the bullying that they experienced growing up. Through their non-profit, Empathy Alliance and book, Read This, Save Lives, Sameer is working to not only expand LGBTQ+ education in school, but also make sure that the classrooms and hallways of the US school system become a place of acceptance rather than hate.
What inspired you to write your book?
I really wanted a book that could be for any level of teacher anywhere, from a rural part of the south that has no exposure to LGBTQ+ identities to a teacher at a public school in San Francisco that has a lot. At any level, teachers are staffed to make school safe and inclusive. So, I wanted this teachers' guide to be accessible, but also really targeted to helping students, not coddling teachers. I wanted it to say, "This is what we need from you. This is what will save students lives." I felt like the best way to do that was not to come at it from of a preaching aspect, but more from a personal level. So, I wrote my story as well as everything that I learned throughout my journey of changing schools and transforming school climates. The small steps that you can take to make schools safer and more inclusive. If you have a teacher who's willing to stand up and say, "This classroom is a safe space for students," that already changes a school's climate. Research shows that even the presence of a GSA club, regardless of how many students are actually in it, increases LGBTQ+ acceptance at that school. So, it's really small things. It doesn't take a lot, but small things can really transform schools and save student lives.
What is a major goal of yours?
For me, the biggest thing is that schools should be a place where every child feels safe. There's so much going on in school. There's tests, there's quizzes, there's friend drama. Students don't need another layer of homophobic or transphobic bullying. That's not something that should be present at schools. I do think bullying is something that is talked about in school, but this specific cause of bullying is often glossed over or even purposefully ignored. So, really, I think there's no excuse for schools to not provide a safe and welcoming environment for every single child.
What has been your biggest victory?
There's a lot of stuff that I feel lucky to be able to do on a national level, but I think, what was most impactful was the first thing that I did when I got started in all of this, which was going back to my middle school where I faced bullying.
I went back and talked to the principal about what I experienced there, about all the homophobic language that teachers never interrupted or stopped. I talked about the physical bullying I'd faced that no one ever told me was not OK. The school was surprised and also incredibly receptive to the idea of making a change. I worked with them to start a GSA club. We were really nervous to see if anyone was going to show up. This was a school in which homophobic bullying is so rampant and no one is really out, but we put up posters and made announcements that there was going to be this club happening and, in the end, we couldn't even fit everyone in the room that we had booked. It was incredible to see that just a small action like that made such a big difference and gave students a voice and space to be themselves.
What is a major goal of yours?
I think there's this misconception that the fight for LGBTQ+ acceptance is over. Even really well meaning people think, OK, we have same sex marriage, we're done, it's equal now. I think there's still a lot that's misunderstand. There are so many states in which discrimination is still allowed, where there are no laws against LGBTQ+ discrimination. Across the country if a school doesn't get federal funding—so private schools or religious schools—they're allowed to not accept students on the basis of sexuality or gender. In many states teachers can get fired for being LGBTQ+. Conversion therapy is still allowed in some states. There are so many battles that are still being faced, especially now. So, I think it's a misconception that we're done fighting, that the battle is over, because there's really still so much more to be done and we still really need the continued support of our allies.
Answers have been edited and shortened for clarity.
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