Breaking Down the Binary: School Nurse Exposure to Lgbtq+ Curricula and Training

School nurses are uniquely positioned to provide LGBTQ students with a safe, respectful space free of stigma and marginalization, but often lack the resources and training to do so. Only 30.1% of LGBTQ students reported that they feel somewhat comfortable/comfortable with a school nurse (Kosciw, Greytak, Zongrone, Clark & Truong, 2018). While research examining LGBTQ students in the context of school, public health and healthcare is plentiful, very few studies have focused specifically on school nurses. This qualitative, narrative study found that school nurses upheld classical medical models of identity development, and that health office has become a "safe space," for many LGBTQ students, largely in part to the single use gender neutral bathroom. Findings from this study suggest that allyship can increase when nurses are given proper culturally responsive training, and school districts and school nurse certification programs provide practice-based methods and training increase when nurses are given proper culturally responsive training, and school districts and school nurse certification programs provide practice-based methods and training.