Does Gender and Sexual Diversity Lead to Greater Conflict in the School? (Discussion Paper)

This paper analyzes the relationship between the presence of LGBTQI students in the class-room and the prevalence of violence in the school setting. We rely on a representative sample of secondary schools in Uruguay and exploit variation in the share of LGBTQI students across classrooms to study how their presence affects the individual experience of violence. Our results show little support for the contact hypothesis: a larger share of LGBTQI students in the classroom has no impact on the individual experience of violence. On the contrary, a greater share of female LGBTQI students in the classroom is associated with greater psychological and physical violence among girls, irrespective of their gender identity or sexual orientation.