BEST Lab research examines whether litigation is effective in reducing bias-based bullying

Litigation is a widely used tool for addressing stigma-based harms related to sexual orientation (e.g., Bostock v. Clayton County), race (e.g., Brown v. Board of Education) and sex/gender (e.g., Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins), among other status characteristics. While there is emerging evidence that litigation can change public attitudes towards stigmatized groups, the extent to which litigation affects stigmatizing behaviors remains largely untested. Addressing this question requires a unique data structure that combines information on the outcomes of multiple court cases with individual-level data on stigmatizing behaviors that have been repeatedly assessed in real-world settings. Because such a data structure did not exist, BEST Lab researchers and colleagues created one for this study. We did so by coding the outcomes of litigation addressing alleged violations of the rights of students who are (or are perceived to be) LGBT under laws prohibiting harassment or discrimination in California schools after 2000. We then linked these outcomes to survey data on homophobic bullying from 1,448,778 California high-school students in 499 schools. Using a quasi-experimental design, we found that for cases where the plaintiff (student) secured monetary and/or injunctive relief through settlement or court decision, there was a 23% reduction in the ratio of odds ratios of homophobic bullying in schools directly involved in the litigation, relative to schools that did not experience litigation. This effect size is comparable to resource-intensive, school-based bullying interventions. Further, these benefits of litigation “spilled over” into schools in the same district as the schools experiencing litigation. However, homophobic bullying slightly increased in the school and district where the defendant (school) avoided adverse legal consequences, suggesting potential backlash. Taken together, these results suggest that litigation may reduce homophobic bullying, depending on the outcome of the case. These findings set the stage for future studies to evaluate the consequences of different litigation efforts aimed at redressing stigma-based harms among youth.