We have the nation's first openly gay head of government, new Chief Minister Andrew Barr, and the ACT blazed a trail with last year's short-lived same-sex marriage equality legislation.

Having vowed to use his position to continue to advocate for same-sex marriage rights, Mr Barr's long-standing advocacy for equality for gay and lesbian Canberrans appears to be having a tangible trickle-down benefit for the territory's youth.

In today's Sunday Canberra Times, members of the Belconnen Community Centre's Bit Bent group speak frankly about the difficulties that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer students face at school.

Their courage in revealing some of their deepest, darkest thoughts on their struggles with their sexuality is to be applauded but the torment some of them say they have suffered makes for heart-breaking reading.

One former student suffered a broken cheek bone, others were subjected to sustained verbal abuse and physical harassment and violence were a constant.

The emotional and mental health ramifications have been significant.

Young same-sex-attracted Australians are six times more likely to commit suicide than heterosexual people, while up to 50 per cent of transgendered people have attempted suicide at least once.

The average age of a first suicide attempt for same-sex attracted people is 16, before coming out.

The five young Canberrans who talk today about their turbulent teenage years reveal - perhaps unsurprisingly - that school was the most likely place where abuse took place.

The ACT roll-out of the Safe Schools Coalition program, which is long overdue given that it launched in Victoria four years ago, is designed to combat institutionalised homophobia and transphobia.

Rather than treating LGBTIQ students as different or an anomaly, as some of the young people we feature today say is a social norm in ACT schools, the program seeks to integrate training and strategies into curriculums and thereby foster open and supportive attitudes.

It is expected to launch in the first school term but, disappointingly, only a handful of schools have expressed interest.

If the experiences of our five interview subjects reveal anything, it is that support from educators is decidedly lacking in this area.

Teachers need to be given the tools, resources and training to ensure they are more inclusive of same-sex-attracted, intersex and gender-diverse students.

It is important that issues relating to sexuality and identity are acknowledged as a major part of every young person's development.

Our schools must recognise the problems faced by LGBTIQ students, and they have an obligation to all of their students to be seen to be tackling the problem head on. Signing up for the Safe Schools Coalition program would be a good start.