LGBTQ Youth and Education

Cris Mayo is professor and director of the Interdisciplinary Studies in Education master’s degree in the Department of Education at the University of Vermont.

Contents


Series Foreword James A. Banks ix


Acknowledgments xv


Introduction 1

Necessary Tensions 5

Layers of Responsibility and Professional Resources for Nondiscrimination 9

Students’ Rights to Expression, Privacy, and Association 13

Preparing Teachers and Leaders to Be Advocates 16


1.  Background to LGBTQ Movements for Equality With a Focus on K–12-Related Issues 19

Key Definitions, Often in Flux and Contested 22

Opening the Subject of Sexuality and Gender Through Theory, History, and Political Movements 24

Overlapping Histories of LGBTQ Movements 27

Schools and the Histories of Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation 34


2.  Thinking Through Biases and Assumptions About LGBTQ People 37

Gender as Process 37

Sexuality, Normalcy, and Intersecting Differences 41

Transphobia in Schools 46

Queer Relationalities 49


3.  Specific School-Related Challenges Facing LGBTQ Students 52

Intersecting Harassments and Biases 53

LGBTQ Youth and the Challenges of Accessing Education 56

Resituating “Bullying” in Sexual Harassment 57

Another Form of “Not” Education: “You Can’t Say Gay” Policies 60

Recognizing Family Diversity: LGBTQ-Headed Households and School Exclusion 62

Living in Families Under Public Debate: Legal and Social Contexts 64


4.  Educatively Addressing LGBTQ Issues 66

Zero Tolerance and Exacerbating Distance 66

Sex and Non-Sex 71

Critical Queer Thinking and Queer Disciplines 73

Religious Tensions 77

Teaching and Learning for Ethical Relations 79


5.  Supporting Student Extracurricular and Creative Efforts to Educate Schools on LGBTQ Issues 83

Gay-Straight Alliances/Gender and Sexuality Alliances and Associations Across Difference 83

Gay-Straight Alliances and the Equal Access Act 86

Attempts to Restrict Gay-Straight Alliances 88

The Day of Silence: Resistance and Reconciliation (Hopefully) 90

LGBTQ Youth and Public Spaces 92


6.  Recognizing and Respecting Transgender Students 95

Learning About Gender 96

Anti-Transgender Rules From the School Board 100

Administrator Refusal of Family and Physician-Supported Affirmation 101

Watching Teachers Debate Transgender Issues 102

Transgender Students’ Resistance and Resourcefulness 104

Intersections and Transgender Theory 107


Conclusion: Unsettled Progress 111


References 113


Index 127


About the Author 137