Amidst political and educational challenges, LGBTQ+ educators in the Southern United States often conceal their identities. Through the lens of ecological systems theory, we propose that inconsistent pedagogical paradigms create a sense of liminality for these LGBTQ+ stakeholders. This study of four school personnel highlights the silencing of…

This article describes a study that investigated preservice teachers' understandings and self-efficacy related to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ) students and families. The preservice teachers indicated a broad range of understandings in relation to LGBTQ terms. They reported a relatively high sense of self-efficacy in…

One strategy used to teach about diverse populations is to edit their curricular representations to minimize their transgressive nature in an effort to gain more acceptance among students. This article explores the implications of these assimilationist narratives when used in educator preparation programs to represent LGBTQ people. It examines the…

Higher education educators commonly understand social identities, including gender, to be fluid and dynamic. Lev's (2004) model of four components of sexual identity is commonly used to demonstrate the fluidity of sex, gender, and sexuality for individuals, but it does little to address the fixedness of those constructs. Through a multipronged…

This article offers insights on how students experienced and made sense of their learning in a trimester-long high school Gay and Lesbian Literature course. Drawing on questionnaires and interviews that the students completed as part of a larger ethnographic study of this class, the author shows how a queer-themed literature curriculum is relevant…

To fight homophobia in schools in Québec, many teachers rely on community organizations such as the Groupe de Recherche et d'Intervention Sociale (Research and Social Intervention Group) to address sexual diversity in class. This article documents major outcomes of these workshops as seen by students. Students identified topics related to…

This qualitative study explored the classroom experiences of 25 LGBTQ students with disabilities at a research-intensive university. Drawing on critical/postmodern epistemologies and concepts from both queer theory and disability studies, this article details students' experiences in the university classroom related to their multiple, intersecting…

Adolescents with disabilities who identify as a sexual or gender minority are at high risk for negative school experiences and poor outcomes, including peer rejection, bullying, and dropping out. Using an intersectionality framework, this study examined how multiple marginalized identities influence sense of self and school experience for this…

Negotiation of identity development in adolescence has implications that affect overall well-being. Spirituality and sexuality are two salient aspects of identity that are challenging for adolescents, especially those who identify as LGBT. Analysis of intersecting themes across two research inquiries indicated that school counselors and students…

Over an 8-year span, two survey studies were conducted to analyze LGBT -teachers' perceptions of their school climate and the impact of school leaders on that climate. This article presents nonparametric, descriptive, and qualitative results of the National Survey of Educators' Perceptions of School Climate 2011 compared with survey results from…

Albeit growing in number, lesbian mothers and their children remain a statistical minority in schools. Lesbian mothers in this study described their families as "normal" or "just like any other family." From the perspective of queer theory, normal is a socially constructed and insidious concept. This study analyzes both the strategies participants…