Presently, there is a political attack on LGBTQ+ individuals, especially in southern states. In 2022, six southern states (Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas) enacted laws that prohibit discussing LGBTQ+ students or issues within P-12 schools. These laws perpetuate heteronormativity and create intolerant and unsafe…

By 1982, the queer student group at the University of Florida (UF) had gained official recognition and space on campus. However, in 1987 they decided to remove themselves from university life. The group reemerged in 1991 with the assistance of a new, quietly radical entity--The UF Committee on Sexism and Homophobia. Anchored by the oral histories…

Fruitfully grappling with the complexity of contemporary issues of social justice in education requires intimate knowledge of their historical roots. This historical case study, anchored by the oral histories of queer activists, is designed to reveal the complex inner-workings of a queer rights movement amongst faculty, staff, and students in an a…

Contemporary youth are increasingly engaging in coming out prior to the formation of concrete sexual identities. They are coming out with an "affinity:" affirming to themselves and expressing to others that "I like girls" or "I like boys." This study centers on the experiences of 13 individuals who all came out with…

This historical work chronicles the emergence of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and queer (LGBTQ) student visibility at the University of Florida from 1970 to 1982. It focuses on the establishment of an LGBTQ student group and student reactions to queer visibility. This work relies heavily on the student newspaper for the student…

Researchers have well documented how campus climate has affected students. The campus climate has affected a student's ability to persist through college and ultimately has impacted his or her entire life. Many campus climate studies have been conducted at universities, and most of these studies have focused on racial climate implications. The…

The purpose of this attitudinal study is to investigate the role that social studies methods courses in Florida play in examining controversial issues with their pre-service teachers. Five research questions established the parameters for the investigation of pre-service teachers' attitudes toward the use of controversial issues through the…

A decade after Kinsey published his famous studies on sexuality, a special legislative committee in Florida targeted gay and lesbian teachers in an investigation that led to the dismissal and loss of credentials for scores of educators. The Florida purge of 1959-1964 remains without parallel in educational history in terms of its intensity and…

The author discusses the content included in an online course on "Multicultural Materials for Young Adults and Children." This graduate course (LIS 5937) for Library and information Science students at the University of South Florida, is a very popular offering for those who plan to work with youth in libraries. The class teaches…