The aim of this paper is to bring together concepts and commitments from both liberal and queer theories with the purpose of designing an integrated framework for equity-focused education policy analysis and implementation. In essence, we aim to build a conceptual bridge between queer and liberal democratic theories and to develop what we call a…

For nearly 2 decades, lawsuits filed on behalf of students who have endured anti-queer bias in schools have resulted in favorable verdicts and settlements for the plaintiffs, thus spurring an increasing number of school districts across the United States to establish antidiscrimination policies and other initiatives to protect students from…

This essay examines a video poem curriculum for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) students of color at a continuation school in Los Angeles, California. In this close reading of a video poem that draws from a larger research project of a community-based learning curriculum, I have found that for LGBTQ students of color whose…

"Testimonio," as a genre of the dispossessed, the migrant, and the queer, is a response to larger discourses of nation-building and has the potential to undermine the larger narratives that often erase and make invisible the expendable and often disposable labor and experiences of immigrants, the working class, African Americans, and…

What's it like for Black male students who are openly gay or "gender non-conforming" to navigate the social geography of urban schools? In the tradition of critical ethnographies of schooling, Lance T. McCready mobilizes feminist theories of intersectionality to explore the voices of Black gay male students and their teachers in a…

Recent reports suggest that historically typical sexual identity labels--"gay," "lesbian" and "bisexual"--have lost meaning and relevance for contemporary adolescents. Yet there is little empirical evidence that contemporary teenagers are "post-gay." In this brief study we investigate youths' sexual identity…

This study discusses student responses to curriculum taught by the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles to choral students in local high schools. The Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles's A-LIVE Music Project brings live music and standards-driven curriculum to high school youth with the express purpose of teaching content in innovative ways and…

Existing knowledge and beliefs related to HIV vaccines provide an important basis for the development of risk communication messages to support future HIV vaccine dissemination. This study explored HIV vaccine mental models among adults from segments of the population disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. Nine focus groups were conducted with…

Focusing on Jaime Hernandez's "Locas: The Maggie and Hopey Stories," part of the "Love and Rockets" comic series, I argue that the graphic landscape of this understudied comic offers an illustration of the theories of space in relation to race, gender, and sexuality that have been critical to understandings of Chicana…

In the field of positive youth development programs, "empowerment" is used interchangeably with youth activism, leadership, civic participation and self-efficacy. However, few studies have captured what empowerment means to young people in diverse contexts. This article explores how youth define and experience empowerment in youth-led…

As a white, working middle-class adult queer from the Southwest USA, my subjective relation to the Mexican (im)migrant, poor, working, straight adolescent boys in California participating in my study was tentative, politicized, controversial, and surveilled from both social and individual lenses. Our relationships were also mutually caring,…

This study, focused on five transgender and gay youth of color from San Francisco, explored how family problems, poverty, homophobia, and transphobia propelled them into homelessness and made gay-friendly spaces and resources especially meaningful to them. These young people describe seeking support in San Francisco's well-known gay enclave, the…

This study develops a model for sexual orientation education at a religiously affiliated university that both respects the university's mission and promotes respect for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered individuals. This model fosters the ethical school as described by Robert Starratt, embracing diversity, promoting justice and caring, and…

This study compared 55 men and 78 women who had same-sex marriages in Massachusetts, 101 men and 120 women who had domestic partnerships in California, and 35 men and 86 women who had civil unions in Vermont, all in 2004. Couples were surveyed on demographic and relationship information, conflict, contact with family of origin, social support,…

Access and equity for all students in California colleges and universities is a high priority of the California Postsecondary Education Commission. Over the past year, CPEC staff have reviewed research, collected data, convened an advisory committee, and hosted a panel of experts, students, and advocates on the issues faced by lesbian, gay,…