This paper reports on a qualitative narrative study that captures the experiences of LGBT [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender] school leaders along the U.S.-Mexican border in relation towards their journey in becoming a school leader and their occurrences within their practice. I analyze this issue through a queer theory framework and through…

Evidenced by the lack of research considering queer students, mathematics education researchers are continuing to marginalize the experiences of queer youth and the only resolution is to center the queer student experience in the mathematics context. To accomplish this, I choose to dwell in the borderlands between queer theory and mathematics not…

Despite significant shifts in American politics and society, LGBTQ students remain a vulnerable population. Teacher allies are essential to LGBTQ students' support and success. However, little research explores the contradictions that teachers experience in and the complexities inherent in forging ally identities. This four-year longitudinal…

Framed by a queer theoretical perspective on the problem of heteronormativity in schools, this qualitative case study traces one teacher's journey of cultivating and enacting commitments to affirming gender and sexual diversity as she moved across contexts of teacher preparation and in-service teaching. Data informing analysis were collected over…

In this online ethnography, I studied marching band identity by examining marching band enthusiasts' and music educators' responses on music teacher professional forums, Twitter, blogs, and other online media, to sports commentator Jim Rome's tweets describing marching band members as "dorks." Using a framework of alterity--or the…

This paper explores the possibility of fashioning a queer methodology for educational research through analysis of three research studies. It begins with the question of queer visibility, asking about the ethics and utility of remaining closeted vs. disclosing one's identity. It then explores the question of researcher subjectivity and of putting…

This presentation is premised on a research study that was conducted with a group of secondary teachers. The study examined how teachers grappled with issues surrounding homophobia and heterosexism in their schools. For the purpose of this presentation, some of the findings from this study have been applied to the college campus. Specifically, the…

Recent studies show that those lesbians and gays who are comfortable and "out" with their identities exhibit better psychological adjustment than those who are unaccepting and hidden. This paper explores the experiences of bisexuals within the gay and lesbian movement and shows how what is known about sexual orientation and the development of a…

This paper is a part of a larger study involving the way gay youth experience American public high schools. The study is focused on gay males, not lesbian or bisexual youths. The paper is divided into three sections: (1) public high schools as an organization in terms of structure and beliefs; (2) sexualized context of the high school in terms of…

In this culture a person's sexual identity falls into one of four groups: heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, and asexual. Essentialism assumes that one is fixed with a core identity of either heterosexual or homosexual. Constructionism posits that categories of sexuality are constructed to meet the needs of a particular culture, society, and/or…

This paper discusses the importance of teaching issues related to sexual identity in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) classrooms, highlighting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) individuals. Though the paper focuses on postsecondary students, much of the material can apply to other settings with modification. The paper looks at the…

This paper examines the research in the area of teachers' attitudes, practices, and beliefs about gay and lesbian issues in education, focusing on homosexuality because although there is some overlap in regards to both the population and the issues, the differences between gay and transgendered issues add another layer of complexity to an already…

This paper describes how an ethnographer proceeded in a study of group identify, voice, and participation in the greater culture of gay and bisexual college men at a large research university. The researcher, himself a heterosexual man, conceptualized the investigation as a crossing of cultural borders. The investigator initially attended several…

This paper describes some problems one teacher has had trying to develop a feminist pedagogy for a composition class that does not elide sexual orientation as an identity facet in the classroom. The paper focuses on two essays, Mary Elliot's "Coming Out in the Classroom: A Return to the Hard Place" (1996) and Susan Jarratt's…

An English professor used science fiction to introduce his students to a range of questions about alternative sexualities. While a course proposal for a science fiction class being taught as a "diversity offering" with an emphasis on gender and sexual orientation was working its way through the bureaucracy at Pennsylvania State…