This article reports findings from a week of enrichment placements framed around 'diversity' within a secondary Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programme in England. The authors outline the demographics of the county -- a largely rural, White county in the East Midlands of England -- and describe the challenges this presents for ITE. A…

Based on interviews, focus groups, and observations for the duration of a 6-week high school summer enrichment program, this article considers the ways that having a visible trans faculty member shaped other teachers' understandings of and pedagogical approaches to the concept of gender. Using Judith Butler's concept of "losing…

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…

Despite the proliferation of educational interventions and attitude change strategies, the prevalence of homophobia and widespread discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people on college campuses persists. This study investigates the impact of theatre on changes in college students' attitudes. Using a pre- and…

The transgender community encounters pervasive prejudice, discrimination, and violence, yet social science literature lacks research that focuses on reduction of antitransgender prejudice. This experimental study examined the effectiveness of three interventions aimed at decreasing negative attitudes toward transsexuals, correcting participants'…

Strides at the federal and state levels are being made to improve the overall climate for gay rights and relationships across the country. However, despite greater acceptance, legislative victories and visibility of gay rights and relationships, homophobia is still widespread in American society (Fone, 2000; Jenkins, Lambert, & Baker, 2009;…

This article examines the representations of transqueers (specifically female to male transsexuals) in popular media and how these representations shape attitudes of transqueers both with those outside the LGBT community and those within the community. The article discusses how these cultural images of FTM transqueers imply that being accepted…

The isolation experienced by LGBTQ youth, who are closeted in all or parts of their lives, leads to a higher rate of alcohol and drug use, smoking, mental health issues, and suicide. National studies in the United States and Canada show that LGBTQ youth are three to six times more likely to commit suicide than their straight counterparts and that…

This article describes the rationale and design of The Reduction of Stigma in Schools--an innovative professional development program that aims to empower educators to create supportive learning environments for LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) students. Part of a larger evaluation study, the authors illustrate how the core…

The high school art unit "Embracing Diversity" was the author's principal work towards the completion of a Masters thesis. The objective was to learn whether or not teaching an art unit that focused on sexual diversity could have a positive impact on the current culture one finds in high schools. The unit was found to have a positive…

The authors discuss strategies for the development of heterosexual allies and actions that allies can take to support this social identity group.