Heteronormative public schools have created barriers to lesbian educational leaders. This qualitative study examined: How do lesbian educational leaders navigate their professional and private lives? How has their sexual identity affected their career trajectories? Additional questions guiding this study follow: How do gender policies and politics…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand the unique sexual and religious identity development of sexual minorities who attend evangelical Christian institutions of higher education. Although research exists on sexual identity development and religious identity development, scant research exists as to how these developmental areas…

This study responds to a need for research in a fast-growing and significant area of study, that of exploring, understanding, and documenting the numerous ways that multiply marginalized LGBTQ youth between the ages of 14 and 17 use social media. The primary research question examined whether social media provide safe spaces for multiply…

This dissertation investigates how a gay literacy worker's coming out helped change the campus discourse surrounding sexuality. Through an ethnographic examination of this English instructor and the community college where he taught composition and literature for nearly thirty years, the study illustrates a rhetorical situation where a gap in…

This dissertation explores the website usage of adolescent sexual minorities, examining notions of information seeking and sexual identity development. Sexual information seeking is an important element within human information behavior and is uniquely problematic for young sexual minorities. Utilizing a contemporary gay teen website, this…

This study used intersectionality as a framework and methodology to understand identity among sexually marginalized undergraduate college students of color. The research questions were as follows: (1) What are the experiences of QLGBTSGL (Queer, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Same Gender Loving) undergraduate students of color on a college…

The figure of the "bibliomaniacal" book collector with his "curious" malady--a "passion for collecting...that infects weak minds," according to Isaac D'Israeli (1766-1848)--serves as the focus of this dissertation about nineteenth-century British poetry and prose. More than a psychological condition or cultural practice, the bibliomaniac's…

Since the mid-twentieth century, a shift in demographics of those attending higher education institutions has resulted in increased attention to underrepresented students and their development, specifically their social identities, including race (Cross, 1991), gender (Gilligan, 1982), and sexual orientation (Cass, 1979; D'Augelli, 1994;…

There have been many studies that focus on understanding various aspects of human sexuality and how it relates to college students. However, the current research focuses on heterosexual students, leaving a void in the research that focuses on gay male college students. Even more crucially, there is a void in research that focuses on the sexual…

Sociological literature has not paid the same attention to the educational attainment of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) persons, despite their status as a socially marginalized group. Through the application of sociological methods and theories, my dissertation argues that sexual identity's effect on educational attainment is…

College students are at high risk of experiencing serious problems related to physical and social health issues that include binge drinking, sexual assault, and contracting a sexually transmitted disease. Despite research reporting that many of these incidents co-occur on campuses, university prevention programs have failed to present the…

Diverse types of intimate committed relationships, namely cohabiting same-sex and opposite-sex partnerships, are increasingly prevalent in the United States (Bumpass & Lu, 2000; Garber, 2005; U.S. Census Bureau, 2000). Given the rise in the number of individuals participating in intimate committed relationships outside of the marital context,…

This dissertation examines the discourses around gender present among a cohort of preservice secondary social studies teachers (n = 25) and how gender discourses manifested throughout their preparatory year with particular interest paid to their thoughts about curricula, schools, and students. Using ethnographic study design, the author presents…

This dissertation, as a qualitative sociolinguistic analysis, focuses on the use of narrative in identity transformation and sustainment. In particular, it examines the language of those involved in the fashioning of "ex-gay" sexual identity. Such identity work is conducted largely within religious ministries. Particular to evangelical…

According to Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network, GLSEN, (2003), 84% of GLBT students experienced homophobic remarks or verbal harassment and of those, 91.5% reported hearing the word "faggot" or "dyke" on a regular basis, and over 60% felt unsafe in their schools because of their sexual orientation. More recently, several middle school…