Journal Articles

Peer-reviewed Journal Articles

  • “Queer Youth in Heterosexist Schools: Isolation, Prejudice and No Clear Supportive Policy Frameworks” by Olivia Murray discusses the heterosexist policies that exist in our society and the potential tragic consequences that sort of setting has on queer youth. Murray believes that there is a level of “institutionalized homophobia afflicting public schools” and that “learning institutions have become tolerant of verbal harassment and physical abuse directed at students who are, or are perceived to be, queer.”  Murray breaks down specific policies that have an impact on queer students into “two categories: Formal education policies include laws, budgetary guidelines, state department regulations, federal mandates, and judicial decisions” and “informal education policies that people are expected to follow” that are “‘unwritten’ rules”. She also explores the variety of policies and levels of protection provided to queer students in different parts of the country.

 

  • “In the Name of Safety: Discursive Positionings of Queer Youth” by Kim Hackford-Peer discusses how queer youth are often thought of as “innocent victims” and how they are at the same time intertwined in conversations about “activist educators”. This is especially interesting in the high school setting as students are “in the process of becoming adults… requiring movement from powerless (innocence) to powerful (activist)” (543). Hackford-Peer feels that a re-framing of these issues is necessary as these two types of common discourse can be limiting and suggests questioning “our notions of childhood innocence” and that “the GSA is one example of a space where students (and educators) can come together to grapple with the tensions in their lives and their schools”. GSAs come in all different forms, they can be safe bubbles for queer students that feel separate from the rest of the school to activist groups and Hackford-Peer believes that reframing discourse about queer issues in schools could help educators work more productively with students.

 

Practitioner-Oriented Journal Articles

  • “The Ellen DeGeneration: nudging bias in the creative arts classroom” by Anne Harris points how “LGBT figures in popular media such as Ellen DeGeneres have influenced the rhizomatic growth of communities of difference” and how that has had an effect on behaviors and activities in schools. Harris explores the possibilities for students presented by “creative arts industries and classrooms” as well as the importance of having conversations. Harris uses an example of addressing comments made in the classroom that could be overlooked but have a touch of homophobia that, although uncomfortable, could create a conversation about the school environment and stereotypes. She challenges educators to think about how to address the tensions that relate to “homophobia or heterosexism in classrooms—even relaxed arts-based classrooms”.

 

  • “Queer Politics in Schools: A Rancièrean reading” by Claudia W. Ruitenberg is analyzes “conditions of [queer] visibility and sayability and the political risks and benefits that gaining visibility and sayability carries for queer students and teachers”. Ruitenberg questions different permutations of the coming out process as an individual or part of a group and the idea of being misidentified, in the school setting, while not being out. She also suggests that educators and students rethink the naming of Gay Straight Alliances to be more inclusive to all identities. She discusses teacher-allies roles and points out that a “female teacher who is presumed heterosexual is in a great position to ask why colleagues assume the ‘partner’ she refers to is her husband or boyfriend”, among other observations. Ruitenberg recommends making alterations to curriculum and staffroom conversation in schools.