‘Other spaces’ for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and questioning (LGBTQ) students: positioning LGBTQ-affirming schools as sites of resistance within inclusive education

Abstract

This article explores the growing interest in schools which are aimed at children and young people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and questioning (LGBTQ), schools described as LGBTQ-affirming. Schools which target specific groups of students are sometimes viewed as being anti-inclusive because they assign labels to students and separate them from one another. This is based on a notion of inclusive education as a single ‘school for all’; a comprehensive, common school which is suitable for all children in a particular locality. Using academic literature alongside original data from an in-depth qualitative case study of an LGBTQ-affirming school in Atlanta, this article addresses the question of whether there is a place for LGBTQ-affirming schools within inclusive education systems. It argues that the word ‘segregated’ is not an accurate description of these schools, positing that segregated spaces are not the same as separate spaces. It argues that the separateness of LGBTQ-affirming schools is important to their role in inclusive education, specifically when they are positioned as examples of Foucault’s heterotopias. Viewing them through this theoretical lens enables them to be seen as ‘other spaces’, as a form of ‘resistance’ and ‘protest’ which may ‘unstitch’ the utopian vision of inclusive education.