Responsive Classroom Curriculum for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Students

Abstract

Ideally school provides opportunities for youth to learn new skills, engage in intellectual exploration, and develop valuable social connections. However, for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth, schools are often sites of exclusion and victimization. Anti-LGBTQ language, such as referring to something undesirable or boring as “gay,” is omnipresent in school hallways and classrooms (Kosciw, Greytak, Diaz, & Bartkiewicz, 2010). Many LGBTQ youth are regularly bullied and harassed by their peers merely because of their sexual orientation or gender identity (D’Augelli, Pilkington, & Hershberger, 2002; Kosciw et al., 2010). Even the very adults tasked with protecting them may do nothing in the face of blatant homophobia and transphobia,1and at times, may participate in anti-LGBTQ language themselves (Bochenek & Brown, 2001; Kosciw et al., 2010; Smith & Smith, 1998). Beyond individual educators’ actions (or inaction), school policies often may prove exclusionary, such as forbidding couples of the same sex from attending the prom or insisting students wear gender-specific graduation attire. Less blatant, but perhaps more pervasive and insidious, are the everyday practices that reinforce heterosexuality and gender norms, such as assuming a student will want to marry someone of a different gender, that render LGBTQ students invisible and send the message that they are not “normal.” Whether through overt violence, offi cial policies, or educator practices, heterosexism, homophobia, and transphobia manifest themselves in the school environment, giving LGBTQ youth the impression that they are not welcome in their schools.