Standing “Straight” Up to Homophobia: Straight Allies’ Involvement in GSAs

Abstract

This qualitative study captures the experiences of four straight allies’ and one gay youth involvement in gay–straight alliances (GSAs) at their Ontario, Canada, high schools. Participants’ motivations for becoming GSA members and their roles as allies are examined. Queer theoretical perspectives, as espoused by Britzman (1995, 1998) and Linville (2009), underpin the study's purpose, design, and data analysis. Queer theory was employed to both problematize the heteronormative underpinnings of education and to critique the stand-alone nature of GSAs. Safety, support, education, and advocacy—to varying degrees—were identified as the roles of participants’ GSAs. Straight allies joined GSAs because they wanted to support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) people and advocate for their human rights. They developed queer-positive attitudes through befriending and/or empathizing with LGBTQ people and from their experiences with being “Othered.” Findings suggest that allies felt undue pressure to address homophobic language and were compelled to combat LGBTQ-based inequities in school and society. Particular attention was also paid to exploring how two straight male allies were cultivating new forms of masculinity that refrain from denigrating LGBTQ people.