Intersectionality of Advocacy Roles Among School Counselors and Same-Sex Fathers

• In Event: Parent Self-Efficacy, Advocacy, and Home-School Relations

Abstract

LGBTQ-headed families are experiencing a changing social environment and public school environments cannot be assumed to change in synchronicity with educational policies and laws. Schools are heteronormative spaces that create an identity conflict for gay fathers because their very existence conflicts the norm that’s prevalent in that space. Two school stakeholder groups (school counselors and gay fathers) were investigated through a qualitative complementary case study. Minimal research informs these two stakeholder groups’ interactions. Intersectionality and social movement theory are theoretical lenses that can help identify the overlaps of salient roles and responsibilities that each group utilize to uncover understanding of identity and advocacy stances through a family, school and community partnership context.

Author

• Dickson S Perey, Los Angeles Unified School District