Queer Educators and Gestures of Advocacy in a Mormon Community

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 9
  In Roundtable Session: Queer and Trans Advocacy: Rethinking Where and How It Can Happen

Abstract

This study examines how a queer Mormon educator, who was teaching in a conservative, predominantly Mormon community, enacted queer gestures (Rodríguez, 2014) to subtly advocate for queer students in the school in which he taught. Despite many constraints, he was able to find ways to acknowledge queer students and, in some instances, place himself at risk in order to make queer identities visible in his school. His queer gestures provide a point of entry for educators wishing to advocate for queer students in religiously conservative communities where there may be district policies and practices that limit the kinds of advocacy in which educators can engage.

Author

• Mary Quantz, University of Colorado - Boulder