Looking for Leadership in All the Queer Places: Professional Experiences of Gay Superintendents

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Fifteen
  In Roundtable Session: Research on the Superintendency SIG (#97) Roundtable: Supervision, Identity, Retention, and Justice (Table 8)

Abstract

Increasing numbers of educational leaders who identify as LGBTQ+ are assuming the school superintendency. The article shares selected findings from interviews with eight current or retired school superintendents who identify as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. The article addresses issues of work life implications, discrimination they experienced, and how their sexual orientation impacts their leadership capacity. Regardless of their experiences, they all attribute some of their success as a superintendent to their experiences as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. Drawing on Queer Theory, this article explores the intersection of sexual identity and leadership in the relatively unstudied level of executive school leadership.

Author

• Raymond A. Lauk, Eastern Kentucky University
  Presenting Author