LGBTQ+ High School Students: The Courage to Exist and Resist Heteronormative and Cisgenderist Expectations

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 7:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Voices From the Field: Students' Policy Experiences (Table 33)

Abstract

Drawing on focus groups data (total, n= 33), this study looks at the ways LGBTQ+ high school students, in six UK schools, manifest courage to exist and resist the predominating heteronormative and cisgenderist expectations. Adopting a mixed methods approach (qualitative thematic and corpus-based discourse analysis), study results revealed courage in students’ a) choice of school attendance; b) determination to assert their identities; c) challenging of peer and teacher behaviors, language, and norms, d) awareness of potential risks and need to calculatingly protect themselves from harassment/abuse; and e) continuous emotional labor and fortitude. Future studies should acknow¬ledge the courage it takes for LGBTQ+ students to be themselves in high school when challenged by heteronormative and cisgenderist norms.

Authors

• Seán E. Murphy, Universitat de Barcelona

• Richard John Harris, University of Reading

• Ann Elizabeth Wilson-Daily, Universitat de Barcelona