Out-Rooted and Rural: Research at the Intersection of Rural Education and Queer Identities

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Anti-Queer policies have disastrous outcomes everywhere, but in rural communities where there are fewer resources, these effects can be especially pronounced. This session highlights four projects: one providing an analysis of 30 years of research on LGBTQ+ K12 students’ wellbeing; the next on rural transgender and nonbinary youth experiences in religious and politically conservative communities; a third exploring how intersections of Queerness, race, and rurality influence self-perceptions; and a paper from a practicing superintendent-principal in a far remote rural school on creating a culture of care. As many rural communities (and thereby schools) face increased political pressure to restrict LGBTQ+-affirming school resources, rural educational leaders, policymakers, and researchers need theoretical, critical, and empirical understandings of intersectional factors at play.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Rural Education

Chair

• Amy Price Azano, Virginia Tech

Papers

• LGBTQ+ K-12 Students’ Experiences and Wellbeing in Rural Schools - Erin Gill, University of Pennsylvania

• Rural Trans Livelihood in West Virginia - Jessie O'Quinn, Potomac State College; Erin McHenry-Sorber, West Virginia University

• It is Easier to be Black than Gay: Experiences of Black Rural Queer Educational Leaders - Jamon H. Flowers, University of Georgia

• How Rural School Leaders can Create a Culture of Care for Queer Students - J. Wilfred Cwikiel, Beaver Island Community School

Discussant

• Clint D. Whitten, Virginia Tech