Rainbows and Resistance: Anti-LGBTI Policy-Making in Canadian Schools

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: Race, Gender, and Sexual Diversity in Schools: Politics and Impact

Abstract

Gender and sexual diversity remain contentious in Canadian education policy landscapes, despite having well-established constitutional protections. Although Catholic school jurisdictions continue to oppose LGBTI-inclusive policies and practices in favour of canonical law, they are not alone. In Alberta, resistance to gender and sexual diversity in schools spans the public and separate school divide. Using critical discourse analysis, we examine the educational policymaking of two school divisions—a public district in Alberta and a Catholic district in Ontario—embroiled in controversy for their refusal to pass policies in support of LGBTI Pride. In conjunction with legal and media analyses, we identify how these practices contradict anti-discrimination legislation and perpetuate homophobia and transphobia in schools.

Authors

• Jamie Anderson, University of Calgary

• Tonya D. Callaghan, University of Calgary