Curricularizing LGBTQ+ Precarity: The Limits of Inclusive Policy in K–12 Schools

• In Event: Illusions of Queer Inclusion: On the Promise, Paradox, and Precarity of Pre-K–12 LGBTQ+ Inclusive Educational Policy

Abstract

Policy has been both a tool for LGBTQ+ support (e.g., LGBTQ+ inclusive curricula) and for LGBTQ+ stigmatization (e.g., "no promo homo" laws). Thus, schools serve both as sites of promise and sites of violence. The reality of LGBTQ+ precarity, especially among LGBTQ+ young people who face additional barriers—including students of color, youth who are disabled, and/or live in rural or conservative school districts—necessitates critically examining emerging "inclusive" policy frameworks and applications, including the ostensibly progressive ones. We argue, for example, that inclusion is a fraught ideology normalizing identities into existing frameworks sustained by privileges (e.g., homonormativity, homonationalism) that uphold the status quo palatable to their audiences and benefit students likely to approximate to the national ideal (i.e., cisgender white gay well-to-do men). Further, these frameworks perpetuate LGBTQ+ precarity by obscuring systemic issues like homelessness and social isolation, exacerbated by the pandemic. And yet, we also acknowledge that LGBTQ+ policies and practices increase LGBTQ+ students' sense of safety and belonging (Kosciw et al., 2020). If we accept policy as a necessary political intervention, we must also explore the additional measures needed to embrace a fuller and more complex understanding of LGBTQ+ lives. Indeed, we believe that LGBTQ+ inclusive policies will be useful if, and only if, we simultaneously reveal their illusions and exclusions. We recommend adopting approaches that inspire critical reflection (and action) and place queer youth and organizations front and center in the spirit of "trickle-up" activism (Spade, 2015) to promote enduring social change.

Authors

• Michael Kokozos

• Maru Gonzalez, North Carolina State University