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

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

Currently six states legislations require that schools provide lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) inclusive instruction. Evidence suggests that queer-inclusive curriculum leads to improvements in school climate. At the same time, movements are underway to prohibit transgender youth access to gender-affirming medical care and dehumanizing attacks seeking to disarm systemic racism from being discussed in schools, colleges, and universities. In this session, a range of scholars will help nuance how, if at all, queer-inclusive policy helps redress educational inequities by forwarding systems that embrace equity and racial justice. Facilitated through a series of conceptual and empirical papers, presenters will detail the promise, paradox, and precarity of LGBTQ+ inclusive policy as refracted through the lens of in-service teachers, district leaders, community organizers, and teacher educators.

Sub Unit

• AERA Presidential Session

Papers

• Bathroom Bills and LGBTQ+ Inclusive Policies: Is There Promise? - Bethy Leonardi, University of Colorado - Boulder; Amy N. Farley, University of Cincinnati

• Code-Switching Queer Controversy: Elementary Educators' Perceptions of LGBTQ+ Policy and Teaching in the Tip - Jon Michael Wargo, Boston College

• Curricularizing LGBTQ+ Precarity: The Limits of Inclusive Policy in K–12 Schools - Michael Kokozos; Maru Gonzalez, North Carolina State University

• Troubling Frames of Legislative Strawmen - Kevin Kumashiro, Kevin Kumashiro Consulting

Discussants

• Edward Brockenbrough, University of Pennsylvania

• Joe Schmidt, New York Department of Education