Advocating for Queer and Trans Youth in Troubled Times

• In Event: Disrupting Cishetero Logics: Queer Futures and Trans Educational Justice

Abstract

As new legislation makes discussions of race, sexuality, and gender illegal, teachers struggle to imagine a more welcoming and restorative school climate because of the limits being placed on their curriculum and pedagogy (IDRA, n.d.; Ma, Lauer, & Gomez Licon, 2023). Teaching about queer joy or gender creativity may incite school board fights that create more harm for students (Loutzenheiser, 2015; Shannon, 2022). Queer and trans educators may be silenced (Walker, 2022), students may be blamed for violence they experience at schools (Payne & Smith, 2018), and political rhetoric mocks hope and optimism that created legislation, curricula, policies, and practices over the last decade. In this paper I call on the wisdom of adult coconspirators working with queer and trans youth in out of school settings to find inspiration and new perspectives on how to support queer and trans youth in schools, even in oppressive political climates.

Author

• Darla Linville, Augusta University