It's not my story to tell: Negotiating heterosexual and homosexual pre-service teacher voices

• In Event: Highlighted Session: Building Movements and Elevating Voices: Efforts to Engage Mobilization and Promote Discussion on LGBTQ+ Issues in Education

Proposal

Human Rights Watch has identified that 67 countries have national laws criminalizing same-sex relationships. In the United States, the Southern Poverty Law Center tracked 63 anti-LGBTQ hate groups in 2022. In the summer of 2023, I shared these statistics with a group of master’s pre-service teachers preparing to embark on an international education abroad journey to the United Kingdom. As a part of the program, they spend the fall semester abroad engaging in a three day a week school internship and an inquiry research project. I suggested that their inquiry research topic explore the ways in which schools in the United States and schools in the United Kingdom approach LGBTQ content and support LGBTQ teachers and students. Their reaction was unexpected.

I had anticipated that they may have some trepidation due to a lack of knowledge. As discussed in Simmons (2023) and by Bronksi (2012) schools do not teach LBGTQ history, leaving people without understanding of the lives of LGBTQ individuals and their contributions to society. And I anticipated some hesitation, as I knew this topic would be new and unfamiliar to many of them. As reported in Greytak and Kosciw (2013), less than one in five schools assigned LGBTQ readings and only 4% of principals indicated that their staff were educated on LGBTQ issues.

However, once I suggested that their research project explore LGBTQ ideas, a silence crept over the room. After several minutes one student raised her hand and shared that she saw the importance of the topic and she wanted to learn more about it. But, as a straight woman, she didn’t know where her voice fit and how to be a part of this conversation. This led to a group conversation where many of the heterosexual students expressed concerns about how their voices fit into the landscape of conversation about LGBTQ issues.

In the ongoing quest for equality for LGBTQ individuals, they cannot be the only voices protesting and calling for rights. But it does leave questions about how do heterosexual and homosexual voices blend together in the call for equality. These issues are present in schools as well. As noted by Payne and Smith (2011), heterosexual teachers fail to intervene when they observe LGBTQ students experiencing bullying. Further, Rupp (2021) notes that teachers who discuss LGBTQ issues are often presumed to be queer. And Ripley et al. (2012) reported that undergraduate students perceived LGBTQ teachers as less knowledgeable and as having a political agenda. Heterosexual teachers need to learn how to speak about LGBTQ issues and lend their voices to support LGBTQ teachers and students.

This presentation shares insight from the completion of that inquiry research project and explores how a group of heterosexual and homosexual pre-service teachers learned to enter into conversation together, navigated the challenges of discussing topics where you don’t have knowledge or lived experience, and supported each other as they learned together. Sharing insights from both heterosexual and homosexual pre-service teachers, this presentation aims to help offer guidance for how voices from all walks of life can come together and add to the chorus of shouts for equality.

Author

• Jonathan Simmons, University of Connecticut