"No Promo Homo": Religion and the Politics of Texas Public Schools

• In Event: 41.084 - Roundtable Session 16
  In Roundtable Session: 41.084-4 - Missed Opportunities: How Epistemologies Foster Inequalities Through Educational Reform

Abstract

Employing both Queer Theory and Queer Legal Theory, the authors examine how “No Promo Homo” policies have shaped the public schools in the state of Texas and what this means for the LGBTQ students. Due to its size Texas plays a disproportionate role in both educational policy and electoral politics—including national electoral politics. Consequently, we pay particular attention to the context that conservative politics and fundamentalist Christianity influences have promoted and passed “no homo promo” laws that ban the promotion of homosexuality in the policies, practices and the curriculum within the public school system. We conclude this paper by offering a possible way through this homophobic and heteronormative swamp for equity-minded public school educators and researchers.

Authors

• Michael Andrew Thorson, Conroe Independent School District

• Catherine A. Lugg, Rutgers University