This article chronicles the formation and organization of the Safe Schools Coalition (SCC) through the experiences of Beth Reis, co-founder and co-Chair. The article suggests ways in which the SCC can serve as a model for both collective and individual work in promoting safe schools.

Several scholars have lauded gender crossing as one pathway for tearing down hierarchies of gender and sexuality. Central but often under-examined in their discussions is understanding the skill and persistence of childhood gender nonconformists. In examining some of these skills, this article investigates their relationship to specific social…

This article offers a theory of identity that explicates how biological, experiential, and contextual influences contribute to the ongoing development of the human sense of self--what I describe as an ecological understanding of identity. My primary goal in developing this argument is not so much to create certainty about what it means to occupy a…

Mammen is one of the most versatile and unusual artists of her time. She was born Gertrud Johanna Mammen on November 21, 1890 in Berlin, Germany. During the 1920s and 1930s, Mammen created vivid depictions of life in the booming metropolis of Berlin. She portrayed people of all walks of life, but her focus was on the "New Woman" in the…

In this article, the author wants to suggest a new way of approaching the topic of sexuality within the secondary and/or tertiary classroom and offer an example of a teaching resource that might help facilitate this shift. He introduces "Bouncing Castle: Keeping Families Together," a movie directed and produced by Chris Castro and produced by…

Historically, schooling has been a point of contention and restless agitation for many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals in North America who may feel trapped in prisons of invisibility. Traditionally, queer people's existence in educational settings has been denied or made invisible, not just physically (in school…

Interpretive methodology is used to study the experiences of gay and lesbian K-12 Caucasian educators in California who consider themselves "out" within the classrooms in which they teach. Three main research questions framed this study: What are the lived experiences of out gay and lesbian K-12 educators? What are the interconnections…

This essay explores the physical, emotional, and spiritual manifestations of heterosexism in childhood education. While there is abundant children's literature dealing with gay and lesbian parents of presumably straight children, little exists in this literature that directly addresses a child's developing gay, lesbian, or bisexual orientations.…

U.S. Department of Education Secretary Spellings admonished PBS for having produced an episode of "Postcards from Buster" because it included children with lesbian parents. A college professor describes how this incident and children's literature was a learning opportunity for future teachers.

This article focuses on the concept of leadership endorsed by an urban all-girls' public school and how heteronormative ideas about female success were resisted by a group of the school's gay students through gender performances and named sexualities. The author argues that queer students are gender projects that the school uses to define and…

Unfortunately, as far as the research on lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals in India is concerned, the situation is almost the same as it was in the 1980s. Why have Indian psychologists and psychiatrists avoided researching LGB youth? And, more importantly, why does this silence continue? The first and the foremost reasons are the stigma…

Work in the fields of gay and lesbian studies and queer theory has for the most part moved well beyond biologically essentialist notions of sexualities and their attendant manifestations, behaviors, and enactments. While not denying that biology plays some role in one's sexual development and sexuality, this work is careful to insist that this…

Educators concerned with diversity, equity, and human rights in schools share their personal and professional narratives as impetus for developing suggestions and strategies designed to help teachers, students, and administrators deepen their understandings of gender identity educational issues in an effort to support transitioning teachers in…

Earlier research positioned queer students as victims, and more recent scholarship positions them as agents. This study works to recognize and learn from the multiple subject positions of these youth by documenting subtleties regarding the experiences and negotiations of gender rules and regulations. When youth claim multiple subject positions,…

The "Dowa" (Human Rights) education program has become an effective method of changing concept and situations of "Burakumin," a group of people that has been discriminated against in Japan. One educational strategy was to speak out their personal stories, which has become a trigger to some sexual minority teachers to come out,…