Teacher Allies

262 Pages·2015·1.09 MB·English

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8-2014
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Melissa J. Smith
Syracuse University
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Smith, Melissa J., "Teacher Allies: An Exploration of the Professional Experiences of Teachers Who
Support LGBTQ Students" (2014). Dissertations - ALL. 151.
https://surface.syr.edu/etd/151
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ABSTRACT
This dissertation is a year-long qualitative exploration of the experiences and
perspectives of classroom teachers who identify as “allies” or “supporters” for lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) public school students. Nine teachers
representing five secondary schools in Central New York participated in three semi-structured
interviews and approximately fifteen hours of classroom observation. Questions driving this
research focused on (1) how teacher allies make meaning of LGBTQ students’ needs and their
roles in addressing those needs; (2) how participants integrate “ally” work into the larger context
of their professional practice; and (3) participants’ management of stigma or resistance around
their “ally” work. Findings illuminate how educators engage in the work of supporting LGBTQ
students without directly speaking about or acknowledging how gender and sexuality are
relevant to experiences of teaching and learning. Educators instead framed the needs of LGBTQ
students and the possibilities for improving their school experiences within broader frameworks
of supporting diversity, teaching tolerance, safe schools, and anti-bullying. It will be argued that
these frameworks provide rhetorical and instructional tools for talking about and implementing
strategies that aim to encompass the needs of “all students” but do not require educators to
consider how or why heterosexual, gender conforming identities are privileged and LGBTQ
identities are marginalized in school environments.
TEACHER ALLIES: AN EXPLORATION OF THE PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCES OF
TEACHERS WHO SUPPORT LGBTQ STUDENTS

by
Melissa J. Smith

B.A. Creighton University, 2002
M.A. University of Nebraska Omaha, 2006

Dissertation

Submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy in Cultural Foundations of Education

Syracuse University
August 2014
Copyright © Melissa Jean Smith
All rights reserved
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This dissertation would not have been possible without the nine teachers who volunteered
to share their classrooms and their stories. Throughout this process, I have said over and over
again that I was incredibly lucky to find such intelligent, compassionate, creative, and brave
educators, and I was continuously inspired by their teaching and their stories. The work they do
to support LGBTQ youth is important and necessary, and it gives me hope that there are
possibilities for pushing this kind of work further and addressing the cultural roots of LGBTQ
exclusion in K-12 schools.
The support and guidance of my dissertation committee were invaluable as I completed
the research and writing process. Elizabethe Payne took me under her wing early in my PhD
program, and she has taught me how to be a researcher and how to look for possibilities to use
research to make schools better places for LGBTQ youth, their educators, and their families. Her
mentorship and friendship have helped me find my confidence as a scholar and to recognize my
potential to make change in the world. Jerry Mager and Beth Ferri asked me questions and
provided feedback that pushed me to be clear, precise, and confident in my analysis and critique,
and their perspectives helped me think about my data in more complicated ways. Additionally,
experiences in both of their classes pushed my development as a writer and as a teacher.
When I travel to conferences and talk to other PhD candidates who are doing research in
the field of LGBTQ Issues in Education, I hear stories about the multiple ways that educational
research on gender and sexuality is stigmatized and silenced, and many have experienced
institutional pressure to abandon their work. That has never been my experience at Syracuse
University, and I am profoundly grateful for the support I have received from the College and the
faculty. Doug Biklen’s support for the Reduction of Stigma in Schools program and the
Queering Education Research Institute made it possible for me to learn how to be a publicly
engaged scholar who specializes in LGBTQ issues, to gain experience working in schools to help
them be more inclusive for LGBTQ students, and to engage in research projects that develop my
skills and knowledge leading up to my dissertation. The faculty in Cultural Foundations of
Education has been supportive and enthusiastic about my work from the beginning. Sari Biklen
pushed me to develop my skills as a qualitative researcher and encouraged me to pursue a
specialty in LGBTQ issues. Barbara Applebaum’s course on Critical Whiteness Studies
complicated my thinking about ally identity and ally practice, and I have often returned to notes
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and readings from her class when I have felt stuck on my analysis. Maryann Barker’s support of
QuERI and of me personally has been a steady and comforting force throughout this PhD
program. She has kept me organized and been a voice of reason and reassurance whenever I have
felt frustrated or discouraged.
I have completed this PhD program with a group of amazing women who have become
my closest friends and colleagues, and over the years I have come to realize that this is not
something most doctoral students experience. We were lucky to all land in Syracuse at the same
time. I owe particular thanks to Kristin Goble, Danielle Cowley, Kate McLaughlin, Jessica
Bacon, Heidi Pitzer, Lauren Shallish, Ashley Taylor, Fernanda Orsati and Rebecca Johnson for
their senses of humor, intelligence, and friendship. I look forward to many years of collaboration
and conference travel with all of them. I cannot imagine trying to navigate graduate school
without these women in my life.
Finally, I would like to thank my family for their unwavering support and patience as I
have completed this process. My parents, sister, and brother have all provided humor,
perspective, and encouragement in moments when I was sure I would never reach the end of the
PhD journey. They are steady, dependable forces in my life, and knowing they are there to catch
me if I stumbled made it possible to change course and pursue this adventure.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………….....iv
Chapter 1: Introduction……………………………………………………………………………1
Chapter 2: Literature Review…………………………………………………………………….13
Chapter 3: Research Design……………………………………………………………………...60
Chapter 4: Teacher Ally Identity………………………………………………………………...86
Chapter 5: Ally Pedagogy………………………………………………………………………126
Chapter 6: Heteronormative Gender Roles in Teacher Allies’ Classrooms…………………....168
Chapter 7: Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………..217
Appendices……………………………………………………………………………………...230
References………………………………………………………………………………………236
Curriculum Vita…………………………………………………………………………….......255
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1
Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION
Currently, the social and political climate for research, advocacy, and education focused
on the goal of creating more inclusive schools for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and
questioning (LGBTQ)1 students is being shaped by shocking stories about victimization and
tragedy. The issue of LGBTQ suicide, bullying and harassment in K-12 school contexts has
drawn increasingly intense scrutiny in recent years. As the 2010-2011 academic year began, the
national media was filled with stories about LGBTQ youth who had committed suicide after
being targeted by their peers with homophobic harassment. Within a three-week period, five
male youth2 ended their own lives, and each of them reportedly had been targeted for failing to
conform to cultural expectations for normative masculinity. Similar stories of “bullycides”3 have
continued to circulate and highlight the possibly deadly effects of persistent bullying or
harassment and raising questions about educators’ responsibility to prevent such tragedies from
occurring. Notably, the story of nine suicides within two years in the Anoka Hennepin
(Minnesota) School District drew national attention in 2011 and 2012 when parents claimed that
the school district’s “Don’t Say Gay”4 policy had silenced teachers’ bullying interventions and
made educators afraid to take any action that could be interpreted as support for their LGBTQ
students. These events have proven significant to the overall project of improving school
experiences of LGBTQ youth because they increased educators’ and policy makers’ awareness
about the prevalence and seriousness of peer-to-peer aggression targeting “different” gender and

1 The acronym “LGBTQ” is used throughout this dissertation to represent students who sexual orientations, gender
identities, or gender expressions do not align with heteronormative social norms. In particular, the “Q” is intended to
represent youth who either identify as queer or questioning or whose identities do not fit neatly into the categories of
gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. In contexts where participants or cited scholars do not acknowledge the
possibility of “queer” identities, the Q has been removed from the acronym.
2 The 5 victims: Billy Lucas (September 9, 2010); Asher Brown (September 10, 2010); Tyler Clementi (September
22, 2010); Seth Walsh (September 28, 2010); Raymond Chase (September 29, 2010)
3 Bullycides is a term the media has applied to suicides that have been linked to experiences of bullying.
4 “Don’t Say Gay” policy is the colloquial term for schools’ “neutrality” policies that require teachers to avoid
speaking about any topics that could be interpreted as political or controversial.
2
sexual identities.
The authoritative voice of the Obama administration has played a significant role in
shaping the national conversation about the connection between bullying and LGBTQ youth
suicide. In August 2010, The Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools hosted the first annual
federal Anti-Bullying Summit. The summit served as a platform for launching
StopBullying.gov—a web-based resource for anti-bullying information. Researchers specializing
in youth violence and aggression were invited to speak to the nature of bullying behavior and
possibilities for effective interventions. The research presented by the invited experts represents
an understanding of bullying focused on anti-social behavior and the environmental factors that
are correlated with such behaviors (Espelage & Swearer, 2010; Swearer, Espelaga, Vallaincourt,
& Hymel, 2010). On October 26, 2010, the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights
released a “Dear Colleague Letter”5 to school districts that reminded educators “that some
student misconduct that falls under a school’s anti-bullying policy also may trigger
responsibilities under one or more of the federal antidiscrimination laws enforced by the
Department’s Office for Civil Rights” (OCR, 2010). In other words, bullying should not be
understood only as an issue of anti-social behavior, intolerant attitudes, or lack of empathy—but
also as a possible violation to targeted students’ civil rights. In April 2011, another “Dear
Colleague” letter outlined schools’ responsibilities for addressing and preventing all forms of
sexual violence and sexual harassment. The Obama Administration specifically emphasized the
need to address LGBT students’ susceptibility to in-school violence through the Department of
Education’s “Creating and Maintaining Safe and Supportive Environments for LGBT Youth”
summit in June 2011. Education Secretary Arne Duncan also released a third “Dear Colleague

5 The October 2010 “Dear Colleague” letter was written to address all forms of bullying and harassment. However,
it was released just weeks after a rash of highly publicized LGBT youth suicides—all of which were attributed (by
the media) to the grave effects of in-school victimization.
3
Letter” articulating the Obama administration’s support for establishing Gay Straight Alliances6
in schools and reminding school districts of the Equal Access Act’s7 provisions for the
recognition of student groups in schools. Most recently, the OCR distributed “Questions and
Answers of Title IX and Sexual Violence” in an effort to clarify and provide additional guidance
to the April 2011 letter. This letter included clarification about transgender students’ protections
under Title IX—all students, regardless of actual or perceived gender identity are to be protected
from sexual assault and harassment. Over time, these actions have established and clarified the
Department of Education’s position on sexual and gender-based violence, and they have
communicated expectations for prevention and intervention to school districts.
This federal action addressing the problem of LGBTQ harassment in K-12 schools
contributes to the cultural context of this dissertation research. Data collection occurred in 2011-
2012 academic year—a historical moment when LGBTQ students and their educational
experiences were receiving unprecedented attention and scrutiny. The cultural context around
bullying, harassment and LGBTQ students’ school experiences in New York reflects national
trends, but two events were of particular concern during data collection. The first was the
impending implementation of the Dignity for All Students Act (DASA), which was passed by
the State Senate in June 2010 and went into effect in July 2012. This is anti-harassment
legislation that includes sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression in its protected
categories, and it establishes the expectation that schools will take action in the interest of
investigating and intervening when violence occurs, preventing bullying and harassment and

6 A Gay Straight Alliance is a student organization that aims to provide support and affirmation to LGBTQ student
and their allies
7 The July 2010 “Dear Colleague” letter describes the requirements of the Equal Access Act as follows: “The Act
requires public secondary schools to treat all student-initiated groups equally, regardless of the religious, political,
philosophical, or other subject matters discussed at their meetings. Its protections apply to groups that address
issues relating to LGBT students and matters involving sexual orientation and gender identity, just as they apply to
religious and other student groups.”