The Problem of Coming Out

Teaching Education, 2019

In this paper, two scholars (one retiring, one emerging) consider what it means for LGBTQ teachers to 'come out' in the classroom. Drawing from our respective studies (one a study of 18 lesbian teachers conducted in the early 1980s, the other a study of 16 gender non-binary teachers in 2018), the intervening literature, and our own personal experiences, we reflect on the changing meaning of 'coming out' over time. To consider the shifting personal and pedagogical stakes that classroom disclosures of queerness or transness evoke, we revisit an essay from several decades ago on the topic of coming out in class.

Sex Education: Sexuality, Society and …, 2006

This paper arises from an online discussion project in the United Kingdom, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, in which higher education students and staff were invited to respond to a series of statements about sexual orientation in the context of schooling. This paper suggests that the silence of relative non‐participation may have been exacerbated by other levels of silence operating within the wider social, political and educational context of the project. Analysis of data from the web forums revealed the perception of children as asexual beings, the sexualisation of homosexuality, and a tendency to separate the public and private domains. We also found some political correctness reflecting the legitimised diversity discourses operating within the university context without necessarily addressing the more uncomfortable questions behind them. Participants also imagined anxieties on the part of parents, teachers or pupils and diverted the discussion to other topics of concern, which may have served to protect them from direct engagement with the issues under discussion. In combination, we suggest that these factors create multiple layers of silence that serve to support the construction and maintenance of heteronormativity as well as demonstrating the power of the heterosexual matrix in action.

Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews, 2012

Feminism and Psychology, 2009

Communicating Sexual Identities: A Typology of Coming Out, 2014

This study examines 258 narratives from 130 individuals to develop a typology of lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) coming out conversations. After exploring current strengths and limitations of coming out models and establishing the need for examining coming out conversations, data are analyzed to create a typology of seven common ways coming out conversations are enacted (pre-planned, emergent, coaxed, confrontational, romantic/sexual, educational/activist, or mediated). In addition to providing much-needed inquiry into LGB coming out conversations, this article encourages potential further research into practical aspects of coming out conversations and other LGB-oriented disclosure practices as well as the development of broader models of coming out.

2019

A few lesbians, gay, bisexual, and transgender and queer (LGBTQ) issues have entered the national debate recently. At the same time, research and literature have begun to explore the role of culture and identity in communication study. We can't ignore these issues in academia as they are directly related with the existence of queer peoples' life and living. William Institute (2011) reported that almost 3.5% of grownups in the United States recognized them as lesbian, gay, or bisexual and 0.3% of adults identified them as transgender. Gates (2011) stated, nearly 19 million Americans (8.2%) are found engaged in same sex behavior. So, LGBTQ communities are important because they exist. After 1970, a significant number of identity development theories have been developed in academia by distinguished scholars. In college and academia, queer identity development theories are followed and practiced for doing research and learning. Bilodeau and Renn (2005) stated that in United States majority of the lesbian, gay, or bisexual persons are now tending to come out in their early ages than it was seen before. Therefore, a significant number of LGBT students in college campus have gone through coming out process-as either they have come out or running in the process. This article looks into the comprehensive literature of coming out, queer identity and co-cultural communication.

168 has been identified as one of the most crucial elements in the development of a healthy sexual identity (McLean 2007). The body of empirical research on issues involving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) communities has been growing considerably over the past 20 years. Of all the literature concerning I have yet to identify a single study where one of the primary research questions is focused on exploring the meaning of coming out. Fortunately, by scrutinizing the details of previous studies, it is possible to construct somewhat of a mosaic of meanings that have been attributed to coming

In thirty years, sexual minority educators will have taught at least 65,676,600 children. Several studies have shown that sexual minority teachers exercise the right to refrain from disclosing their sexual identity because they are aware of the possible repercussions when they "come out" in the K-12 educational setting. Choosing whether or not to disclose their sexual identities may result from the juxtaposition of deciding how and with whom to identify. This study specifically analyzes cultural factors and educators' commitments as professionals in educational settings. This study dissects the stories from five K-12 educators that identify as Lesbian or Bisexual. Several researchers believe that educators partake in leadership responsibilities such as role models and mentors and they believe educators' responsibilities in school settings strongly impact students as professional educators. A narrative analysis study was conducted to aggregate lived experiences, including stories and discussions from interviews, thus providing a voice to underrepresented populations of educators. Because of their impressionable roles in students' lives, the understanding of educators' intersectionalities and the factors behind their choice of disclosure is relevant as a contribution to research on LGBTQ K-12 educators and intersectionality.

Coming out as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersexed, queer or asexual is a highly contested issue. In an educational context there are arguments about the role of coming out to students and learners, yet it is still difficult to say decisively whether or not declaring one's identity is pedagogically necessary or effective. The decision to come out, or not to come out, relates to 'the closet' as an 'open secret', where the boundaries between identity and private/public spaces can be negotiated. Using arguments that see the closet as a fixed space associated with shame, fear and falsity, this article seeks to present the closet as a constructive space for identity formation and social negotiation. Such an understanding of the closet is related to how gender is marked and read in socio-cultural context. I then use these arguments about the closet to explore my own pedagogical decision not to come out in a critical literacy course for pre-service teachers. What emerged from my own 'open secret' are three conversations with students that brought into question my identity as gay, male, an English lecturer and an academic. A critical reflection of these conversations reveals how students read my identity during lectures, and how these readings initiated concerns about my gendered performance, and my investment in the field. Furthermore, my analysis also considers how my 'closeted' identity may have created the space for openly discussing students' perspectives on sex, gender and sexual diversity.

A blend of academia and anecdote, this piece both researches and reflects upon my own experience of coming out as a 14 year old girl. I assess the pressure to identify oneself as "Other" by grappling with forms of gender policing that encourage sexual identity categories. I also reject crystallized conceptions of normative gender and criticize the tendency to essentialize desire as directly related to childhood appearance, behavior, and self-expression. This is in no way meant to apply to everyone--it is my own personal exploration of identity formation and memory.