Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Commons^™

Beyond The Bathroom: Systemic Barriers To Trans Student Success, Andrew Leclair

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

At the intersection of educational inequity and systemic marginalization, transgender youth face some of their greatest obstacles upon walking through the schoolhouse door—ranging from legislative attacks and gender negation to denied facility access and pervasive bullying. In rural K-12 public schools—where populations are often smaller, more demographically homogenous, and vie for more socially conservative policies—trans youth are particularly vulnerable. Within this context, this piece centers the experiences of transgender students in rural K-12 public schools—highlighting the sociocultural dynamics and systemic barriers that continue to marginalize them within the United States education system today. Through a blend of literature synthesis and …

"What Are They Going To Do? Fire Me?" The Paradoxical Empowerment Of Nonbinary Teachers In Rural South Carolina, Chris Cyan Divens, Jonathan M. Coker

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

Nonbinary teachers are seldom the focus of teacher studies, particularly in challenging places such as the rural Southeastern United States. Through a critical ethnographic case study, we explored the stories of two nonbinary teachers who grew up and worked in rural South Carolina. We examined their cultural contexts, including legislative factors, school policies, and school cultures, and we highlighted how these systems created a hostile environment for queer and trans* individuals. Our participants shared how their lived experiences as queer and gender-diverse individuals provided them with an insider perspective about rural South Carolina culture and its limitations. We also found …

Sissies At The Cafeteria Table: Toward A Queer Black-Town Sense Of Place, Education And Life, Ezekiel Joubert Iii

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

Contemporary research has shown rural communities to be places with diverse identities and ideologies, disrupting much of the mainstream images of rural spaces as isolated, White, monocultural, and conservative. However, the persistent tendency to imagine racial inequality and queer life as urban contributes to the invisibility of intersectional struggle. Drawing from Critical Pedagogy, Black geographies, Black Queer Studies, and Mobility Studies, this study examines the collective educational experience and storytelling of Black rural queers in a Metro-Rural community in the Upper Midwest. Using an autogeographic approach, building from auto-ethnography and archival praxis reveal how the spatial structures that reproduce educational …

Queer Methods And Rural Education: Studying The Foxfire Program, Brooke Boling

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

During the summer of 2023, I conducted a study in rural Rabun County, Georgia, with a cohort of high school students as they worked to create a magazine focused on Appalachian culture. The magazine, known as Foxfire, has been published since 1966 by rural high school students who were led by writing teachers. In its heyday, the Foxfire Magazine was seen as a bastion of critical education, as its teachers and founder implemented Deweyan pedagogy and asked students to critically reflect on issues of rural Southern Appalachian culture in their writing. The Foxfire Magazine was wildly successful, resulting in a …

Reading About Gender Identity In A Rural Community: Discourse Around Young Adult Literature And Social Justice, Ashley S. Boyd, Rachael R. Wolney

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

This study explores how a rural adult book club engaged with gender identity through young adult literature (YAL), focusing on Mason Deaver’s I Wish You All the Best. Facilitated by two teacher educators, the club brought together local residents and a guest speaker from a regional support organization to discuss gender, pronouns, and the experiences of nonbinary youth. Using critical discourse analysis and thematic coding, the authors examine how participants, cisgender adults, navigated unfamiliar concepts, reflected on their own beliefs, and considered implications for their personal and professional lives. Findings highlight the power of YAL to serve as a …

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly: Personifying The South In Rural Queer Collegians’ Stories, Miranda N. Rutan, Leia K. Cain

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

In this study, we explore the complex interplay between queer identity and Southern cultural narratives among rural college students in the U.S. Bible Belt. We integrated narrative inquiry and arts-based research to examine how participants personify the South within their own stories, revealing nuanced understandings of belonging and identity. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, participant-created artwork, and discussions about these artworks. Our findings illustrate a dynamic representation of the South as both a source of support and a site of conflict, highlighting the dual roles of community and marginalization in shaping rural queer Southern identities. This research contributes to …

Queer Kids In The Country: Challenges, Resources, And Queer Cultural Capital Of Rural Lgbtqia+ Youth, Michelle L. Page

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

This qualitative study investigates the experiences of rural youth who identify as LGBTQIA+. Both rural young people and LGBTQIA+ youth are less likely to pursue higher education and more likely to report negative experiences in their schools and communities. Rural LGBTQIA+ youth face different challenges than do urban and suburban queer youth; therefore, different resources and strategies must be unveiled, developed, and employed in an effort to support rural LGBTQIA+ young people. This study explicates the challenges and assets of rural queer youth, finding that such young people continue to experience challenges in their schools and communities, particularly around identity …

Beyond The City Limits: Representations Of Rurality And Lgbtqia+ Youth In Young Adult Literature, Michelle L. Page

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

Narratives of flight from rural to urban areas predominate in research related to LGBTQIA+ communities. Thus, rural LGBTQIA+ young people rarely see representations of themselves or their environments, especially positive portrayals. Such representations are important in that they are productive of identities, not just reflective of them. This study examines a collection of young adult literature with LGBTQIA characters and rural settings, analyzing the portrayals of place (rurality) and identity (LGBTQIA+). In this paper I will demonstrate how current LGBTQIA+ young adult literature reinforces dominant narratives that privilege urbanity and I assert that counternarratives to the rural flight story are …

Rural Geographies, Queer Youth And Metronormativity, Fenton Litwiller

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

In 1995 Weston articulated an oft recited story where queers move from persecutory rural geographies to the more accepting city. While Weston interrogated this spatial binary and demonstrated failed promise of the metropolis to deliver, particularly across intersections of gender, the urban flight narrative persists. Jack Halberstam (2005) used the term ‘metronormativity’ to illustrate the power of this narrative that influences a research focus on urban queers. This study contributes insights on how queer youth who live in remote Canadian geographies navigate and express gender and sexuality. Eight participants (12 – 24) attended an informal educational space, a genderplay workshop, …

Queer Of Color Critique And The Politics Of Epistemic Agency: Rural Educators Desettling Curricular Expectations, C.A. Langerud, Madelaine Adelman, Daniel D. Liou

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

The purpose of this research is to use queer of color critique (QOCC) as an analytical framework to explore rural K-12 educators’ epistemic agency. The research focuses on educators’ engagement with a national initiative by an advocacy organization to distribute LGBTQ+ and racially diverse books to K-12 schools. The analysis centers on the educators’ praxis of epistemic agency against settled expectations associated with including queer and trans People of Color’s (QTPOC’s) stories in their schools. Our findings on educators’ epistemic agency center on three areas of knowledge and activity. First, educators demonstrate their ability to be aware of their local …

“I’Ve Already Invested So Much Time, Effort, And Money Into This, So I Stay For Me”: A Case Study Of Paulina A First-Generation Trans Latina Rural Community College Student, Ángel De Jesus Gonzalez

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

While research continues to emerge on queer and/or trans (QT) experiences in higher-education, a paucity remains on the nuanced realities of those who exist at the intersections of identities, institutional, and regional contexts. Guided by jotería identity-and-consciousness, this intrinsic case study focuses on Paulina, a first-generation trans Latina rural community college student via queer pláticas. She informs ways that trans Latina students in rural community colleges exists and resists hostile ecological educational environments and in doing so generate queer futurities of rurality. Paulina’s jota-historia disrupts notions of QTs communities presence in rural spaces, rural spaces as synonymous with white, …

Rotating Along The Borderlands: Contextualizing Border Rurality Among Queer Transfronterizxs College Students, Carlos A. Fitch

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

Queer Transfronterizx students at rural higher education institutions experience an array of systemic and racialized inequities related to Queerphobia, residential nativism, and immigration challenges. Through a Critical Race Feminista Methodology (CRFM), seven Queer Transfronterizx college students engaged in testimonios and a Queer plática to shed light into the navigation of their rural higher education contexts and lived experiences. The findings note the collaborators’ experience of (1) endangered educational oases, (2) the dual identity isolation pertaining to Queer and Latinx belongings, (3) transborder hypervigilance emerged from border- crossings practices, and (4) a rural border flexibility that provides Queer privileges. Recommendations for …

A Trans Youth’S Encounters With Queerness In Puerto Rico, Gabriel T. Acevedo

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

This article explores the lived experiences of Pedro, a transgender youth from rural Puerto Rico, to examine how queer and trans identities are negotiated within contexts shaped by colonialism, Catholic traditions, machismo, and rural community life. Drawing on queer theory, Latinx studies, rural education research, and narrative inquiry, the study highlights Pedro’s voice through interviews, self-narratives, and reflections, positioning youth as knowledge creators rather than passive subjects. Findings reveal three interconnected themes: (1) the importance of educational relationships in fostering belonging and dialogue, (2) the disruption of normative expectations around adolescence, queerness, and urban migration, and (3) the expression of …

Introduction: Queering Rural Education, Leia K. Cain, Ty Mcnamee, Darris Means

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

In this editorial introduction, we situate this dual-journal special issue within the current legislative landscape targeting queer and trans people across North America in rural communities. We describe our collaboration with the editorial teams of the Journal of Research in Rural Education and the Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education to illuminate the experiences and perspectives of queer youth and adults in and from rural spaces. We then introduce the articles published in JQTSiE, which are organized into four interrelated themes: (1) Embodied Pedagogies and Spatial Navigation, (2) Institutional Structures and Resistance, (3) Community, Literacy, and Representation, …

The Gsa Leadership Committee: Collective Liberation Through Community Building In Chicago Public Schools, Elizabeth A. Jarpe-Ratner, Corey M. Blake, Emilie L. Clark, Li Lichner, Meaghan L. Tomasiewicz, Nora Benomar, Jose Dominguez Magdaleno, Booker Marshall, Makayla Boyd, D. Little

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

Strong evidence links Gender and Sexuality Alliances (GSAs) to improved outcomes for LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer and questioning and other identities) students. Chicago Public Schools’ (CPS) is known for being a leader in supporting LGBTQ+ students. Despite this, CPS’ size has made it difficult to support all schools in adopting recommended practices. Therefore, in 2020 CPS launched the GSA Leadership Committee (GSALC), which comprises teachers and other school-based staff leaders throughout the district, to support all schools in adopting practices known to support LGBTQ+ students. This paper draws on four years of interviews with group facilitators and focus groups …

Drag’S Impact On Drag Lives, José L. Oropeza Iii

Anthós

Drag’s Impact On Drag Lives

In light of recent political developments where Drag and Trans identities are being punished, why do people still participate in Drag? If there are repercussion to face for being a Drag Queen, then surely it must affect their lives for the better for them to continue the practice.

Through an autoethnographic approach to researching the Portland, OR Drag community, I collected transcripts of conversations with local Queens, took notes of community interactions, and put myself in Drag for the first time as a Queer man to better understand the Drag community and why they Drag. …

Lgbtq People's Experiences With Crime, Victimization, And The Criminal Legal System, Vanessa R. Panfil

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The ebb and flow of social control efforts aimed at LGBTQ people necessitate a thorough investigation into their experiences. This review of the literature is organized around four key themes that characterize LGBTQ people's experiences with crime, criminalization, victimization, and the criminal legal system—including police, courts, and carceral facilities. LGBTQ people experience excessive rates of arrest and incarceration and have higher rates of victimization, which illustrate disproportionality. Their experiences differ from those of their cisgender and heterosexual counterparts and are conditioned by age, race, class, gender, and sexual orientation, illustrating intersectionality. The two primary, interrelated mechanisms driving LGBTQ criminalization and …

“I Don’T Always See A Future For Me Here”: Oppressive Political Pressures On Lgbtq+ College Students’ Well-Being, Jodi Linley, Olivia M. Copeland, Kathleen J. Buell, Cindy Ann Kilgo, Megan Pendleton, Alex C. Lange, N F. Tennessen

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

In recent decades, colleges have broadly supported LGBTQ+ students. Now, institutions have shuttered LGBTQ+ initiatives in response to political pressures, with little consideration for the effects on students. This study answers the question, what current policy factors do LGBTQ+ college students describe as affecting their well-being, and in what ways? We analyzed 426 responses from a multi-institution study of LGBTQ+ students. By and large, students feel anxious and fearful as they navigate the current climate. Our analysis illustrated numerous factors, from the President and his administration to states and general emboldened violence, and the real and potential consequences of those …

Inclusive Psychology Pedagogy Is Linked To Increased Belonging And Reduced Prejudice Toward Consensually Non-Monogamous Relationships, Rose Bern, Rachel Dinero, Kate Linenbach, Amy Moors

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Students enrolled in an elective psychology course entitled Relationship Science, which emphasized inclusive curricula focused on relationship diversity, completed pre- and postcourse assessments of attitudes toward consensually nonmonogamous (CNM) relationships, relationship skills (e.g., constructive communication), and classroom belonging. Given the established literature on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer+-inclusive pedagogy, attitudes toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer+ individuals were also measured. Comparisons of pre- and postcourse assessments revealed significant reductions in stigma toward individuals engaged in CNM, alongside increased acceptance of CNM relationships more broadly. Students also reported increases in relationship skills and classroom belonging over the course of the …

Examining Marginalized Sexual Identity Development Through Perry’S Scheme Of Cognitive Development, Miranda Bejda

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Existing models of LGBTQ+ sexual identity development are critiqued for their linearity and lack of inclusion for diverse experiences and sexual identities. There is a call for a more robust understanding of the cognitive aspect of sexual identity development. The purpose of this dissertation is to further the understanding of how people think about their sexual identity through the developmental process using Perry’s scheme of cognitive development as a framework. Through semi-structured interviews, I analyze the LGBTQ+ sexual identity development process (Stage 1), how Perry’s scheme applies to LGBTQ+ sexual identity development (Stage 2), and propose a Perry-informed model of …

Living Through Adversity: Understanding Discrimination, Resilience, And Psychological Well-Being Among Filipino Transgender Youth, Allaiza Liz M. Sarino, Athena Christine P. Garcia, Kirsten Jada P. Hinto, Stella P. Go

Sinaya: A Philippine Journal for Senior High School Teachers and Students

Transgender youth continue to face systemic discrimination and social marginalization. These barriers can hinder their development and negatively affect their psychological well-being. However, little is known about the specific ways Filipino transgender youth experience discrimination and develop resilience. To address this gap, this study sought to understand the lived experiences of Filipino transgender youth, focusing on the discrimination they face and the resilience factors that contribute to their psychological well-being. This study employed a descriptive phenomenological approach, utilizing online in-depth interviews with nine transgender youth aged 17 to 23 from Metro Manila, comprising five female-to-male and four male-to-female individuals, who …

Opening The Door Of The Celluloid Closet, Melissa Hernandez

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

While watching the documentary, The Celluloid Closet, I was instantly intrigued by how queer people and cinema mixed. Going as far back to the black and white, silent films era, queer people have been used as comedic relief, but not in an appealing way. Constantly being the butt of the joke, disregard for queer people became so normalized that certain tropes started popping up in cinema. One trope that we can still see be used frequently in today’s films is the “bury your gays” trope (also known as the “dead lesbians syndrome”) where queer characters in cinema are not …

When Nonbinary Becomes Binary: Exploring Transnormativity Experiences Of Gender Diverse Individuals, Yusuf Barburoğlu

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

Transnormativity is a within-group framework that positions trans and nonbinary (TNB) individuals in a hierarchy of legitimacy based on adherence to binary gender norms (Johnson, 2016). Nonbinary individuals, who comprise 38% of U.S. transgender adults, face unique challenges, including systemic invalidation, misgendering, and erasure both within and outside LGBTQIA+ communities (James et al., 2024; Matsuno et al., 2024). These experiences intersect with internalized stigma and rejection expectations, contributing to mental health disparities (Budge et al., 2014; Lefevor et al., 2019). This study explores how nonbinary individuals navigate, resist, and embody transnormative pressures, using Sarah Ahmed’s Queer Phenomenology and Interpretative Phenomenological …

Do No Harm?: An Assemblage Of Care, Compliance, And Resistance To North Carolina’S Parents’ Bill Of Rights, Sarah Cornette, William Pryor Iv

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

North Carolina’s Parents’ Bill of Rights (NC-PBOR) requires school counselors to disclose sensitive student information to parents, creating profound legal-ethical dilemmas. This study examines how counselors navigate these mandates through interviews, surveys, and arts-based analysis. Findings show counselors experience institutional betrayal, ethical precarity, and emotional exhaustion, yet also engage in subtle resistance through strategic ambiguity, relational buffering, and quiet noncompliance. Methodologically, we integrate coding, poetic inquiry, and visual confection to capture affect, embodiment, and contradiction often missed by conventional analysis. By foregrounding emotion and multiplicity, we contribute to assemblage-informed policy studies and queer qualitative inquiry, while bearing witness to the …

The Political Construction Of Anti-Transgender Policy: A Critical Policy Analysis Of North Carolina State Legislators' Discursive Strategies, David Osworth, Morgan Edlin

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

In recent year anti-LGBTQ policy has been cropping up at the state level across the United States. While these policies have been described as unprecedented, they signal a period of retrenchment for the rights of queer and transgender individuals in the United States. This critical policy analysis of North Carolina state legislation that is decidedly homophobic and transgender examines the discursive tactics of policy actors (i.e. North Carolina Legislators) as they argue these policies during legislative sessions. Through our analysis of legislators’ commentary during House of Representative sessions we identified discursive formations that were considered allied with the LGBTQ community …

Wayward Joy In Queer Femme-Inist Educational Research, Sarah Stapleton, Lindsay Cavanaugh, Jade Crimson Rose Da Costa

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

This article draws on our experiences with “Femme Educational Futurities,” a dream-mapping (Author 2, 2023), critical arts-based, participatory-informed project about softness in K–12 schools, to explore the boundaries of queer, femme-inist research. We trace how our attempts to enact research softly (Schwartz, 2020) led us towards wayward joy (Hartman, 2019): a messy affective terrain marked by connection, vulnerability, shame, and hope. For each author, we identify what Applebaum (1995) calls a “stop” moment and explore within each instance the convergence of softness, radical love (hooks, 2000) and tender failure (Halberstam, 2011), and discuss what joy means to us as a …

Conversations With Hsls:09: Reflections On College-Going By Black Queer And Trans Scholars, Dion T. Harry, Quortne R. Hutchings, Christopher Sewell, Lorae Bonamy-Lohve, Taylor R. Lewis

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

This paper threads together quantitative data on Black QT students from the HSLS:09 data set, while connecting the authors' lived experiences about the college-going process. According to this data, Black QT high school students were heavily influenced by parents and peers and less influenced by school counselors and teachers regarding decisions about college and post-high school trajectories. In response, we engage in collaborative autoethnography (CAE) to center our narratives as Black QT people by threading our commonalities and differences to highlight what tensions and connections emerged from our experiences with the college-going process to add context to the aforementioned data.

The Path Toward Spiritual Activism: Queer Latinx/A/O College Student (Muxerista) Activism As Sites Of Resistance, Hope, Joy, And Futurity, Roberto C. Orozco, J. Audra Williams

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

This study examined collaborators’ engagement in activism as sites of resistance, hope, joy, and futurity. We answer the following research question: In what ways do Muxeristas (Revilla, 2012), or queer Latinx/a/o college student activists, envision and act on kinship and liberation in their activism? We conceptualize our response to this question through Anzaldúa’s (2002, 2015) concept of spiritual activism. Our data analysis articulates three main components of a spiritual activism practice for Muxeristas (Revilla, 2012), which include: 1) engaging in forms of resistance through a queer and feminist world-making, 2) centering joy and love with and for each other as …

Will Anyone Play With Me? Building Resilience Through Community Play With Transgender And Gender Diverse Young Adults, Lee Lebeda

Expressive Therapies Theses

The recent increase in anti-trans legislature in the United States has negatively impacted the mental health of transgender young adults nationwide. Current research suggests that creative expression in a group setting may be uniquely suited to help transgender people combat the negative mental health effects of internalized anti-trans messaging. Based on this research, a community engagement project was designed for transgender young adult participants to explore resilience building through drama therapy-informed community play. Three play-based support groups, facilitated by a drama therapy graduate student who identified as a peer to the participants, were offered to transgender young adults in their …

How Subversive Is Shipping Really? An Analysis Of Heteronormative Elements In Same-Sex Relationships Focused On German-Language Anime And Manga Fan Fiction, Saskia Dreßler

Proceedings from the Document Academy

This study investigates whether German-language fan fictions featuring lesbian and gay characters within the anime and manga domain can be regarded as genuinely queer. It situates these fan works within the specific traditions and practices of German fandom. Employing qualitative content analysis, the research examines two prominent fandoms, Naruto and Sailor Moon, focusing on the presence of heteronormative narrative patterns in fan fiction with queer protagonists. The study analyzes which aspects of the original media are adapted and how these adaptations shape the portrayal of queer identities. Furthermore, fan comments are examined to assess the extent to which readers …