Why Only Some Gay and Lesbian Teachers Are Out
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Out of the Classroom Closet: Why Only Some Gay and Lesbian Teachers Are Out by Duane Joseph Lecky B. Sc., University of British Columbia, 1987 B. Sc., University of Victoria, 1995 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS In the Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies © Duane Joseph Lecky, 2009 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. 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The author retains copyright L’auteur conserve la propriété du droit d’auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protège cette thèse. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author’s permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformément à la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privée, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont été enlevés de thesis. cette thèse. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n’y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. ii Out of the classroom closet: Why only some gay and lesbian teachers are out By Duane Lecky B. Sc., University of British Columbia, 1987 B. Sc., University of Victoria, 1995 Supervisory Committee Dr. Carol Harris, Co-Supervisor (Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies, Professor Emerita) Dr. Darlene Clover, Co-Supervisor (Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies) Dr. Catherine McGregor, Department Member (Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies) Dr. Aaron Devor, Outside Member (Department of Sociology) iii Supervisory Committee Dr. Carol Harris, Co-Supervisor (Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies, Professor Emerita) Dr. Darlene Clover, Co-Supervisor (Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies) Dr. Catherine McGregor, Department Member (Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies) Dr. Aaron Devor, Outside Member (Department of Sociology) ABSTRACT Canada and British Columbia have legislation in place to protect gays and lesbians from discrimination based on their sexual orientation. A growing number of BC school districts have policy protecting gays and lesbians. However, some gay and lesbian teachers still hide their sexual orientation. Organizational theory recognizes that formal rules do not define the organization. In-depth interviews with 13 gay and lesbian teachers indicate that they would rather not maintain their classroom closets; but that they needed to know that they would be safe coming out. The methodology followed the tradition of narrative inquiry by collecting stories. Initial recruitment was through email, print, and word-of-mouth advertising. An on-line form was used to filter prospective participants to include urban, rural, Muslim, Catholic, closeted, and politically active participants. The great silence with respect to gays and lesbians in the workforce, paired with a history of negative messages needs to be offset by the frequent and ubiquitous dissemination of positive messages. iv Table of Contents Supervisory Committee ...................................................................................................... ii ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... iv List of Tables .................................................................................................................... vii Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... viii Dedication .......................................................................................................................... ix Chapter 1: An Overview ..................................................................................................... 1 The Mystery .................................................................................................................... 1 Queer ............................................................................................................................... 1 Context ............................................................................................................................ 2 In the Body of Knowledge .......................................................................................... 2 In Law ......................................................................................................................... 4 Significance to educational leadership ............................................................................ 5 Research Questions ......................................................................................................... 7 The Methodology ............................................................................................................ 8 The Participants .............................................................................................................. 9 Overview of the Report ................................................................................................. 10 Ch 2 A Review of the Literature on Gay and Lesbian Teachers in School Organizations12 Organizational Theory .................................................................................................. 12 Gay Rights and the Law ................................................................................................ 13 Schools .......................................................................................................................... 17 Barriers and Coping Strategies ..................................................................................... 22 Discourse Control and the Role of Administrators ....................................................... 26 A Brief History of the Academic Literature ................................................................. 29 Contemporary Studies on Gay and Lesbian Teachers .................................................. 31 Chapter 3: Methodology ................................................................................................... 41 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 41 Queer Friendly Research Methods................................................................................ 41 Ending the Silence .................................................................................................... 43 Narrative Methodologies .......................................................................................... 44 The Population under Study.......................................................................................... 45 Situating the Researcher ........................................................................................... 46 A Three-Pronged Recruitment Process ......................................................................... 47 Selecting the Sample ..................................................................................................... 51 Data Collection and Analysis........................................................................................ 52 Qualitative ................................................................................................................. 52 The Interview Context .............................................................................................. 52 Structure of the Interview ......................................................................................... 54 Data Analysis ............................................................................................................ 55 Summary ....................................................................................................................... 56 Chapter 4: The Participants ..............................................................................................