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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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............................................................................................... 57
Introduction................................................................................................................... 57
Garfield ..................................................................................................................... 57 Tom........................................................................................................................... 59 v
EJ............................................................................................................................... 61 Gio............................................................................................................................. 62 Peter .......................................................................................................................... 64 Jack ........................................................................................................................... 65 Rick........................................................................................................................... 66 James......................................................................................................................... 67 Paul ........................................................................................................................... 68 Ti............................................................................................................................... 69 Debbie....................................................................................................................... 69 Thibeault ................................................................................................................... 71 Jennifer...................................................................................................................... 71
Chapter 5: Findings........................................................................................................... 73
Introduction................................................................................................................... 73 Coming out as illocutionary.......................................................................................... 74 Reasons to be out .......................................................................................................... 79 Fear ............................................................................................................................... 85 How negative information is communicated ................................................................ 95
Negative Messages from the School Community..................................................... 96 Negative Messages from Religion............................................................................ 99 Negative Messages from Families.......................................................................... 101
Sources of Positive or Neutral Information ................................................................ 106 Age.............................................................................................................................. 111 Rural Perceptions........................................................................................................ 113 Summary..................................................................................................................... 114
Chapter 6: Conclusions................................................................................................... 116
Answering the research question: Why are any gay and lesbian teachers in the closet in BC today?.................................................................................................................... 116 Additional Findings .................................................................................................... 119
Dispelling Two Misconceptions ............................................................................. 119 Sources of Positive Information.............................................................................. 121 Family ..................................................................................................................... 121 Cultural capital, social reproduction, subjugation, and the heteronormative context of professional teaching identities .......................................................................... 122
Comments on Recruiting and Methods....................................................................... 123
Stages of Recruiting................................................................................................ 124 Participant Selection ............................................................................................... 125 Interview Methods .................................................................................................. 125 Follow up ................................................................................................................ 126
Recommendations for Action ..................................................................................... 126
To Parents ............................................................................................................... 127 To Government ....................................................................................................... 127 To Educational Bureaucrats.................................................................................... 127 To School Administrators....................................................................................... 128 To University Department Heads in and Deans of Faculties of Education ............ 130 To Teacher Unions.................................................................................................. 131 To Colleges of Teachers ......................................................................................... 131 vi
To Teachers............................................................................................................. 131
Recommendations for Future Research...................................................................... 132 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 134
References....................................................................................................................... 135 Appendix A: The On-line Form...................................................................................... 154 Appendix B: GALE Email.............................................................................................. 158 Appendix C: Print Advertisement................................................................................... 160 Appendix D: AVI email.................................................................................................. 161 Appendix E: Participant Consent Form.......................................................................... 162 vii

List of Tables

Table of Contents Table 1: Results of searching ERIC...................................................................................31 viii

Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge all those who made the completion of this thesis possible: my husband and our children who gave me the freedom to complete this work; Dr. Carol Harris, who started me on this work; and Dr. Darlene Clover and the other members of the committee, Dr. Catherine McGregor and Dr. Aaron Devor, for their input and direction. ix

Dedication

This work is dedicated to those who attempt to use formal organizational structures to include gay and lesbian people as full members of society. x
It is wise to listen
Heraclitus (535 – 475 BC)

Chapter 1: An Overview

Educational administration ... involves not simply the formulation and implementation of reliable and neutral techniques of management but rather the active embracing of a political role involving analysis, judgment, and advocacy and the adoption of an active stance toward issues of social justice and democracy. (Bates, 1987, p.110)

The Mystery

It is 2009 in British Columbia (BC), Canada. My husband and I are legally married gay school teachers with adopted children. The adoption was encouraged by the rector and parishioners of our church. We are publicly open about our sexual orientation. I have danced with my husband at school dances. He has a picture of me on his desk. I am aware, however, that other gay and lesbian school teachers in BC hide personal characteristics that might reveal them as part of a sexual minority, or LGBTTQQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, two-spirited, queer or questioning) people. This

thesis investigates the question, “Why?” Why, given the positive personal experiences of

acceptance, openness, and honesty that some of us enjoy, do other gay and lesbian teachers maintain the shame and effort required to hide this single characteristic? These questions are seated in the context of current Canadian society, bureaucratic educational organizations, and the tradition of academic research.

Queer

I use the terms “queer” and “sexual minority” where the concepts being discussed

are not only applicable to the gay and lesbian participants in my research, but also can apply to anyone else whose being queers the boundaries of the sexual understandings of
2

society. In this context “sexual” does not refer to sexual activity; it refers to a person‟s

biological sex as assigned at birth in the socially constructed reality of the delivery room. A member of a sexual minority is one who has characteristics for which the person is likely to be oppressed because those characteristics do not align with the socially defined gender behaviours for that sex. The experiences of different types of queers are different, but there is commonality. All are subject to marginalization for an inability to align sex with traditional definitions of gender. I define the terms “queer” and “sexual minority” as

synonyms but understand that the word “minority” gives focus to social justice issues,

and that “queer” emphasizes the disruption of the association between sex and gender.

Context

In the Body of Knowledge

Tönnies (1887/1955) described the increased organization of society as part of the
European transition from an agrarian to an industrial society where efficiency and punctuality (described as Gesellschaft) supplant community relationships (Gemeinschaft) as characteristics of human social functioning. Weber (1947) extended Tönnies‟ observations about human behaviour into the calculated functioning within bureaucratic organization where decisions are made sine ira et studio (without anger or partiality). In such an environment, hiring, firing and promotions are based on competence, credentials and demonstrated ability to perform the task. At least this is the claim. Foucault (1978)