Library and Archives Bibliotheque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-91473-1 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-91473-1 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distrbute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. 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. Canada EXAMINING THE USEFULNESS OF A GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANCE IN AN ONTARIO RURAL SECONDARY SCHOOL by Audrey Morrison Honours B.A. Child and Youth Care, Ryerson University, 2008 THESIS Submitted to the Faculty of Social Work in partial fulfilment of the requirements for Master of Social Work Wilfrid Laurier University © Audrey Morrison 2012 ABSTRACT This study was carried out to determine if a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) was useful to sexually diverse students in a rural Ontario secondary school. GSAs began in schools in 1988, yet despite their longevity, there is a paucity of investigative research exploring the efficacy of such clubs from the perspective of past members. Rural sexually diverse youth (youth who are not heterosexual) often face challenges that their urban counterparts do not: a lack of diversity, transportation and resources. The study was qualitative in design and participants were recruited to provide a retrospective account of their experience in high school. Participants were eager to share their stories in an attempt to improve the quality of high school life for students coming into grade nine. Each interview was unique and many poignant reflections were captured. The findings illustrate that the Gay-Straight Alliance was indeed useful for these participants in a number of ways. The implications for the social work field, particularly school-based practice, are that Gay-Straight Alliances are vital. They need to be promoted and supported in schools. Social workers who are situated in school settings can be important champions for GSAs' sexually diverse youth and their straight allies. Social workers need to be well educated in sexual and gender diversity and be willing to embrace an anti- oppressive lens to foster positive youth development and empowerment. II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I feel truly blessed to have had the support of many good people during this process. As a part-time student, doing a thesis has been a challenge and I have relied on my team to get me to this point. I offer my heartfelt thanks to the participants for making themselves vulnerable and sharing their narratives with me. Their courage was truly stirring. It was vital to me that this research was conducted with integrity to ensure that their voices were heard, loud and clear. I would like to thank Dr. Nick Coady for providing me with the inspiration to embark on this journey. Sincere thanks go to committee member, Professor Laura Mastronardi for her wise and gentle guidance throughout this long and, at times, arduous process. I am eternally grateful for the direction, patience and support of my thesis chair, Dr. Ginette Lafreniere. She has spent countless hours responding to emails, making suggestions, providing questions and affirmations, and has been a source of strength for me throughout the process. My gratitude goes to my colleague, Kim McEachern for her cheerleading, proof­ reading and affirmations. I also offer thanks to my colleague, Julie Bartlett for all of her encouragement: showing confidence in me when I felt none. Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank my husband and soul mate, Andy for his faith in my abilities throughout my entire program. I could not have done any of this without him. II! TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract i Acknowledgements ii Table of Contents iii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 Preamble: Growing up gay in a straight world 1 Issue Being Addressed 3 Theoretical Lens 5 Topic Selection 6 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 9 Literature Review 9 Adolescence 9 Resilience 11 Risk Factors 12 Rural Youth 14 Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) 15 Legislation 17 The Catholic School Board Stance on GSAs 24 Summary 28 The Historical Context of the GSA at CDHS 28 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY 32 Epistemology 32 Purpose and Type of Study 34 Participants 34 Procedure 35 Data Analysis 39 Conceptual Framework 40 IV CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS 43 Creating Identity 43 Family Values 53 School Environment 60 Socio-Cultural Influences 64 Gay-Straight Alliance 66 CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION 74 Discussion of Findings 74 Reflections on the Research Process 81 Lessons Learned 85 Limitations 88 Recommendations for Future Research 89 Conclusion 91 APPENDIX A: Definitions 95 APPENDIX B: Email Invitation to Participate 98 APPENDIX C: Interview Questions 99 APPENDIX D: Informed Consent 100 Bibliography 103 1 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION Growing up gay in a straight world In July of 1998, Dave1 spent the day writing letters. He meticulously wrote a special letter for each of his family members and his friends. He sealed each one in an envelope and wrote the name of the recipient on the front. That evening, he took the envelopes and set them neatly on his dresser. Closing his bedroom door behind him, he announced to his parents that he was going out. His next stop was the local gas station for a small jerry can of gasoline. He ventured onto the Mark Street Bridge in Rosewood, put duct tape over his mouth and then doused himself with the gasoline. His final actions included lighting himself on fire and jumping from the bridge to his death. He was seventeen years old. His close friends said that he had been questioning his sexual identity. Although he had not shared this information with his family, he had been tormented mercilessly all through high school. At the time, there was no Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) at the school and neither teachers nor guidance counsellors identified themselves as having a positive or safe space for youth to talk about sexual orientation. While some were concerned about youth who were sexually diverse, the political climate at the school at that time was one of "don't ask, don't tell". Dave was an acquaintance of my daughter. His dramatic suicide shook our family to its core. The emotional and psychological burden on my daughter was profound. The uncertainty about a connection between his sexual orientation and his 1 Names of people and communities have been changed to protect identities. 2 suicide compounded the torment she experienced. This uncertainty left her and her friends questioning if they could have done or said something that would have prevented Dave's untimely death. Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender, Trans-sexual, Two-Spirit, Intersex, Queer and Questioning (LGBTIQ) youth aged fourteen to twenty-one are identified by a British Columbia Report (Rajabali,F., Pike, I., Kinney, J. & Joshi, P., 2005) as being at high risk of suicide. According to the same report, a disturbing seventy-five percent of LGBTIQ youth who had attempted suicide stated that sexual orientation was the most significant factor in their decision to take their lives. Durkheim (1997) described three types of suicidal behaviour: altruistic, egoistic and anomic. When an individual is not properly integrated into society, has feelings of isolation, loneliness and confusion, those conditions are described as anomic. This condition is further exacerbated by a major disruption in a person's life such as the loss of a relationship. In Dave's case, the combination of adolescent identity formation and questioning of his sexual orientation would have created conditions rife for an anomic suicide. Markus and Jacob were my daughter's closest friends in high school. They are both gay and both had harrowing experiences in school. Jacob and Markus both recount numerous incidents of being physically assaulted and were the recipients of homophobic slurs and taunts. Neither Jacob nor Markus publicly identified their orientation in high school; their tormentors acted on stereotyped assumptions. We have had many 3 discussions in our home about the very real dangers of homophobia and the gaps that exist within school culture to support youth. Ironically, this transpired in the same high school where I am now employed. It was Dave's dramatic suicide and the experiences of my daughter's friends which sparked my interest in founding and maintaining a GSA at Countryside District High School.