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Abstract
This paper discusses employing queer theory (QT) and queer legal theory (QLT) for critical policy analysis as applied to education. In doing so, the authors will highlight how both QT and QLT can empower analyses to look beyond the identity politics of a particular time period or space and toward potential reforms in curriculum, pedagogy, and institutional supports for students, teachers, and staff. A central point is that understanding the institutional and cultural practices that frame orientation, class, race, and sex/gender can lead to policy changes that benefit all students, teachers, and staff. The paper concludes with a discussion of venues in need of both QT and QLT-informed research.
Notes
1. Justice Scalia has recently claimed that the Supreme Court is in the process of “inventing” a new minority group. At a recent speech in Montana, he stated, “It’s not up to the courts to invent new minorities that get special protections …” (Voltz, Citation2013, para. 3). Scalia is legendary for his antipathy towards queers (Lugg, Citation2006b).
2. Of course, many queer people did pass as non-queer, but this became increasingly difficult: if the person “passing” had a measure of notoriety, they would be “outed” by queer activists (see Gross, Citation1993).
3. The show remains legendary for the brief appearance of family pets, never to be heard of again – including various puppies, and an alligator!
4. Perhaps Halberstam is echoing Arendt’s discussion of Walter Benjamin’s pearl diver. But such musings are for another paper. See Benjamin (Citation1968, pp. 38–54).
5. Russia has recently passed a similar law, banning “pro-homosexual propaganda,” justifying its enactment as “protecting children” (see Smith-Spark & Black, Citation2013).
6. One of the initial problems of AERA’s approach to the development of the handbook was its utter cluelessness around nomenclature – which has been an on-going sore point for queer people in general – for decades. So, when the initial call, which was framed around GLBT issues, was issued, the Queer Studies SIG objected in indignation and fury. The anger concerned who controlled the terms of our own identities – the officialdom of AERA, or queer people ourselves. Historically, when “gay” has started the alphabet soup of initials, it has meant white gay men of a certain class. As such, it is exclusionary. But if you’ve not been in the queer communities, or attuned to queer issues as an ally, you wouldn’t understand just how volatile the politics of language can be.
7. In late June 2013, the US Department of Education announced that it would finally collect LGBT-related data on its three questionnaires, including questions on actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity (GLSEN, Citation2013).
8. Of course, a major omission from the bullying handbook, in general, is the bullying of historic minorities who are employees. This can be particularly acute for queer educational employees (see Adelman & Lugg, Citation2012).
9. Today, CAEP is the sole accreditor of programs that prepare educators for US schools. Unlike the American Psychiatric Association, the American Medical Association, the American Bar Association, and so forth, it is independent of members of the profession. This arrangement has immediate consequences since educational professionals, particularly scholars, have little to no influence on CAEP and what it deems as necessary professional standards for schools of education (and other bodies) to meet. By employing this organizational structure, it also means that CAEP is free to ignore research that it might find politically inconvenient. This is not the case with the other associations involved with accreditation.
10. Eventually, NCATE would reinsert the social justice standards (Quinn & Meiners, Citation2009). But sexual orientation and gender identity remain absent to this day.
11. As of this writing, these silences are also true with the new proposed standards and a different organizational president.
12. The first author will merely note that this experience has been the most upsetting of her professional career. This includes a homophobia-inspired fight over tenure, and some ugly homophobic sniping at conferences early in her career. It is one thing when it’s just one person’s career at stake. The level of frustration and horror is quite another when the lives of children and young adults are literally at stake – and your professional organization is hostile to doing anything of substance to address the issue. At one point in September 2010 she did ask the assembled AERA leaders how many dead queer kids it would take for AERA to give a damn. The response? Silence. For another view on the politics of the AERA handbook on LGBTQ issues in education see: http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/10050553/a-fictional-account-of-my-recent-relationship-with-a-professional-organization.
13. While many professional and research organizations filed amici briefs with the US Supreme Court with the Prop 8 and Windsor (which challenges the federal Defense of Marriage Act) cases, AERA has maintained its silence. The American Sociological Association, in particular, filed an outstanding brief demolishing the homophobic research of supposed scholars that defend both Proposition 8, which banned marriage equality in California, and the Defense of Marriage Act. AERA could have easily mustered a similar brief but chose not to.
14. While we were revising this paper, a news report surfaced of a local Louisiana sheriff entrapping gay men and then arresting them for sodomy (see Mustian, Citation2013, July 28).
15. In fact, some AERA members argued that since sexual orientation isn’t an official census category, there is no need for the organization to address queer issues in education (see Quinn & Meiners, Citation2009).
16. In 2007, the then president of Iran argued that his country had no queers (see Cooper, Citation2007). That laughable assertion aside, being queer in Iran is no joke. If caught by authorities, queers risk death by hanging. See: http://www.queerty.com/four-gay-men-sentenced-to-death-by-iranian-courts-20120514/
17. Of course, they have also lost the right to a rich and diversified curriculum that includes art, music, and physical education, just to begin.
