‘When I do “bad stuff,” I make the most difference’: exploring doubt, demoralization, and contradictions in LGBTQIA + ally work

Abstract

Research has demonstrated that teacher allies are integral to social justice work that strives to ensure safety and success for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and other gender and sexuality non-conforming (LGBTQIA+) students. However, prevailing discussions present allyhood in ways that ignore the complexities and contradictions that shape an ally’s efforts and experiences. Drawing on narrative-based interviews with ‘Bailey,’ and integrating conceptual frameworks that seek to make doubt and failure productive, this paper seeks to redefine ally activism in ways that challenge prevailing notions of ally work and that more fully consider sociocultural and political contexts.

Keywords:

• LGBTQ
• LGBTQ ally
• social justice
• interviews
• focus groups

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Stephanie Anne Shelton

Dr Stephanie Anne Shelton is Assistant Professor of Qualitative Research in the College of Education, and affiliate faculty in the Department of Gender and Race Studies, at The University of Alabama. Her research interests include a) queer and feminist approaches to interview-, focus group-, and narrative-based studies and b) examining genders and sexualities in educational settings.