Two good gay teachers: pioneering advocate-practitioners confronting homophobia in schooling in British Columbia, Canada

Abstract

This article investigates the political, cultural, and educational work of two pioneering Canadian gay teachers during the 1990s: James Chamberlain and Murray Corren. These advocate-practitioners took up roles as social activists, cultural workers, and engaged teachers whose transgressive acts focused on the social and cultural transformation of schooling. The article begins with a discussion of the importance and process of conducting this research. It then presents findings as two found narratives constructed from the interviews, with the narratives constituting self-reflective, institutional, and cultural analyses in their own words. Next, the article speaks to the importance of putting the emphasis on being gay, which aligns with individual protection against discrimination as guaranteed by Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The article concludes with a reflection on the contemporary situation for sexual and gender minority teachers in Canada as it takes up the question: Is the present different?

Keywords:

• gay teachers
• sexual and gender minorities
• queer critical theory
• open-ended interviewing
• Canadian schooling
• homophobia
• legal judgments
• individual rights
• institutional norms
• public schools
• teacher education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

André P. Grace, PhD is Canada Research Chair in Sexual and Gender Minority Studies (Tier 1) in the Faculty of Education, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. His latest book is entitled Growing into Resilience: Sexual and Gender Minority Youth in Canada (University of Toronto Press, 2015).