Gay–Straight Alliance Advisors: Negotiating Multiple Ecological Systems When Advocating for LGBTQ Youth

Abstract

This qualitative study investigated the barriers and facilitators that advisors of gay–straight alliances encounter when advocating for LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) youth within schools. Twenty-two advisors were interviewed, and data revealed that multiple ecological systems (e.g., sociocultural, school, and individual factors) interacted to create barriers and facilitators to advocacy for LGBTQ youth. Results suggested an ecological systems perspective to advocacy in which advisors exist in multiple ecological systems simultaneously. An understanding of how these systems interact to create barriers and facilitators to advocacy may assist advisors in effectively working within these systems in order to create significant, lasting change in schools.

KEYWORDS:

• LGBT Youth
• gay–straight alliances
• advocacy
• advisors
• ecological systems