1st Edition
LGBTQI+ Allies in Education, Advocacy, Activism, and Participatory Collaborative Research
This topical book explores the ally perspective in advocating for Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender, Queer and Inter-sex (LGBTQI+) human rights across American, Canadian, and Australian educational contexts.
This book aims to clarify the terms and dynamics of mobilizing heterosexual and cisgender privilege in the interests of promoting safe, welcoming and inclusive educational communities for all stake holders, particularly those students who self- identify as LGBTQI+. By highlighting concrete examples of allies engaged in participatory collaborative research, and by investigating the historical and theoretical dimensions of ally work more generally, this volume presents a comprehensive research account of allies’ role in education, advocacy and activism.
This book will benefit researchers, academics, and educators in higher education with an interest in gender and sexuality, the sociology of education and schools and schooling more broadly. Those specifically interested in gender studies, as well as the politics of higher education, will also benefit from this book.
1 Introduction: LGBTQI+ Allyship: An exploration in Education, Advocacy, Activism and Participatory Collaborative Research
2 The LGBTQI+ ally movement in North America and Australia: from Gay-Straight Alliances to Safe Schools Coalition and university networks
3 From the individual to the corporation: Contemporary and historical definitions of the LGBTQI+ ally
4 The LGBTQI+ ally movement for marriage equality: Media, politics and legislation in Australian, American and Canadian communities
5 Unjust spaces and educational institutions: Key questions about research into gender and sexuality and the role of the ally
6 Promoting LGBTQI+ human rights through a Young and Well Co-operative Research Centre project
7 Allied work and teachers: Disrupting or sustaining regimes of normalized genders and sexualities
8 The high school prom: Rites of passage, heteronormativity and struggles for LGBTQI+ students and their allies
9 The celebrity LGBTQI+ ally: Local and global communities
10 Conclusion
Biography
Wendy M. Cumming-Potvin is Associate Professor in the College of Science, Health, Engineering, and Education at Murdoch University, Australia.
“Allies and allyship have a mixed reputation in LGBTQI+ studies, with fraught debates about when, where, and how they should be a part of movement building. Wendy Cumming-Potvin’s new monograph on the topic both clarifies a path forward and complicates definitions and the field of inquiry across Canada, Australia, and the United States […]. In our current political climate in the United States where anti-trans health bills, anti-drag bills, and the criminalization of discussions of intersectionality and critical race theory, Cumming-Potvin reminds us all of the need for allyship across identity categories to fight back, build anew, and collectively heal from the constant barrage of dehumanizing legislation. The few moments where allies were fundamental in supporting trans rights will stay with us and hopefully inspire some more allies who read this important work to do the same in our current moment.” - Aubry Threlkeld and Corey Leach, Teachers College Record
