QF0215SA613

Educational Disconnect for Queer Students

Violent and vast marginalization and oppression of Queer and Transgender (often referred to as “Trans”) people throughout history has resulted in our literature, figureheads, revolutions, and movements being kept from school curriculums, television, film, and modern media in order to continue the subversion of our voices. We, as young Queer people, are so often unfamiliar with and institutionally separated from our radical roots that a dysphoric divide has been created between ourselves as Queer and Trans students and the standard and means of education we are met with.

Social Studies and History curriculums have long been analyzed and manipulated alongside debates of whether or not America’s history is depicted in it’s truthful entirety. Generally, both the oppression and the revolt of Queer people are omitted in the classroom, resulting in a lack of tangible connection between ourselves and the fabric of our country and education. In addition, when Queer history is discussed, it is, in the typical fashion of institutionalized schooling, heavily abridged, whitewashed, and exclusionary of women and Transgender activists, thereby continuing the sanitization of our history and the marginalization and systematic separation of our community.

This lack of Queer representation in education materials and content is paired also with a lack of Queer professionals in school and surrounding environments; according to a 2011 study conducted by the Center for American Progress, in addition to pervasive workplace harassment, 40% of Transgender and 17 % of Queer working-aged people have been “passed over for a job” due to their gender identity or sexual orientation. When members of the LGBTQ+ community do become employed, 41% report having their workplace vandalized and/or being physically or verbally assaulted while working; as a result, Queer and Transgender professionals may keep their identities “under wraps” as it were, temporarily subscribing to the heteronormative culture to ensure their safety and job security. With schools lacking visible LGBTQ+ professional adults, young Queer and Trans people are often isolated and without adult advocacy or representation, making learning spaces hostile, ostracizing, and unwelcoming.

Equally as hostile and dangerous is the enormous lack of delineation of Queer and Trans people in Sexual Health classes. Cisexist and heteronormative explainations of bodily functions, contraception, and sex outcomes often cause Queer and Trans students, without representation, to disconnect with the materials and to feel abnormal. Many Queer people, young and old, feel that preventative measures can be obsolete for Queer sexual activities, which increases their risk of contracting STD’s and STI’s. Adversely, the pervasive and violent characterisation of HIV/AIDS as a “gay disease” stigmatizes gay men and HIV/AIDS positive individuals, and prevents or disparages discussions both in the classroom and between students.

Aside from educational disparities between cisgender and heterosexual (the pairing of which are often referred to as “cishet”) students and Queer and Trans ones, the presence of respectability politics and Queer elitism seeks to further subvert and divide the LGBTQ+ community. As mentioned prior, when our history is discussed in the classroom and in modern media, it is a sanitized adaptation of both our history and what it means now to be Queer and/or Trans in America. The LGBTQ+ rights movement has been taken under the wing of cishet pop and movie stars, and been used as a selling point for companies seeking the new, more “accepting” generation of consumers. The mission of eliminating violence, homelessness, illness, and discrimination has been reduced to a capitalist and heteronormative push for marriage equality, thereby ignoring the intersectionality that exists in the community, and finding comfort in simple representatives and the title of “ally”. As marriage equality has become a talking point for politicians, celebrities, educators, and prominent human rights organizations, Queer and Trans young people whose lives are affected more by the fear of violence, unemployment, and homeless due to their identities than their right to marry are divided from the affluent, white, and generally cisgender Queer population that has been chosen to represent the community. This elitist divide results in disunity of the community and an even greater sense of isolation for Queer and Trans students, which is exactly how the dominant culture of heteronormativity and cissexism seeks to maintain our marginalization.

Lastly, as Queer and Trans rights movements continue to be represented as white, comfortable, and non-radical, the intersections of gender, race, class, and ability (among others) are ignored detrimentally. Each identity presents unique disparities in the education a student will receive, and when paired with being Queer or Trans, one’s education, health, and future are seriously jeopardized. Even within the community, racism, sexism, ableism, and classism exclude members who need unity and support the most; without both outward and inward recognition of intersectionality within the LGBTQ+ community, we will be unable to truly be liberated and to seek equity in education.

In conclusion, being that education serves as a cornerstone of mental and financial health, heteronormativity and cissexism in American culture being inherently present in the education system turns schools into degenerative and violent spaces for Queer and Trans students. At this rate, schools are a fundamental role in the systemic push to undermine and fail Queer and Trans Americans, widening the disparities between ourselves and the dominant culture every day.

Sources:

"Gay and Transgender People Face High Rates of Workplace Discrimination and Harassment." Name.N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2015.