A Matter of Public Concern: The First Amendment and Equal Employment for LGBT Educators

Abstract

The history of antigay discrimination in schools underscores the notion that who is speaking can be perceived as much of a threat to heteronormativity as what is being said. Suppressing gay bodies has been the most severe means of censoring expressions of sexuality, illustrated in Cold War-era purges of professors, teachers, school officials, and students. 1 In the 1970s an expanding gay rights movement disrupted this most forceful period of repression, and battles over lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) teacher employment shifted to the courts and statutory terrain. 2 At that point, LGBT teachers based their defense against loss of employment upon First Amendment freedom of speech and Fourteenth Amendment equal-protection claims. The logic of these constitutional arguments, however, failed to "adequately guarantee gay men and lesbians that they may 'dare speak their names,'" prompting one scholar to assert, "the central liberty at stake is the liberty to represent oneself as gay or lesbian in the public sphere." 3 Indeed, it is hard to imagine taking Karen Graves

A rapid review of end-of-life needs in the LGBTQ+ community and recommendations for clinicians

“…Our findings highlighted how system-level barriers such as government and institutional policies (or lack thereof) shape an LGBTQ+ individual’s experience at end of life. Lack of protective policies such as discrimination or marital laws impact an individual’s safety in these settings 73 , 74 and create additional distal stressors. Furthermore, enacted stigma is often exacerbated when institutions lack anti-discrimination policies and/or other protocols to protect LGBTQ+ individuals.…”

Social Justice and Teacher Professionalism in the United States in Historical Perspective: Fractured Consensus

“…As a result, LGBTQ teachers, unmarried and childless, were able to teach undisturbed until the Cold War and McCarthyism hunted down all possible "security risks" to White, Christian, patriotic, heteronormative public employees. Third-wave feminism created employment opportunities for women beyond classroom teaching, coinciding with the rise in LGBTQ civil rights and the opening of opportunities for more public school personnel to disclose their sexualities without risk of losing their jobs (e.g., Eckes & McCarthy, 2008;Graves, 2009Graves, , 2018.…”

Inclusive relationships, sex and health education: Why the moral panic?

“…When the school workplace is hostile or toxic for LGBT teachers it can lead to burnout and a loss of human talent in teaching. Graves (2018) states that aspects of the teaching profession differentiate it from other types of public sector employment due to unsubstantiated but persistent fears that LGBT teachers will 'recruit' students to homosexuality. Henderson (2019) observes that in studies that focus specifically on LGBT teacher identities are rife with 'historical discomforts specific to homosexualities and schooling'.…”