An Academic Course That Teaches Heterosexual Students to be Allies to LGBT Communities: A Qualitative Analysis

The Effectiveness of Using New Instructors to Teach an LGBT Ally Development Course

“…We used the qualitative methodology that was used by Ji et al (2009). The authors of this study constituted the research team.…”

“…As reported in Ji et al (2009), some of the students who previously took the course commented in their papers that the quality of the instructor was important in helping students make positive gains. It was helpful to take the course with a heterosexual instructor who was open and honest about his own struggles as an LGBT ally, which helped them realize their own struggles.…”

“…In their study, Ji, DuBois, and Finnessy (2009) described the impacts of an academic course on students who were learning to become allies to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities. The first author designed the LGBT ally course according to the LGBT Ally Identity Development Theory, as described in the Ji et al (2009) study.…”

“…The first author designed the LGBT ally course according to the LGBT Ally Identity Development Theory, as described in the Ji et al (2009) study. The course assignments were designed to increase students' level of LGBT related knowledge, attitude, skills, and interpersonal experiences, and students reported that they felt more confident in identifying themselves as allies to LGBT communities.…”

“…We examined student responses to three new instructors who taught a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) ally development course as described in a study by Ji, Finnessy, and Dubois (2009). Our analysis of the responses indicated that students did improve as LGBT allies in ways similar to those reported in the 2009 study.…”