Standing “Straight” Up to Homophobia: Straight Allies’ Involvement in GSAs

Abstract

This qualitative study captures the experiences of four straight allies' and one gay youth involvement in gay-straight alliances (GSAs) at their Ontario, Canada, high schools. Participants' motivations for becoming GSA members and their roles as allies are examined. Queer theoretical perspectives, as espoused by Britzman (1995Britzman ( , 1998 and Linville (2009), underpin the study's purpose, design, and data analysis. Queer theory was employed to both problematize the heteronormative underpinnings of education and to critique the stand-alone nature of GSAs. Safety, support, education, and advocacy-to varying degrees-were identified as the roles of participants' GSAs. Straight allies joined GSAs because they wanted to support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) people and advocate for their human rights. They developed queer-positive attitudes through befriending and/or empathizing with LGBTQ people and from their experiences with being "Othered." Findings suggest that allies felt undue pressure to address homophobic language and were compelled to combat LGBTQ-based inequities in school and society. Particular attention was also paid to exploring how two straight male allies were cultivating new forms of masculinity that refrain from denigrating LGBTQ people.

Person‐Environment Fit and Positive Youth Development in the Context of High School Gay–Straight Alliances

“…Although GSAs are meant to be inclusive of both sexual and gender minority students and heterosexual and cisgender allies, the motivations that sexual and gender minority students have for joining GSAs may differ substantively from heterosexual and heterosexual‐cisgender allies. For example, youth who currently identify as heterosexual and heterosexual‐cisgender allies may join GSAs primarily for advocacy reasons or to support sexual and gender minority peers (Lapointe, ; Scheer & Poteat, ), and thus the degree to which they report desiring or receiving GSA‐specific opportunities may differ from sexual and gender minority students. Thus, we conducted an ancillary analysis to examine whether five profiles could be identified after excluding the 87 heterosexual participants, and whether these profiles would resemble the structures of match‐mismatch in person‐environment fit identified in the original analysis.…”

“…In the absence of such victimization, LGBT youth can thrive and achieve positive psychosocial outcomes in adulthood (Russell, Toomey, Ryan, & Diaz, ). Furthermore, heterosexual–cisgender allies play an important role in helping to counteract discrimination and to serve as sources of peer support for LGBT youth (Lapointe, ). Yet, there is a dearth of literature on programs that promote positive development among LGBT youth and their allies (National Research Council & Institute of Medicine, ; Saewyc, ).…”

“…For example, the needs and goals of LGBT students in GSAs may differ substantively from members who identify as allies (i.e., heterosexual and heterosexual‐cisgender students) based on the need for specific minority identity‐related support or sense of affinity. Students who identify as allies may be drawn to GSAs to support fellow classmates, or potentially in alignment with social justice and advocacy aspirations (Goldstein & Davis, ; Lapointe, ). Although GSAs may offer a range of experiences to meet the different interests of diverse youth, there are a number of barriers and constraints in doing so.…”

Ambivalent Homoprejudice towards Gay Men: Theory Development and Validation

“…While challenging problematic talk (which might otherwise be suffered in silence; Lapointe, 2015) is a valuable aspect of heterosexuals' alliance with sexual minorities, there was evidence that such protective responses were imposing and condescending at times. For example, Neil recalled his experiences of working with a protective manager when he first came out, "she practically mothered me because she assumed that I'd fall to pieces every time I was challenged… it was this need to be taken care of because… I was less of a man and I wasn't able to stand my ground and I needed a mother figure to look after me because, obviously, I was more emotional and all these things, which I wasn't" (FG7; 813-816).…”

Queering Queer Theory in Management and Organization Studies: Notes toward queering heterosexuality

“…Crucially, it can problematize and extend current scholarship that identifies heterosexuals as the 'allies' of LGBT employees, typically within education and human development contexts (e.g. Brooks & Edwards, 2009;Lapointe, 2015).…”