Queer Voices from the Classroom

Edited by:
Hidehiro Endo, Akita International University
Paul Chamness Iida

A volume in the series: Research in Queer Studies. Editor(s): Hidehiro Endo, Akita International University.

Published 2013

This inaugural volume of the new book series, Research in Queer Studies is a collection of memoirs or short narrative essays in which lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex or queer PK-12 teachers and/or administrators (either “out” or “not out”) recount their personal experiences as a queer teachers. The authors of these stores write about significant experiences that describe how their sexual identity has shaped who they are today as teachers/administrators, by answering the following questions:

• In light of your sexual identity, how did you become who you are today?
• Why did you decide to become a teacher? What role did your sexual identity play in that decision?
• What kinds of significant moments, including queer issues (e.g., bullying) regarding students and/or yourself, have you experience in your teaching?
• In light of who you are as an individual, what do you hope to achieve and become as a queer teacher in the future?

CONTENTS
Introduction, Hidehiro Endo and Paul Chamness Miller. SECTION I: TEACHER AND QUEER IDENTITIES. Memoir of a Teacher, Jonathan Shiller. Are You Married? Ryan. Gaying up the Teacher: From Ungay Teaching to a Gay Curriculum, Arthur T. Costigan. Queer Teacher: A Portrait of Masking, Robert Durocher. What Kind of Teacher Are You? Hilary Lustick. Now, We’re Going to Make a Family Tree: My Journey out of the Closet, Sarah Moon. The Politics of Who I am Now, Bianca D’Allesandro. SECTION II: CELEBRATING DIVERSITY, ACCEPTING DIFFERENCES. Embracing Visibility, Rebecca Mui. Shame, Jonah Frank. Oil, Water, and Masculinity: A Story of a Gender Nonconformist in Texas, Michael A. Thorson, Jr. This Time as Mr. Berkley, Sam Berkley. The Right Path is not Always Straight, Michelle Lee. SECTION III: HEAR ME OUT: BEING PROUD OF WHO I AM. One of These Teachers is Not Like the Other, Jennifer Rosenbaum. Looking, Learning, Longing: Queer E/Affects of Images, Bob Phillips. Sensitivity, Tonya Jarrell. Moments of Truth, Emily. Student, Educator, Mother, and Advocate, Becky L. Bridgman. The Calm After the Storm, José A. García. Kaleidoscopic Musings on a Queer Praxis, Adrian D. Martin. SECTION IV: OUT ADVOCATE FOR THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY. Make a Difference, Change a Life, Maree A. Bednar. By Any Other Name: From Silence to Selfhood, Karen Zaino. The Fighter, Terence P. Friedrichs. From Finding Myself to Founding Alliance, Tina Owen. About the Authors.

REVIEWS
"The greatest strength of this volume is the opportunity it presents to learn of the experiences of LGBT teachers in their own words. All of the authors responded to the editors’ call for personal narratives about their experiences as LGBT teachers. Each then wrote an essay addressing four separate prompts. The questions guided the teachers to discuss (a) their identities as queer teachers, (b) how their identities influenced their decision to become teachers, (c) significant moments regarding their lives as teachers, and (d) their hopes as queer teachers." Glenda M. Russell University of Colorado in PsycCRITIQUES