ABSTRACT

This topical book explores the ally perspective in advocating for Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender, Queer and Inter-sex (LGBTQI+) human rights across American, Canadian, and Australian educational contexts.

This book aims to clarify the terms and dynamics of mobilizing heterosexual and cisgender privilege in the interests of promoting safe, welcoming and inclusive educational communities for all stake holders, particularly those students who self- identify as LGBTQI+. By highlighting concrete examples of allies engaged in participatory collaborative research, and by investigating the historical and theoretical dimensions of ally work more generally, this volume presents a comprehensive research account of allies’ role in education, advocacy and activism.

This book will benefit researchers, academics, and educators in higher education with an interest in gender and sexuality, the sociology of education and schools and schooling more broadly. Those specifically interested in gender studies, as well as the politics of higher education, will also benefit from this book.

chapter 1|9 pages

Introduction

LGBTQI+ allyship: an exploration in education, advocacy, activism and participatory collaborative research

chapter 2|30 pages

The LGBTQI+ ally movement in North America and Australia

From Gay-Straight Alliances to Safe Schools Coalition and university networks

chapter 3|26 pages

From the individual to the corporation

Contemporary and historical definitions of the LGBTQI+ ally

chapter 4|25 pages

The LGBTQI+ ally movement for marriage equality

Media, politics and legislation in Australian, American and Canadian communities

chapter 5|24 pages

Unjust spaces and educational institutions

Key questions about research into gender and sexuality and the role of the ally

chapter 7|19 pages

Allied work and teachers

Disrupting or sustaining regimes of normalized genders and sexualities

chapter 8|21 pages

The high school prom

Rites of passage, heteronormativity and struggles for LGBTQI+ students and their allies

chapter 9|22 pages

The celebrity LGBTQI+ ally

Local and global communities

chapter 10|14 pages

Conclusion