ABSTRACT
Many teachers in my study found representing their own sexual identities in class to be a complex process, perhaps especially when lesbian and gay themes were being discussed. With this subject matter, teachers’ and learners’ attention tended to be drawn to how their own and others’ sexual identities were being perceived. This chapter first looks at teachers’ responses when students asked if they (or a colleague) were gay. It then examines gay and lesbian teachers’ reasons for and against coming out in class as well as some self-representation issues that straight teachers experienced when teaching lesbian/gay themes. I suggest that the sexual identity dilemmas and negotiations of teachers-whether gay or straight, in or out-can inform language pedagogies by offering insights into selfrepresentation, the emphasis being not who is gay (or who is out), but why and how systems of difference (in this case, sexual difference) are constructed and imbued with meaning.
