ABSTRACT
The previous chapter explored LGBTQ+ parents’ positive experiences and recommendations for schools. This chapter summarises and draws conclusions from the literature and data across the book overall, for various stakeholders. It opens with LGBTQ+ parents’ reflections on their enjoyment of ideals for schools taking a pluralistic approach to their families, within broader conceptualisations of family diversities. It compares findings across the Australian study of 73 LGBTQ+ parents’ quantitative and qualitative data about their perspectives on key support features in schools and their importance, benefit and occurrence. Affirming school examples were rare, even when searched for within a strengths-based lens; support was one-off, ad-hoc or unclear. This chapter promotes LGBTQ+ parents’ ideals for a ‘Business-As-Usual’ low-fuss pluralistic inclusion model in which a broad range of LGBTQ+ parenting individuals and family constellations are normalised within a pluralistic vision of all families as broadly diverse in many other ways. This chapter further considers the transferability of this model and implications for politicians and policymakers, university and teacher educators, school educators and researchers. It concludes with key points on how LGBTQ+ parents’ wants can be facilitated, pushing stakeholders not to throw the proverbial gayby baby out with the media’s sensationalising bathwater.
