Addressing Homophobia Through Distance Education: Possibilities for BC Schools

 by Caffyn J. Kelley

British Columbia (BC) schools are unsafe for sexual minorities, which comprise an estimated 7½ % of students (McCreary Centre Society, 1999). Change is mandated, and resources for implementing change have long been available. Yet change is not occurring in most BC schools. New provincial strategies are needed. This paper proposes Web-based distance education as a way to provide resources for sexual minorities and contend with heterosexism and homophobia in school cultures. Particular characteristics of sexual minority oppression are considered. Three strategies are suggested to address a complex environmental problem and meet the urgent needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, homosexual, queer and questioning (LGBT) students.

Addressing Homophobia is Imperative

For LGBT students, school environments can be described as a toxic combination of silence and violence. In classrooms, sexual minority students are invisible. Science, history, social studies and health are taught as if there was no such thing as homosexuality. In school hallways, sexual minority youth are hyper-visible. They face insults, isolation, and physical violence (Blackburn, 2004; Mufioz-Plaza, Quinn & Rounds, 2002; Pohan & Bailey, 1998; Walton, 2004). Increasing numbers of LGBT youth self-identify in school, despite the punishing consequences (Loutzenheiser & MacIntosh, 2004). A study of BC youth found that within one year, 63% of LGBT school students were verbally abused, 43% were threatened with violence, and 17% were physically assaulted (McCreary Centre Society, 1999). Sexual minority youth are often forced to leave school, suffering lifelong consequences.

Can Sexual Orientation be Approached as Minority Issue?

LGBT students are not a minority like any other. In crafting a distance education program to serve their needs, the particular qualities of sexual minority identities require consideration.

Sexual Minorities Experience Severe Social and Cultural Isolation

Sexual minorities are not born into a family environment that supports their identity. Indeed, many LGBT youth lose their family’s economic and social support when they come out, or are exposed (McCreary Centre Society, 1999). These youth, and the adults who surround them, are likely to be “culturally illiterate” (Grace, 2004), and know nothing of LGBT history, politics, and survival strategies. Sexual minority students experience cognitive isolation (in the absence of information), emotional isolation (in an environment of negative stereotypes), and social isolation (when they are rejected by or hidden from peers and family) (Mufioz-Plaza et. al., 2002). LGBT students may be far too vulnerable to “come out” and join a dialogue on sexual minority issues. This may be particularly true for students experiencing intersecting oppressions, including LGBT students of colour, or impoverished LGBT youth (Talbert, 2004).

 All students are affected by homophobia

All students are directly and indirectly victimized by homophobia – whether they are victims, perpetrators, or bystanders in an unsafe environment (Roffman, 2000; Fineran, 2002). Recent well-publicized examples of dangers faced by heterosexual students in BC include a fourteen-year-old boy who committed suicide because he was bullied for being gay (Kirkby, 2001) and another student whose homophobic classmates made his school a “living hell,” in the words of a Supreme Court judge (Board of School Trustees of School District N. 44 v. Jubran et al., 2003). Homophobia keeps all boys and girls from achieving healthy relationships with one another and with their gender identity. Fear of being perceived as LGBT may lead youth to become sexually active before they are ready, and limit emotional intimacy with same-sex friends (Pohan & Bailey, 1998).

Sexual Identity is Complex and Fluid 

The category “sexual minority” encompasses very diverse identities. In addition, youth may be uncertain about their sexuality. Sexual identifications may change several times over the course of a week or a lifetime. Youth who self-identify as heterosexual may have same-gender sexual encounters. A survey of LGBT-identified youth found “participants described a more fluid sexuality than that which is implied by contemporary definitions of sexual orientation” (Mufioz-Plaza et. al., 2002, p. 61).

 Educators have critiqued the application of a minority model to issues of sexual orientation.[i] (Ford, 2004; Grace 2004; Loutzenheiser & MacIntosh, 2004; Talbert 2004; Highwater, 1997). They argue that education promoting simple tolerance of sexual minorities (or sympathy for “afflicted” youth) will not open safe space in schools for LGBT students. These writers invite recognition of how all teachers and students are implicated in – and constrained by – the construction of conceptual and material spaces excluding sexual minorities (Britzman, 1995). They invite us to move from tolerance to transformation through a critique of institutionalized heterosexism (Roffman, 2000).

 The above considerations point to the importance of developing programs to engage all youth, not just self-identified LGBT youth. The add-and-stir approach, which treats LGBT issues as “pedagogical isolates” (Loutzenheiser & MacIntosh, 2004, p. 153), is inadequate. Schools must be encouraged to create a safe environment for all students by examining and rejecting prejudices that are interwoven with curriculum and community norms (Roffman, 2000).

Three Areas in which Distance Education Could Play a Role

There are at least three key areas in which distance education could play and immediate and important role in addressing the homophobic environment in BC schools.

Distance Education Could Address the Immediate Special Needs of LGBT Students

Special needs of LGBT and questioning students can be addressed with special education services. Students could interact flexibly with an online program offering curriculum in LGBT issues, studying either full-time or part-time online. The Ministry has approved the concept of blended programs that allow students to stay in high school while taking some courses online (BC Ministry of Education, 2004b). Students who are empowered by their studies to understand homophobia as a social – not personal – problem may be encouraged to challenge the toxic environment in their schools, thereby assisting all youth (Blackburn, 2004).

Through creating an online “electronic village,” sexual minority students in the province’s big cities could interact with isolated rural youth. Such a dialogue could foster a vital sense of group belonging among vulnerable students. Using the Web to link a city-based classroom[ii] with rural learners could also provide the economic basis for a viable program (Thomas & McDonell, 1995). It could create opportunities for rural youth to interact with LGBT culture and history while still at home, and nourished by the places and families they were born to.

Distance Education Could Build a Network of Informed Allies

Thomas and McDonell (1995) point to the importance of human relationships and visible leadership in minority education. The BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) has developed an anti-homophobia workshop offered free of charge to school districts willing to enroll thirty staff as participants. But School Boards across the province are reluctant to tackle the controversial issue of homophobia. BCTF could help to address this problem by developing their anti-homophobia workshop as an online educational program. Such a program has the potential to link and support leaders, building a network of informed allies in BC schools.

Online Curriculum-Linked Resources Could Help to Transform School Environments 

Age-appropriate, curriculum-linked, distance education resources[iii] – available to all schools through the Internet – could play a vital role in transforming the toxic environment of silence and violence that typifies BC schools for sexual minorities. With relevant educational materials and instructor-moderated discussion groups, this program could encourage critical thinking about gender, sexuality, diversity, power and the abuse of power. Such resources would open opportunities for concerned youth to speak back to curriculum (Loutzenheiser and MacIntosh) and address homophobia in teachers and fellow students. It could support students’ agency and resilience by giving them methods and opportunities to work for social change (Blackburn, 2004; Talbert, 2004). If successful, students and teachers will begin to assume collective responsibility for eliminating institutionalized heterosexism and creating a safe school environment.

Conclusion

Many factors militate against equity-oriented change in BC schools. School personnel do not know what homophobia is or how to address it. Some principals, teachers and trustees have intolerant attitudes. Powerful community groups oppose the extension of equal rights to sexual minorities (Gorham, 2005). The law is clear. Schools are required to address homophobia (BC Ministry of Education, 2004a; BC School Trustees Association, 2003), and public officials may not impose discriminatory burdens on sexual minorities because of public animosity towards them (Roffman, 2000). With online educational resources developed to serve the entire province, distance education can help schools make this necessary change.

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