Chapter 6: Introduction

Whether they are beginners or veterans, queer educators often find they have an extra cognitive, psychological, and emotional responsibility placed upon them as they not only negotiate all of the professional responsibilities of being a teacher—things like content proficiency, classroom management, and engaging pedagogy—but then also have the added burden of negotiating the collective homophobia and heterosexism they face when they are committed to authentic living. It makes an already demanding profession unnecessarily more taxing and, unfortunately, some queer educators leave the profession altogether because of it. Of course, teachers leaving the profession can happen in queer-friendly places where policies and laws are on record protecting against discrimination, but there might be even more flight—some refer to it as “brain drain”—from places that have antigay and/or hostile laws and policies (Plante, 2013).