Tuesday, January 18, 5:00-6:00 pm Eastern Time
Presenter: Kyle S. Whipple, University of Wisconsin Eau Claire
Description: Educational systems are dominated by white, heterosexual, cisgendered women (Gray, Bitterman, and Goldring, 2013). Given the heterosexist context of society in general and schools in particular, the transition from a university teacher preparation program to student teaching to inservice teacher can be challenging for LGBTQ+ individuals (Benson et al, 2014). Students who identify as LGBTQ+, upon becoming public-school teachers, may move from a space of relative freedom and safety to one of vulnerability (Whipple, 2018). While job protections are now in place for LGBTQ+ teachers nationwide, there continue to be policies in place, such as No Promo Homo laws, that create barriers to LGBTQ+ inservice teachers. The continued existence of these types of policies compel teachers who identify as LGBTQ+ to repeatedly navigate whether or not to be out (publicly open about one’s sexuality and/or gender identity) at a school, even though out teachers could serve as role models for LGBTQ+ students (Whipple, 2018). This webinar will discuss the details of creating the LGBTQ+ Teacher Mentors group and providing access to a social network of LGBTQ+ inservice teachers in an effort to help retention.