In response to the rising importance of human rights, social work student attitudes toward human rights and the effect of human rights course content on these attitudes were assessed. Descriptive results from a sample of 77 students pointed to a few areas of low support for the human rights philosophy, specifically rights related to mental…

One of the implicit assumptions in survey research is lower response rates by sexual minorities than by nonminorities. With rapidly changing public attitudes toward same-sex marriage, we reconsider this assumption. We used data from the 2013 and 2014 National Health Interview Survey that include contact history data for all sample families as well…

Same-sex marriage has received much scholarly attention in the United States in the past decade. Yet we know little about how same-sex couples experience marriage. In this article, I present findings from in-depth interviews with 32 legally married gay men in Iowa. I focus on their experiences with families of origin and investigate the…

This article represents background material that can be used e along with the "United States v. Windsor" case to teach Constitutional Law (particularly federalism, due process, and equal protection) and the legal debate surrounding same-sex marriage in America. Professors may assign it as background reading before or after a…

The current study used an online survey to explore the anticipated impact of legalized marriage on partners in same-sex couples living in California. These data were gathered prior to the California Supreme Court decision in May 2008 legalizing same-sex marriage, which held sway for 5 months before California Proposition 8 eliminating same-sex…

Recent articles on teaching controversial topics in schools have employed Michael Hand's distinction between "directive teaching," in which teachers attempt to persuade students of correct positions on topics that are not rationally controversial, and "nondirective teaching," in which teachers avoid persuading students on…

This collaborative classroom research study examines the ways in which preschoolers made sense of same-sex marriage through a critical reading of the book "King and King" by De Haan and Nijland. Acknowledging the importance of community in doing critical and political work, this article details the ways in which a preschool teacher and a…

Catholic schools have an important role in helping cultivate the future adult laity, especially given the continuing numerical decline and ageing of clergy and vowed religious persons. As there is demonstrable plurality among the laity on some issues that are controversial within the Church, however, and receiving and responding to controversy is…

Two years after the legalization of same-sex marriages in the Netherlands, 65% of the Dutch population largely or completely disagrees with the statement "gay marriage should be abolished." This article shows, by way of multinomial logistic regression analysis of survey data, which socializing agents influence one's attitude toward…

School students should be taught about the law and this includes rights education. The global human rights education (HRE) project focuses on universal human rights and has a strongly utopian orientation, drawing as it does on international declarations and principles of human rights law. International human rights law is, however, at best a…

Over the past few decades, a growing number of same-sex parents have joined school communities nationwide as their children reached school age (Byard, Kosciw, & Bartkiewicz, 2013). The already large and growing population of LGBQT parent-headed families necessitates the need for educators to examine the ways anti-LGBQT bias and behavior…

From 2000 through 2008, initiatives proposing to ban same-sex marriage were on the ballot in 28 states. Although same-sex marriage opponents scored lopsided victories in most cases, voting outcomes varied substantially at the county level. This article examines sources of that variation and argues that opposition to same-sex marriage should be…

Same-sex marriage is part of a global civil rights struggle for LGBQ rights. How this movement is framed, advanced, and critiqued across the globe can be linked to how young people in schools are prepared to deliberate social issues in the political sphere. This article examines national history books as cultural artifacts that present what is…

Seven hundred and twenty-two undergraduates from a large southeastern university in the U.S. and 368 undergraduates from The University of Iceland in the Reykjavik, Iceland completed a 100 item Internet questionnaire revealing their (mostly white and 20-24 years old) attitudes on various relationship and sexual issues. Significant differences…

Although most research investigating diversity courses focuses on attitudes toward racial minorities and women, these courses may also influence student attitudes toward lesbians and gay men. The current study assessed student awareness of heterosexual privilege, prejudice against lesbians and gay men, and support for same-sex marriage. Students…