For more than two decades, there has been a concerted effort in Albuquerque Public School District (APS) in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA to educate adults about LGBTQ students and the need for advocacy so that these students have the same access to education as other students in a safe and respectful environment. Populations within the district…

Classrooms reflect and contribute to normative sex, gender and sexuality categories in school culture, rules and rituals. Texts, materials, curriculum and the discourse we employ as educators perpetuate the pervasiveness of these categories. This paper explores some of the less visible ways in which sex and gender categories are constructed in US…

This paper discusses contradictory imperatives in contemporary Australian pedagogy--the notions of "controversy" and "diversity" as they relate the subjects of genders and sexualities. It is a common view that both gender and sexuality are important organising features of identity, society and politics. Consistent effort is…

The tradition of anti-homophobia education is often characterized by the conflation of gender and sexuality in which oppression arising from gender non-normativity is subsumed within the sexuality-based concepts of homophobia and heterosexism. This paper presents the view that oppression arising from stringent gender normativity should instead be…

This paper discusses the book "Hello Sailor! The Hidden History of Gay Life at Sea" published in 2003 by Paul Baker and Jo Stanley, re-interpreted as a landmark temporary exhibition "Hello Sailor! Gay Life on the Ocean Wave" at the Merseyside Maritime Museum, Liverpool from where it travelled in 2007 to other maritime museums. Based largely on…

This article provides an account of the role that agential realism might play in sex research, intersexuality and education, as well as the possibilities this opens up for research, institutions, policy, intersex communities and understandings of intersexuality. The account begins by addressing key issues in the field of sex research,…

While much has been written about the right of access to education, less attention has been given to the right to education in a form 'directed towards the full development of the human personality.' To understand what this might mean, it is important to locate discussion within the broader frame of human rights. For too long, intersex people have…

This paper represents our collective engagements and productive struggles with queer pedagogical-methodological (im)possibilities across a constellation of educational contexts. Following in the footsteps of queer theorists-pedagogues before us, we approach queerness as a horizon, a unique opportunity to experiment, take risks, explore new forms…

Sexuality is something that children experience from an early age. It may be a cause of individual concern and anxiety, but is seldom, if ever, deconstructed at any stage of a child's education. Institutionalized fear and misunderstandings of Section 28 (1988) have effectively removed discussion of sexuality, homosexual or otherwise, from the…

It is well documented that the most effective sexuality education programmes employ a whole-school learning approach. More specifically, when schools and their leaders and teachers embrace such an approach, they view student learning in the context of the whole experience of being at school -- from the classroom, to the home and the partnerships…

Using collective biographical narrative, this paper examines the ways in which school spaces--even in socioculturally and politically conservative locations--might serve to empower trans youth. The authors explore the ways that teacher, peer and curricular interactions enabled them to navigate a range of cultural spaces and arrive at authentic…

This paper explores how young people of diverse genders and sexualities share information about sex, sexualities and genders. Formal approaches to education often fail to consider young people's communication and information exchange practices, including the circulation of peer knowledge through social media. In the wake of recent Australian…

Sexuality education in Australian schools continues to struggle in its ability and willingness to address many of the broader social issues associated with sexuality, such as the needs of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, intersex and queer (GLBTIQ) students. Studies involving teachers have demonstrated that a reticence on their part to teach…

Research shows that teachers' and educators' responses to gender diversity issues in schools either improves or limits the experiences of students. The school counsellor has an important role to play in this process by working closely with other stakeholders to advocate for transgender, intersex and genderqueer (TIG) students. Following a review…