Table Of ContentLGBTQI Parented Families
and Schools
Exploring the experiences of LGBTQI+ parents and their children and
their relationship with schools, this book illuminates how these families
work with schools, and how schools do, or do not, support children of
LGBTQI+ parents. Based on empirical research and making space for the
voices of both parents and children, the research extends beyond previous
studies of gay and lesbian parenting to include bisexual, transgender,
queer, non-binary, and intersex parents. The authors consider the
influence of pressure groups, school inspection frameworks, legislation,
and the media, and examine the ways in which some schools are working
to become more inclusive.
Anna Carlile is Senior Lecturer in Inclusive Education at Goldsmiths,
University of London, UK.
Carrie Paechter is Professor of Education and Director of the Nottingham
Centre for Children, Young People and Families, Nottingham Trent
University, UK.
Routledge Critical Studies in Gender
and Sexuality in Education
Series Editors Wayne Martino, Emma Renold,
Goli Rezai-Rashti, Jessica Ringrose
and Nelson Rodriguez
Schooling Sexual Cultures
Visual Research in Sexuality Education
Louisa Allen
The Politics and Pedagogies of Liking
Adam Greteman and Kevin J. Burke
Queering Families, Schooling Publics
Keywords
Anne M. Harris, Stacy Holman Jones,
Sandra L. Faulkner, and Eloise D. Brook
Boys, Masculinities and Reading
Gender Identity and Literacy as Social Practice
Laura Scholes
Young bisexual women’s experiences in secondary schools
Mary-Anne McAllum
Hidden Sexualities of South African Teachers
Black Male Educators and Same-sex Desire
Thabo Msibi
Black Men Teaching in Urban Schools
Reassessing Masculinity
Ed Brockenbrough
LGBTQI Parented Families and Schools
Visibility, Representation, and Pride
Anna Carlile and Carrie Paechter
For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com
LGBTQI Parented
Families and Schools
Visibility, Representation, and Pride
Anna Carlile and Carrie Paechter
First published 2018
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,
an informa business
© 2018 Taylor & Francis
The right of Anna Carlile and Carrie Paechter to be identified as
author of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-94072-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-67414-8 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
This book is dedicated to the parents, teachers,
children and young people who generously
gave us their time, ideas and experiences.
Contents
1 Introduction 1
2 Ideologies of Parenting and Schooling: Visibility,
Invisibility and Alternative Family Forms 12
3 Media Representations of LGBTQI+ Parented
Families 35
4 LGBTQI+ Parented Families and Their
Visibility/Invisibility in School Policies 55
5 LGBTQI+ Parents’ Perspectives on Their
Children’s Schools 73
6 Experiences of Children of LGBTQI+ Parents
at School 109
7 ‘Usualizing’ LGBTQI+ People and Issues in
Schools: The Educate & Celebrate Approach
to Creating School Change 136
8 Conclusion: Ways Forward for LGBTQI+ Parented
Families and Schools 163
Index 168
1 I ntroduction
It is January 2003. My eight year old daughter is showing me a book by
Jacqueline Wilson, The Illustrated Mum (Wilson, 1999). On the front
cover is a cartoon picture of a 30 something woman with curly hair and
tattoos, like me. ‘Look mummy’, she says, ‘it’s just like you!’ ‘Is she a
lesbian mum?’ I ask, my heart pounding with grateful hope. I so desper-
ately want visibility for my children’s sake. ‘No silly, she’s got tattoos’,
said my daughter. Later on I flick through the book, rapidly picking up
the narrative. It seems that the illustrated mother is not a very attentive
or well-organized parent. But I am still grateful. Flawed as she is, and not
even queer, I am still happy that my daughter can experience some sem-
blance of her own family life as validated in a book by Jacqueline Wilson.
Anna
Why We Wrote This Book
This is a book about the experiences of LGBTQI+ parents and their
children, and their relationship with schools. In it we look at how these
‘alternative’ families work with schools, and at how schools do, or do
not, support their children. There has previously been a range of research
on and parenting books for lesbian mothers (Pollack & Vaughn, 1987;
Arnup, 1995; Wright, 1998; Johnson & O’Connor, 2001; Ryan-Flood,
2009; Taylor, 2009), and research on gay male fathers, particularly those
who had adopted their children (Bigner, 1999; Stacey, 2006). Often this
work focused on families in big cities, and was limited to the opinions and
experiences of the parents (Wienke & Hill, 2013; Shelton, 2013; Hequem-
bourg & Farrell, 1999), rather than including children’s voices directly
(though see Stonewall (2010)). Much of this work remains useful despite
the rapidly changing legislative and social climate. Nevertheless, much
research on lesbians and gay men ignores a wider range of parents who
are LGBTQI+. We wanted to discover what parenting is like for a broader
group of LGBTQI+ people, and, as educators, we were especially interested
in these families’ relationships with the children’s schools, both formally
with school staff and processes, and in social contact with other parents.
Schooling is a central part of life for most parents and children: we wanted
