Incorporating LGBTQ Issues into Family Courses: Instructor Challenges and Strategies Relative to Perceived Teaching Climate

This study investigated the experiences of 42 college/university-level instructors with regard to incorporating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) content into their family-oriented courses. Based on how supportive they rated their colleagues, departments, and institutions for their teaching about LGBTQ issues, and how open they deemed their students to learning about such perspectives, participants were categorized as working in one of three teaching climates: the least positive, moderately positive, or the most positive. Notably, the authors found that educators faced resistance from other faculty members in addition to students. Further, most faculty assessed their students as open to learning about LGBTQ issues, yet teaching about transgender and queer issues appeared to be particularly challenging for some. Perceived challenges varied by the teaching climates in which participants reportedly worked. The challenges and strategies shared by participants have implications for both faculty and administrators concerned with creating more inclusive classrooms and departments.Prior to the 1990s, sexual orientation and gender nonconformity were rarely discussed in higher education, prompting scholars to call for greater inclusion of these issues in course curricula (Allen, 1995; Simoni, 1996). Since the 1990s, college-level instructors in the social sciences have increasingly incorporated lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) issues into their courses. Despite this progress, a national higher education survey found that only slightly more than one half of respondents felt that classrooms were accepting of LGBT people, and only 22% reported that course curricula adequately represented the contributions of LGBT people (Rankin, 2003). Indeed, many instructors teach courses without discussing explicitly the experiences of LGBTQ persons and families (Hackman, 2012), and students-heterosexual, cisgender, and LGBTQ-identified-may be ignorant about such topics (Case, Stewart, & Tittsworth, 2009; Fletcher & Russell, 2001). Thus, there remains a need for further integration of LGBTQ issues into college-level family courses.Basic understanding of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression is important (Fletcher & Russell, 2001), especially for students aiming to become professionals who can competently provide services to a diverse range of individuals and families. Further, family courses are natural settings for discussing some of the most controversial social issues of the past few decades, such as marriage and parenting in the LGBTQ community. Given that citizens are often called upon to shape public policy by voting on issues such as marriage equality, the education of students (i.e., future potential voters) on such matters is paramount. The failure to incorporate LGBTQ content into family courses is a lost opportunity to explore the contemporary social and political significance of these issues (Fletcher & Russell, 2001).Inclusion of LGBTQ content in college courses is also believed to increase students' tolerance of diverse sexualities and gender presentations (Case et al., 2009; Fletcher & Russell, 2001). Inclusion of LGBTQ content in higher education may promote more tolerant attitudes toward LGBTQ people and families, and help to reduce LGBTQ individuals' exposure to stigma; indeed, LGBTQ students, faculty, and staff disproportionately experience harassment at U.S. colleges and universities (Rankin, Blumenfeld, Weber, & Fraser, 2010). Teaching about LGBTQ issues may contribute to an improved learning environment for all.Family scholars have shared their experiences of and recommendations for incorporating these topics into the classroom (Allen, 1995; Fletcher & Russell, 2001). Yet little empirical data exist on the challenges they face or the strategies they employ when teaching about LGBTQ issues. To address this gap, we collected data from 42 college and university instructors about their experiences of incorporating LGBTQ issues into their courses on families. …