Non-Normative Gender and Sexual Identities in Schools: - Schools Out

AM: Yeah.
SJ: And it, you could, so they’re practically assuming the same thing about me aren’t
they. That if I’m in the female changing room that I’m in there for the wrong reason.
AM: Sure.
SJ: If they know I’m gay.
AM: I think there should perhaps be a difference there between gender and sex…
SJ {umm}
AM: …but there isn’t that acknowledgement so, um, OK. I think you have perhaps
covered this in what you have already said, but are they any specific times where you
haven’t, deliberately haven’t disclosed your sexual orientation for fear of negative
reactions or explicit prejudices?
SJ: Specific times?
AM: Ur well any times?
SJ: Well its everyday (laughs) do you know what I mean, like literally everyday that I’m
at school they’ll be something that crops up where I have to hide it or not disclose it cos I
just I just don’t feel comfortable with anybody knowing.
AM: So it’s an ongoing process?
SJ: Yeah it’s an ongoing thing that is that’s um ur not a, well yeah a major, one of my
biggest issues in life is the fact that I cant tell people at school that I’m gay. I don’t feel
comfortable telling them. That’s one of the main issues I have in my life, it makes my life
so much more complicated [//] (sigh)
AM: Right. OK. Who do you envisage making trouble for you and why? Is it teachers
and pupils or mainly pupils?
SJ: (sigh) I dunno it’s all them. It’s obviously all in my head, you never know how people
are going to react until you do it, but um pupils mainly because I don’t think they would
understand as much, they don’t understand as much what it is and there’s so many of
them you could never sort of, you’d never get a chance to explain it to them, you’d just
have to let them believe what they want to believe because you could never explain
anything to them. Whereas members of staff I would feel like, particularly to my
department, that I’m obviously closer to I could sit down and speak to them about it and
explain it if they happen to find out on their own or if I chose to tell them I could
obviously explain it to them. So I would hope that they would understand. But having
said that I have heard homopho, well more just in jest, homophobic comments made by
my own department as well…
AM: {right}