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

SJ: Yeah, well one of them actually is very quiet. The one that did the petition is very
head strong and she she she’s definitely got a string personality, the other one however is
very quiet and timid yet she was still confident enough to stand up for who she was um
[//] what was the question?
AM: Um also from what you’ve said about your school it seems like the culture for
dealing with bullying is very strong. Perhaps compared to some other schools.
SJ: Yeah.
AM: So do you think that’s helped these two individuals say hang on no I’m don’t
standing for this.
SJ: Yeah I think it has definitely. And I don’t know what it’s like throughout the country
in terms of the way, obviously there must be massive variations but I mean in the schools
that I teach near, like the schools that are in Harrogate and things I would, on the whole, I
would have thought they all deal with bullying very well compared to the whole country.
AM: Yeah and geographical variations in something that will happen.
SJ: Yeah.
AM: Um what about the effects, you’ve just sort of touched upon this actually on your
own personal experiences, the short and long term effects of this bullying on LGBT or
LGBT perceived teachers? I mean you’ve mentioned that your personal experiences at
school are now perhaps reflected in you not feeling comfortable to be out as a teacher at
school. But if you sort of move yourself away from that a bit and think about your
experience now as an LGBT teacher in school and what you are going through, OK you
are not having any explicit bullying, but you are having to sort of constantly hide your
sexuality…
SJ: {ummm}
AM: …and hide the fact that you’ve got a female partner on a daily basis like an ongoing
process. How is that affecting you on a short term basis and how do you think it will
affect you on a long term basis?
SJ: Well on a short term basis it’s um [//] like in terms of when I’m at school and I’m
having to hide these things it makes me, people at school think I’m quite a closed person
and that I don’t give much, tell people much about myself in general.
AM: Yeah.
SJ: Um and that is because I don’t want to because you never know when you are gonna
slip up. Um not in terms of me slipping up and saying oh by the way I do have girlfriend,
but slipping up in terms of me [//] it’s difficult to lie all the time. And it’s difficult to like
if somebody says to you what did you do on the weekend? A simple question like that,
um like if I say I went to the cinema, who did you go to the cinema with? Oh just a friend.