Engaging LGBTQIA+ Identities in Teaching: Considerations for Graduate Instructors and for Those Teaching Graduate Students

Abstract

Recognizing that LGBTQIA+ people continue to face unwelcoming environments on college campuses and in classrooms specifically, this chapter considers the role of engaging LGBTQIA+ identities in teaching. In particular, little research exists that examines how LGBTQIA+ identities influence how graduate students interact with others in their classrooms or shape how they approach their teaching. This chapter begins with a brief overview of the literature on LGBTQIA+ identities in the classroom as it relates to students and instructors. Then, the authors provide insight into how structural oppression tied to LGBTQIA+ identities may inform the challenges that graduate students have in their classrooms – both as students and as instructors. Next, they offer strategies and professional development opportunities targeted at faculty hoping to support LGBTQIA+ graduate students, as well as ones that LGBTQIA+ graduate students themselves can consider. They conclude with future directions for research specific to LGBTQIA+ graduate students.