A Multiple Case Study of Gay Teacher Identify Process and Gender Experience in the Workplace.

• Main Authors: YUAN, I-NUNG, 袁逸農
• Other Authors: KUO, MING-TANG
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/42224244453058252331

碩士 === 國立屏東教育大學 === 教育學系碩士班 === 102 === President Obama announced earlier that he supports same sex couples' right to get married, which has prompted roars of protest from religious groups; besides, survey showed that 40 percent of the Americans believe that homosexuality is a sin. According to Reuters, homosexual and bisexual teachers in many Irish schools risk discrimination or even the sack if they reveal their sexuality, thanks to a law that permits religious employers to penalize employees for actions undermining their religious standards. If gay issues have provoked such a major storm in the U.S. and U.K., what about a more conservative country like Taiwan? In Taiwan, as the Ministry of Education tried to adopt LGBTQ-inclusive education in the Curriculum Guidelines of the 100th academic year, it not only aroused discontent and worries among some religious groups and parents but sparked protests. It can’t be denied that homosexuality does exist in the world and that there are always gay teachers in schools. Though Article 12 of Gender Equity Education Act states that the school shall respect the gender' temperaments and sexual orientation of students, faculty and staff, very few gay teachers dare to come out for they fear that they will be stigmatized and all the challenges coming with it. The public should never ignore the issue whether gay teachers, working in the conservative school environment and bound by convention and morality, will bear great mental and physical pressure and thus affect their teaching expertise or even suffer from mental disorders. The research interviewed 7 gay teachers with the method of snowball sampling since gay teachers are more defensive and hard to be detected. The interview was designed to share what they had gone through during the identity development and their experiences at workplace. Findings in this study includes: 1) that gay teachers in the research who like the same sex can be categorized as essentialism; 2) the four stages of identity development of gay teachers; 3) gay teacher’s multiple strategies of closeting to accommodate different situations; 4) that gay teachers feel powerless and passive to change the existing conditions; 5) that gay teachers are more active in promoting Gender Equity Education; and, 6) expectations to eliminate discrimination and stigmatization gay teachers have suffered. At last, the purpose of this study is to make the public and other educators face the fact that there are gay teachers in schools and understand the situations and predicaments of gay teachers during their identity development and at workplace, to help resolve misunderstanding and hostility towards gay teachers, and even to accept and care gay teachers or lesbian teachers so as to promote Gender Equity Education in schools.