Queering through a highly gendered profession: a multimedia autoethnography of a non-binary teacher

This article explores and critiques the current status quo of queer teachers in the United States (US) while suggesting ways to build LGBTQ+ allyship to make school an equitable workplace for all teachers and educators. The study combined the two theories of intersectionality and ethics of care to present a nuanced understanding of queer teachers’ experiences. Using multimedia autoethnographic methods including journaling, poetry, music elicitation, and photovoice, the third author documented their daily life as a queer teacher working at a US public middle school with complex feelings, thoughts, and sensations inside and outside of school as the workplace. The first and second authors, as ‘critical friends’, collaboratively coded and analysed the data. The findings exhibited various manifestations of queer identities in contexts typically shaped by cis-heteronormative expectations and institutional policies. It also unpacks challenges met by a queer teacher in navigating workplace culture.