Becoming Unbecoming: Toward a Gay Voice and a Queer Educator Praxis Through a Gay Educator’s K-12 Reflections

Abstract Anti-LGBTQ+ legislation continues to be on the rise, furthering establishment of hostile and unsafe climates for LGBTQ+ people, many of whom navigate lived realities in which they are already routinely demonized, framed in terms of monstrosity or as dangerous. By surfacing and embracing the lived narratives of real people whose experiences include navigating marginalization, a human face is seen juxtaposed against and around those anti-LGBTQ+ policies, to mis/broad characterizations, and to the misinformation, thereby powerfully making visible the invisible, silenced, and unconsidered unique experiences and perspectives of LGBT/Queer folk for those who might not otherwise have any idea or directly explicit relation to such experiences. In doing so, there remains a potential for connection, understanding, and the building of equity. With an eye toward a Queer praxis in educating/ion, the present chapter is one gay educator’s select experiences related to marginalization with reflections on what it means to exist as the unwelcome, unwanted “other” while tasked to educate.