Quotes of importance to me:
“Youth who grow into sustainable resilience value self-knowledge and have self-understanding that enables them to be reflexive as they make casual connections between their experiences and their resulting emotional impact” (Grace, 2009, p. 4).
“A transformation of heterosexualizing schools that have traditionally maintained the heteronormative status quo is necessary if there is to be systemic change to make learning and life better for sexual minorities” (Grace, 2009, p. 5).
“With school culture and the larger Canadian culture lagging behind legislation and the law in this inclusive approach, it is no wonder that more and more students feel the need to realize these legal and legislative protections in their everyday schooling and lives through their own efforts to fight heterosexism and homophobia in classrooms, corridors, and communities” (Grace & Wells, 2009, p. 28).
“Schooling has historically been about preserving the status quo and tradition, which, in regard to sex, sexuality, and gender, means assuming the exclusive morality of heterosexuality and the limited ontology of two biological sexes as cultural imperatives” (Grace & Wells, 2009 p. 29).
“Coming out is a lifelong process that involves consideration of individual comfort, safety, vulnerability, and perceived levels of support and acceptance” (Grace & Wells, 2009, p. 33).
"In reality, changes in law and legislation accepting and accommodating sexual minorities have been slow to permeate Canada’s dominant culture and society. In general, sexual orientations and gender identities that lie outside the confines of heteronormativity remain problematic and often unacceptable, especially to social conservatives” (Grace & Wells, 2007, p. 102).
References:
Grace, A. P. (2006). Writing the queer self: Using autobiography to mediate inclusive teacher education in Canada. Teaching and Teacher Education, 22, 826-834.
Grace, A. p. (2009, June 23-26). Resilient sexual minority youth as fugitive lifelong learners: Engaging is a strategic, asset-creating, community-based learning process to counter exclusion and trauma in formal schooling. Proceedings of the 2009 International Lifelong Learning Conference of the Scottish Centre for Research in Lifelong Learning Stirling, UK: CRLL, University of Stirling.
Grace, A.P. & Wells, K. (2009). Gay and bisexual male youth as educator activists and cultural workers: The queer critical praxis of three Canadian high-school students. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 13:1, 23-44.
Grace, A. P. & Wells, K. (2007a). Using Freirean pedagogy of just ire to inform critical social learning in arts-informed community education for sexual minorities. Adult Education Quarterly, 57:2, 95-114.
