TY - JOUR
T1 - Coming out to the class
T2 - Identifying factors that influence college biology instructor decisions about revealing their lgbq identities in class
AU - Cooper, Katelyn M.
AU - Brownell, Sara E.
AU - Gormally, Cara
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 by Begell House, Inc.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) identity is an understudied yet potentially important identity for individuals in an undergraduate biology classroom. Although the choice to “come out” or reveal one’s LGBTQ identity is a personal decision, LGBTQ college instructors may positively impact students when they reveal their identity in the classroom. We conducted a national survey of LGBTQ biology instructors about their experiences as members of the LGBTQ community teaching college biology. We found that over half of the biology instructors that we surveyed are out to their work colleagues, but less than 20% are out to their students. Additionally, we conducted semistructured interviews with 11 LGBQ college biology instructors and applied the expectancy value theory to understand what influences instructors’ decisions about whether to reveal their LGBQ identities to students in their college biology classrooms. From the interviews, we identified a suite of potential costs and benefits associated with instructors coming out to their classes. Costs included wasted class time that could be spent teaching biology content, the instructor potentially losing their job, and students developing a negative view of the instructor. Benefits included the instructor living more authentically, students feeling more comfortable in the classroom, students knowing a supporter of the LGBTQ community in the classroom, and students having an LGBQ role model in science. Based on these findings, we highlight how perceiving high value and low cost to coming out is relevant for instructors’ decisions to reveal their LGBQ identities in their college classrooms.
AB - The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) identity is an understudied yet potentially important identity for individuals in an undergraduate biology classroom. Although the choice to “come out” or reveal one’s LGBTQ identity is a personal decision, LGBTQ college instructors may positively impact students when they reveal their identity in the classroom. We conducted a national survey of LGBTQ biology instructors about their experiences as members of the LGBTQ community teaching college biology. We found that over half of the biology instructors that we surveyed are out to their work colleagues, but less than 20% are out to their students. Additionally, we conducted semistructured interviews with 11 LGBQ college biology instructors and applied the expectancy value theory to understand what influences instructors’ decisions about whether to reveal their LGBQ identities to students in their college biology classrooms. From the interviews, we identified a suite of potential costs and benefits associated with instructors coming out to their classes. Costs included wasted class time that could be spent teaching biology content, the instructor potentially losing their job, and students developing a negative view of the instructor. Benefits included the instructor living more authentically, students feeling more comfortable in the classroom, students knowing a supporter of the LGBTQ community in the classroom, and students having an LGBQ role model in science. Based on these findings, we highlight how perceiving high value and low cost to coming out is relevant for instructors’ decisions to reveal their LGBQ identities in their college classrooms.
KW - Biology
KW - Coming out
KW - Expectancy value theory
KW - Inclusive teaching practices
KW - Instructors
KW - LGB
KW - LGBQ
KW - LGBQ
KW - LGBT
KW - STEM
KW - Undergraduate
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85074748800&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85074748800&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.2019026085
DO - 10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.2019026085
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85074748800
SN - 1072-8325
VL - 25
SP - 261
EP - 282
JO - Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering
JF - Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering
IS - 3
ER -