The Young Adult novel Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe portrays the coming out stories of two queer Mexican American boys who struggle with their ethnicity and sexuality, which leads to internal conflicts. The focus of the analysis in the essay is to investigate how the novel can be taught in Upper Secondary classrooms through queer pedagogy and anti-oppressive approaches focusing on silenced discourse. When teachers allow their students to work with the coming out story in the novel within this framework, teachers can engage their students in exploring and finding meaning in the silences that the protagonists Aristotle and Dante speak through. The anti-oppressive practice of reading for silences allows students to look beyond what is being represented in the novel in regard to Aristotle’s and Dante’s sexuality and ethnicity and thereby find meaning in what is unsaid.

So unterschiedlich wir auch sein mögen, eine Erfahrung eint fast alle Menschen. Wir wurden spätestens bei der Geburt einer der folgenden Kategorien zugeteilt: Junge oder Mädchen. Einem als ‚normal‘ oder ‚gesund‘ geltenden Menschen wird nun unterstellt, dass das zugeschriebene Geschlecht, das empfundene Geschlecht und die gelebte Geschlechterrolle übereinstimmen. Ebenso gilt eine heterosexuelle Orientierung als Norm. Begründet wird dies durch eine naturoder gottgegebene Notwendigkeit der Fortpflanzung. Menschen, die nicht in dieses normierte Entweder-Oder-Schema passen, werden häufig als Minderheiten oder gar als krank bezeichnet. Die Realität allerdings ist vielfältig; es gibt unzählige Geschlechter und Geschlechtsidentitäten. Diese Broschüre möchte sich kritisch mit der aktuellen rechtlichen, politischen und gesellschaftlichen Lage von Trans*Menschen auseinandersetzen und versucht, so viele Fragen wie möglich zu beantworten. Es wird dabei kein Anspruch auf Endgültigkeit und Vollständigkeit erhoben, sondern versucht, möglichst viele Aspekte für möglichst viele Menschen zu beleuchten.

Mixed race and African South African parents of children coming out as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual, Intersex, Queer, Questioning and A-Sexual+ have a unique set of challenges within their cultural, religious and social contexts. The problem statement for the study entails that parents have to deal with familial and societal perceptions and reactions to their child coming out, face their own challenges and fears concerning their child’s sexual orientation or identity, and find coping strategies to deal with their coming out as LGBTIQA+. During my research in the UNISA library and online I found that there is a paucity of literature on this subject matter, especially within the South African context. The aim of this study was to obtain an in-depth understanding of these mixed race and African parents’ experiences, challenges and coping strategies in relation to a child coming out as LGBTIQA+. The Resiliency Theory of Family Stress, Adjustment and Adaptation, as linked to Hill’s Stress Theory and the Strength-based approach, were adopted as related theories within the theoretical framework of this study. A qualitative approach was employed, as I intended to gain insight into the lived experiences, challenges and coping strategies of mixed race and African South African parents in relation to a child coming out as LGBTIQA+, as well as to gain advice on social work support. A phenomenological and collective instrumental case study design, together with an explorative, descriptive and contextual strategy of inquiry, were used to explore, describe and contextualise how mixed race and African parents of LGBTIQA+ children experienced their children’s coming out, what their challenges were, and the coping strategies they employed to manage the challenges experienced. The sample of participants was selected by utilising purposive sampling. Semi-structured interviews, contained in an interview guide, were used to collect the data that was analysed using Tesch’s method of analysis (in Creswell, 2014:198). The data were collected by means of individual interviews and presented in a cross-person manner using selected narratives from the participants. Guba’s model, as espoused in Krefting (1991) and Lietz and Zayas (2010), was used and the four aspects of trustworthiness, namely credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability, were applied. Ethical considerations were observed. The findings led the researcher to make recommendations regarding social work practice, education and further research into the phenomenon of parental experiences, challenges and coping strategies in relation to a child coming out as LGBTIQA+. In terms of parental experiences of their child coming out as LGBTIQA+, I found that parents were surprised and unhappy, disappointed, pained and shocked, and fearful for their child’s safety when they realised he or she was LGBTIQA+. When it came to their challenges and fears, the parents openly admitted that what the community, church and external family would make of their child being LGBTIQA+ caused stress for them. Lastly, the parents made recommendations to social workers based on their experiences, challenges and coping strategies, indicating that social workers should focus on sharing information and guiding parents; but firstly, social workers must have self-awareness and understand their own attitudes toward LGBTIQA+ matters. / Social Work / MA (Social Work)

Canada and British Columbia have legislation in place to protect gays and lesbians from discrimination based on their sexual orientation. A growing number of BC school districts have policy protecting gays and lesbians. However, some gay and lesbian teachers still hide their sexual orientation. Organizational theory recognizes that formal rules do not define the organization. In-depth interviews with 13 gay and lesbian teachers indicate that they would rather not maintain their classroom closets; but that they needed to know that they would be safe coming out. The methodology followed the tradition of narrative inquiry by collecting stories. Initial recruitment was through email, print, and word-of-mouth advertising. An on-line form was used to filter prospective participants to include urban, rural, Muslim, Catholic, closeted, and politically active participants. The great silence with respect to gays and lesbians in the workforce, paired with a history of negative messages needs to be offset by the frequent and ubiquitous dissemination of positive messages.

Substantial contributions have been made by lesbian and gay developmental theorists in understanding the development of lesbian and gay sexual identities, or what has come to be known as the coming out process. “Coming out of the closet” has become a central metaphor, in western contexts, for the recognisable process gay men and lesbians undergo in order to claim a relatively stable and enduring sexual identity, while overcoming obstacles such as heterosexism. Lesbians’ sexual identities are examined in this thesis through a Foucauldian lens which is fused with a narrative-discursive perspective. The aim of this study is not to trace a progressive development of identity, but rather to consider how lesbians in this study are located within a specific context, namely, a historically white university in post-apartheid South Africa, and how their identities are dynamic products of ever-shifting socio-historical spaces. Eight lesbians’ stories are analysed using the narrative-discursive method, which allows for a consideration for how the construction and negotiation of identities is shaped and constrained by social and discursive conditions. The women in this study do utilise the concept of coming out to some extent in their stories, but this narrative does not entirely account for their experiences. Instead, these women’s accounts reflect the way in which they personally experience heterosexism, and how they constantly negotiate their sexual identities within certain social and geographical spaces. When the nuances of lesbians’ contexts are taken into account, it becomes clear that claiming a lesbian identity is more than just about “coming out”, and rather about an on-going process of identity management.

Cette recherche qualitative souhaite contribuer à une meilleure compréhension du phénomène du coming out récent, à partir des situations de filles et de femmes, lesbiennes, bisexuelles, autres, sans étiquette. Nous avons utilisé la Méthodologie de la Théorisation Enracinée, selon la Grounded Theory. De manière inductive, deux analyses ont été réalisées à partir des mêmes données, des vécus de ces personnes. L’une est structurelle, il s’agit de l’analyse de genre et l’autre est relationnelle, il s’agit de l’analyse systémique. La première a offert des théorisations sur l’hétérosexisme et l’hétéronormativité, reliés en système de l’hétérosexualité, obligatoire et exclusive. La seconde apporte une modélisation précisée des processus de rejet/acceptation parentaux aporétiques. Par la triangulation de ces deux analyses et de leurs résultats, une théorisation des processus même d’hétérosexualisation, structurels et relationnels, a pu être développée. Enfin, les résultats de la triangulation nous ont permis de proposer une approche critique du concept de la fluidité sexuelle, qui est utilisé de manière contemporaine, comme modèle usuel de compréhension des vécus de ces filles et de ces femmes. Pour finir, nous avons approfondi et recadré le concept même de triangulation en recherche qualitative. Notre recherche a présenté une circularité récurrente, tout au long du processus et une démarche réflexive intense. Cette dissertation doctorale en témoigne et se clôture par les principales contributions de notre étude, dans le champ de la recherche, ainsi que des recommandations en termes d’interventions psychologiques et thérapeutiques. / Doctorat en Sciences psychologiques et de l'éducation / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Text in English with abstracts in English and isiZulu / This qualitative study set out to discover the lived experiences of South African transgender individuals within the liminal space of having been confirmed for gender affirming surgery, yet who have not completed their surgery. The aim included seeking out how participants’ wellbeing was affected by being within this liminal space. Six participants were recruited in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town. Thematic analysis was used to derive themes from the transcripts. Themes included coming out; relationships; wellbeing; misgendering/misnaming; support; public and private medical care; and liminality. Recommendations for future studies are included, and recommendations on interventions and support are discussed. / Lolu cwaningo lohlobo lwekhethelo lenzelwe ukuthola noma ukubheka izinselelo zabantu abafuna ukushintsha ubulili babo baseNingizimu Afrika ababhekana nazo uma basohlelweni lokuyohlinzwa ngoDokotela ukuze bakhone ukushintsha ubulili babo. Inhloso yalolu cwaningo ukubheka ngqo kubantu abayihambile lena ndima ukuthi bahlukumezeka kanjani ngesikhathi basohlelweni lokuthi bashintshe ubulili babo. Abantu abayisithupha abazibandakanye nalolu cwaningo batholakale eGoli, ePitoli kanye naseKapa. Kusetshenziswe ucwaningo olubheka indikimba ukuze kutholwe izihloko ezivele embalweni osuselwe enkulumeni eqoshiweyo. Izihloko ezivelayo yilezi, ubudlelwano; impilo; ukubizwa ngobulili ongasibona/ukubizwa ngegama okungasilona elakho; ukwesekwa; usizo lwezibhedlela zikahulumeni nezibhedlela ezizimele; kanye nokuba sesimeni sokushintsha ubulili. Izincomo zocwaningo oluzayo zifakiwe nazo, kuphindwe kwakhulunywa noma kwabhekwa ukuthi kungangenelelwa kanjani ngosizo. / M.A. (Clinical Psychology) / Psychology