NORMING AND FORMING: CHALLENGING HETERONORMATIVITY IN EDUCATIONAL POLICY DISCOURSES

Since the early 1990‘s, the advocacy of teachers and other queer allies have sought to alter the curriculum and educational policies of British Columbia‘s schools so that queer youth are no longer harassed, bullied, ridiculed or discriminated against by the system, teachers, and other students. Court decisions and Human Rights Tribunals have recently imposed more inclusive policy responses by government and school districts respectively. This article considers to what extent such legal discourses are remediated by competing discourses and practices. The article concludes by considering the limitations of policy priming as an advocacy strategy, and considers what approaches might be taken to achieve civically informed outcomes.