Safe spaces in the middle: an examination of public middle school teachers' perceptions of gay-straight alliance clubs and their effects on school culture

The needs of LGBTQ+ students in the USA, specifically cultures of inclusivity in public schools, go largely unnoticed and unmet (Fontaine, 1998). According to educational research (Case & Meier, 2014; Heck, Lindquist, Stewart, Brennan, & Cochran, 2013), the first step in helping LGBTQ+ students feel comfortable openly expressing “who they are” with regard to gender identity and sexuality at school is to create safe spaces such as Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) clubs within their schools. Before the creation and institution of a GSA, one must first identify the perceptions of those working within the school, specifically how they feel a GSA will affect school culture. This is particularly the case in middle school, where GSAs are not as often found (GLSEN, 2018). The belief is that with more research on teachers’ perceptions of these clubs, administrators and stake-holders will have a better working knowledge of what needs to be done before and during the institution of a GSA in a middle school setting to help to ensure the club’s success and longevity (Mayo, 2015). Without this information, the implementation of such a club could be misconstrued, and community backlash may become a threat to the newly created safe space initiative (Blackburn & McCready, 2009). In this qualitative case study, I conducted fifteen in-depth interviews with middle school teachers to explore their thoughts on having a GSA within their school. My research questions for this study are as follows: What are middle school teachers’ perceptions of Gay-Straight Alliance Clubs? How do middle school teachers think a Gay-Straight Alliance Club will affect their school’s culture of inclusivity? The findings of this study contribute to suggestions for successfully proposing, instituting, and sustaining a GSA at the middle school level as well as recommendations for further research in this area.Ed.D.Includes bibliographical reference