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No full textPhotographs taken and selected by Newton H. Ancarrow for a slide show entitled Flower Show No. 2.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/anc_wildflower/2049/thumbnail.jp
The GSA Leadership Committee: Collective Liberation through Community Building in Chicago Public Schools
No full textStrong evidence links Gender and Sexuality Alliances (GSAs) to improved outcomes for LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer and questioning and other identities) students. Chicago Public Schools’ (CPS) is known for being a leader in supporting LGBTQ+ students. Despite this, CPS’ size has made it difficult to support all schools in adopting recommended practices. Therefore, in 2020 CPS launched the GSA Leadership Committee (GSALC), which comprises teachers and other school-based staff leaders throughout the district, to support all schools in adopting practices known to support LGBTQ+ students. This paper draws on four years of interviews with group facilitators and focus groups with GSALC members to describe GSALC’s implementation and early outcomes. GSALC’s implementation during its first four years involved relationship-building, the creation of structures and roles to support key activities, decision-making informed by explicit values, evolving membership to meet evolving needs; and compensation of members. Early outcomes revealed that subcommittee work generated district events and policy inputs and members and facilitators reported improved wellbeing, reduced burnout, and increased student engagement within their GSAs. Notably, members believe this model can have ripple effects on other districts. These findings support the proposition that by investing in teacher leadership and community building, districts can align strong policy at the district level with implementation and affirmation at the school level in their efforts to support LGBTQ+ students
What are they going to do? Fire me? The Paradoxical Empowerment of Nonbinary Teachers in Rural South Carolina
No full textNonbinary teachers are seldom the focus of teacher studies, particularly in challenging places such as the rural Southeastern United States. Through a critical ethnographic case study, we explored the stories of two nonbinary teachers who grew up and worked in rural South Carolina. We examined their cultural contexts, including legislative factors, school policies, and school cultures, and we highlighted how these systems created a hostile environment for queer and trans* individuals. Our participants shared how their lived experiences as queer and gender-diverse individuals provided them with an insider perspective about rural South Carolina culture and its limitations. We also found that this knowledge combined with their poor working conditions emboldened them to resist through acts of queer and trans* defiance, which we attributed to paradoxical empowerment
Power, Privilege, and Perceptions: A Critical Case Study of FFA and GSA Members’ High School Experiences in a Southern Rural High School
No full textThere is an urgent need to address the rampant homophobic and transphobic systems and rhetoric in the United States. School cultures reflect the systemic privileging of heterosexual and cisgender identities, which places queer students at an increased risk of victimization and harassment. Rural schools have been found to uphold heteronormative and cisnormative cultures more than suburban and urban schools, which increases safety concerns for rural queer students. Rural schools commonly offer school-based agricultural education (SBAE) and FFA programs, which have been found to struggle in their inclusion of racial minority students. To combat hostile school cultures, many schools offer a youth organization specific for queer and ally students known as a Genders and Sexualities Alliance (GSA). This case study explored experiences of students who had access to both an FFA and GSA program to depict the relationship between the two youth organizations. Findings described (1) barriers toward the inclusion of queer individuals in the FFA, (2) significant differences in parental and community support between the two youth organizations, and (3) varying acceptance of queer and ally students in each organization. From this study, authors propose future research possibilities, collaboration opportunities between FFA and GSA programs, and potential trainings for practitioners
Senior Recital, Emily Hettervig, soprano, video
No full textSenior Recital VideoEmily Hettervig, sopranoCharles Lindsey, pianoSaturday, November 15, 2025 at 6:00 p.m.Recital HallJames W. Black Music Center1015 Grove Avenue | Richmond, VirginiaThe presentation of this senior recital will fulfill in part the requirements of the Bachelor of Music degree in Performance. Emily Hettervig studies voice with Cynthia Donnell and receives vocal coaching from Melanie Kohn Day, emerita faculty
A trans youth’s encounters with queerness in Puerto Rico
No full textThis article explores the lived experiences of Pedro, a transgender youth from rural Puerto Rico, to examine how queer and trans identities are negotiated within contexts shaped by colonialism, Catholic traditions, machismo, and rural community life. Drawing on queer theory, Latinx studies, rural education research, and narrative inquiry, the study highlights Pedro’s voice through interviews, self-narratives, and reflections, positioning youth as knowledge creators rather than passive subjects. Findings reveal three interconnected themes: (1) the importance of educational relationships in fostering belonging and dialogue, (2) the disruption of normative expectations around adolescence, queerness, and urban migration, and (3) the expression of agency through queer masculinity. Pedro’s story challenges deficit perspectives of rural queer youth by emphasizing resilience, creativity, and active reshaping of cultural narratives. This work adds to rural LGBTQ+ research by centering Puerto Rican cultural specifics. It underscores the need for queer-affirming, place-conscious pedagogies that support youth agency across diverse educational and community settings
Beyond the City Limits: Representations of Rurality and LGBTQIA+ Youth in Young Adult Literature
No full textNarratives of flight from rural to urban areas predominate in research related to LGBTQIA+ communities. Thus, rural LGBTQIA+ young people rarely see representations of themselves or their environments, especially positive portrayals. Such representations are important in that they are productive of identities, not just reflective of them. This study examines a collection of young adult literature with LGBTQIA characters and rural settings, analyzing the portrayals of place (rurality) and identity (LGBTQIA+). In this paper I will demonstrate how current LGBTQIA+ young adult literature reinforces dominant narratives that privilege urbanity and I assert that counternarratives to the rural flight story are needed. Such counternarratives can help rural LGBTQIA+ young people envision new possibilities for themselves and their communities
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Personifying the South in Rural Queer Collegians’ Stories
No full textIn this study, we explore the complex interplay between queer identity and Southern cultural narratives among rural college students in the U.S. Bible Belt. We integrated narrative inquiry and arts-based research to examine how participants personify the South within their own stories, revealing nuanced understandings of belonging and identity. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, participant-created artwork, and discussions about these artworks. Our findings illustrate a dynamic representation of the South as both a source of support and a site of conflict, highlighting the dual roles of community and marginalization in shaping rural queer Southern identities. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of the cultural and personal narratives that inform queer experiences in traditionally conservative regions
S21, E01: SCOTUS Eras: White Court (Aired 1/23/2026)
No full textAughie and Nia discuss the White Court, years 1910 - 1921. Edward Douglass White was the first Associate Justice to be elevated to the position of Chief Justice. The White Court was slightly less conservative than the previous Fuller Court, choosing to favor regulations under the Commerce Clause and upholding the federal income tax.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/civil_discourse/1301/thumbnail.jp
Rural Geographies, Queer Youth and Metronormativity
No full textIn 1995 Weston articulated an oft recited story where queers move from persecutory rural geographies to the more accepting city. While Weston interrogated this spatial binary and demonstrated failed promise of the metropolis to deliver, particularly across intersections of gender, the urban flight narrative persists. Jack Halberstam (2005) used the term ‘metronormativity’ to illustrate the power of this narrative that influences a research focus on urban queers. This study contributes insights on how queer youth who live in remote Canadian geographies navigate and express gender and sexuality. Eight participants (12 – 24) attended an informal educational space, a genderplay workshop, and were interviewed onsite. It is within white settler heteropatriarchy that youth in this study negotiated binary gender, and many youths did not claim an identity. While masculine youth felt that the isolation contributed to a neighbourly acceptance, trans feminine youth who could not pass articulated their hometown as dangerous. The workshop results demonstrate the need for educators to move beyond accommodations approaches, where small changes are made for individual youth who are recognizably out, and to contend with their own cisheteronormativity and create cultural change and safer schools