THE LAST CLOSET: THE REAL LIVES OF LESBIAN AND GAY TEACHERS

Book info: THE LAST CLOSET: THE REAL LIVES OF LESBIAN AND GAY TEACHERS (Hardcover, 198 pages) – Heinemann, 1996. Language: English.

The Last Closet tells the stories of lesbian and gay educators as they struggle for dignity in the face of homophobia. These stories come from over a hundred lesbian, gay, and bisexual women and men who are, or have been, teachers, counselors, librarians, and administrators across the country. Rita Kissen, who began her research after her lesbian daughter became a teacher, uses both narration and description to capture the texture and tone of these teachers' daily lives. The Last Closet describes the struggles of educators caught between their desire for authenticity and their need for safety - a need that forces most of them to hide a significant part of their identity.Kissen also suggests survival strategies for lesbian and gay educators and offers advice for heterosexual parents, teachers, and administrators who want to make their schools and communities inclusive and safe for all. Editorial Reviews From Kissen helps break down the door of the last closet in America, that of professional educators, who may lose their livings simply because they are gay or lesbian. The stories she relays come from more than 100 educators, librarians, counselors, and administrators who struggle daily in homophobic environments. From the stories--sorted into five sections thematically entitled "The Center of Myself," "Hiding," "Horror Stories," "Reaching Out," and "From Survival to Empowerment" --we learn why acknowledging a gay identity can mean reevaluating the entire profession of education and why many leave it after such reassessment. Some stay, often to provide alternatives to traditional gender-related expectations. Many who stay are driven to overcompensate, working much harder than their straight counterparts to survive in their profession, like the women who struggled to be "the best" in the male bastions of business. Whitney Scott About the Author Rita M. Kissen is an associate professor in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Southern Maine.