(Page 4 of 73) - Sexual Diversity and Public Schools in Canada and the United States authored by Rayside, David.

gay of institutional environments, enforcing rigid gender codes and isolating those who do not fit
in.

Young people, parents, and educators who do not fit established gender norms often develop
remarkable strategies for coping and even prospering. Some find supportive environments
within or beyond their schools; others develop strength in resistance and in actively counteracting
the pressures to conform that they encounter. But many do not, or are lodged in environments
that make even the best strategies unworkable. We embark here on an analysis of this whole
range of experience.

POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CONTEXT

The political and social contexts in which equity seeking activists work in these two countries
create political openings for change in both systems, but of quite different sorts. They also create
incentives for action beyond the possibility of making a difference, and here of quite different
sorts. The U.S. side has more continuous incentives for activist mobilization on all sides of
schooling issues. The balance of factors favouring one or the other varies dramatically from one
state to another, and even more from one locality to another. There are many openings for
change and resistance in Canada. While the balance of contextual factors in the most populous
regions favours proponents of more inclusive schooling, they do not encourage the kind of
intense activist mobilizing that has been needed to take advantage of the openings that appear.

The legal rights framework within which school officials, politicians, and courts operate differs
between Canada and the U.S. and across American states. In Canada, the question of whether
discrimination based on sexual orientation is permissible in law has been largely settled by court
interpretations of the Charter of Right and Freedoms. Rights protections have also been widely
extended to recognize the relationships of same-sex couples, for example in workplace benefit
programs. In only a minority of U.S. states and localities are there basic prohibitions against
discrimination based on sexual orientation, and there is modest and highly uneven extension of
recognition to same-sex relationships.

Free speech rights are also important in schooling, and here the advantage is not so obviously on
the Canadian side. The defense of such rights has a strong tradition in U.S. constitutional law,
and have been an important tool for protecting teachers and students wanting to talk about sexual
diversity. On both sides of the border we can find schooling battles settled favourably on the
basis of free speech, although governments and courts on both sides of the border will often defer
to school authorities in determining what can and cannot be taught.

Jurisdictional Complexity

Taking the measure of change in public schooling confronts highly fragmented school regimes.
The decentralization of policy making on schools issues, and the great variability of teaching
practices across classrooms and schools, creates a monumental challenge for those aiming at