Emerging equity issues related to homosexuality in education

Abstract

lenged not only Educational Equity professionals, but all educators, to deal with this topic. One of these articles was entitled There is No Hierarchy of Oppression (Lorde, 1983). In it Lorde states that if we truly intend to eliminate oppression, heterosexism and homophobia must be addressed. In her opinion, as long as any one portion of the population is oppressed and/ or considered fair game for name-calling, stereotyping, violence, and other forms of perpetuating bias and discrimination, we are all oppressed. She referenced the Ku Klux Klan and their attempt in a Detroit court to try to force the Board of Education to remove books the Klan believes hint at homosexuality. She concluded that we cannot afford the luxury of fighting certain forms of oppression and ignoring others; we cannot afford to believe that freedom from intolerance is the