Abstract

Current dominant discourses maintain an anti-LGBTQ bias that contributes to and reinforces the continued denial of full, equal LGBTQ rights. Educational environments can exacerbate this denial, to the point of implicitly sanctioning harassment and physical human rights abuses. While digital media can infinitely reproduce and replicate these discriminatory discourses, they also offer virtual spaces and possibilities for collective, community, arts-based actions/responses to disrupt, and change, them (Desai & Chalmers, 2007). Sandoval and Latorre's (2008) artivism, Blackburn's (2002) liberatory literacy performances, and Richardson's (2010) interventionist art provide a useful framework for considering, engaging, and challenging contemporary LGBTQ discourses. Their work provides a context for examining hateful/negative, positive/celebratory, and more complicated, conflicted examples of LGBTQ cultural discourses circulating currently. Liberatory discourse attempts are necessary, but these can encounter complex, shifting factors able to co-opt, negate, or neutralize their messages. Art education can help students use new technologies and media to identify such complexities, recognize possibilities, and work for equity.

How to Cite:

Rhoades, M., (2011) “Disrupting Discourse Digitally for LGBTQ Rights”, Journal of Cultural Research in Art Education 29(1), 47-64. doi: https://doi.org/10.2458/jcrae.4965