“Do you have any Idea who you Just Hired?!?” A Study of Open and Closeted Sexual Minority K–12 Administrators

Abstract

In this exploratory, qualitative study, we considered in-depth interviews with two female and two male European American school leaders, one of each gender who were “closeted” in their sexuality and one of each who were “open.” Foucault's sovereign and disciplinary power and normalization conceptually framed the study. Their fear of disclosure resulted in reproducing heteronormative power. At the same time, all four used their sovereign power to take a stand against homophobia in their settings, though the explicitly out principal took much more direct action than the closeted leaders.