Becoming Queerly Responsive

Abstract

Although recent attention to homophobic bullying in American K-12 schools has increased public concern over the plight of queer students, it has also fallen short of addressing a range of dilemmas facing urban queer youth of color, whose needs extend beyond protection from homophobic victimization. Drawing upon an ethnographic study of an HIV/AIDS prevention and supports center, this article describes the center’s culturally responsive pedagogical work with Black and Latino urban queer youth, and it identifies several implications for how educational and community stakeholders who work with urban youth might engage this particular population in a culturally responsive manner.