Educators, homosexuality, and homosexual students: are personal feelings related to professional beliefs?

This study is based on interviews with Southern lesbian and gay young adults and survey data from school counselors and prospective teachers living in the South. The essay explores adolescents' perceptions of the beliefs and abilities of school counselors and teachers with regard to issues of homosexuality and the treatment of gay and lesbian students. As a complement and a contrast, it also presents educators' personal beliefs about homosexuality, and how these attitudes are actualized in the schools. One major conclusion is that while school counselors and, to a lesser extent, classroom teachers often expressed the feeling that they should be more proactive and supportive as professionals committed to the welfare of all of their students, due to countervailing expressions of high levels of personal prejudice, ignorance, and fear, the realities of their professional intervention and support were negligible.