‘’Like gender, sexuality is a political category. It is integrated into systems of power that encourage and reward some individuals and activities while oppressing and punishing others“ (Rubin, 2003, p. 73 translated by author).

Sexual and gender diversity receive more and more attention in western societies. While homosexuality was long frowned upon and prohibited (Rubin, 2003), the European Union has been speaking out against discrimination on the grounds of gender or sexual orientation since the early 2000s in Article 21 of its Charter of Fundamental Rights (EU, 2000). But it should not go unmentioned that violence against queer people is still a reality and is practiced in many countries (ILGA-Europe, 2020). Moreover, queer issues have also gained prominence in state educational institutions. In 2010, the Council of Europe called on its member states to take measures in working against sexual discrimination in schools. Also, objective information on gender identity and sexual orientation should be implemented in curricula and teaching materials (Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, 2010).

Considering the school habitat more precisely, it becomes clear that there is a broad consensus on schools being institutions which are shaped by heteronormativity (Ferfolja & Hopkins, 2013; Hartmann, 2012; Klenk, 2023; Llewellyn & Reynolds, 2021)  and that sexual minorities experience discrimination (Schmidt, 2014). Furthermore, queer-hostile insults are an everyday occurrence in schools (Abreu et al., 2021). Consequently, Ferfolja and Hopkins (2013) conclude that sexual and gender diversity is marginalized and silenced in schools.

While academic publications on queer adolescents and young adults have been published in the recent years and more literature on teaching implications can be found on this matter (e. g. Hartmann & Busche, 2018) , the perspective of queer teachers remains largely unconsidered (Llewellyn & Reynolds, 2021).

Internationally, few studies which focus on queer teachers can be found (e.g. Bower-Phipps, 2020; Llewellyn & Reynolds, 2021). With regard to Germany, the study „LGBTIQ* teachers in Germany“ by the Anti-Discrimination Agency (2017) offers information on the topic and focuses primarily on queer teachers' experiences with discrimination and the handling of their sexual orientation and gender identity from a predominantly quantitative perspective. The results are ambivalent, since some teachers are open about their queer identity, others however, are closed out of fear of discrimination.

There is also the possibility of linking queerness to school culture (for example to the school culture theory of Helsper (2008)). From a queer perspective, one could ask how the school cultural order of meaning reacts to queer lifestyles or orientations and whether queer persons with their habitus are able to connect to the individual school culture  or remain marginalized.

Following on from this desideratum, the aim of the dissertation is to take a deeper perspective by the use of qualitative analysis. The overarching question of the project is:

What experiences do queer teachers have in a heteronormative work environment in light of their (professional) biography?

Following subquestions are:

Q1. Where and how does sexual orientation or queer gender identity become relevant in the school context?

Q2. From the respondents' point of view, how does the school deal with sexual and gender diversity?

Q3. What is the influence of the individual school culture?

Q4. To what extent are (professional) biographical experiences perceived as a resource or an obstacle?

To adequately investigate the object of research, iterative procedures of qualitative social research are meaningful to this project. An explorative analysis or reconstruction of a social reality and action orientations in the school context is to take place within the framework of this research. To realize this, data is collected in the form of biographical narrative interviews. Dausien (2015) states that biographical research considers the life stories of people who can be assigned to socially marginalized groups, which in the case of this study, are queer people. The relation of social changes within social practice contexts, is of further interest (Dausien, 2015). This case is about the relationship between an apparent liberalization and acceptance of non-heteronormative lifestyles in society, and the social practice in schools which is considered heteronormative. Thus, the basic assumption of the work at hand is that queer people have specific experiences in dealing with and reacting to their sexual orientation or gender identity over the course of their lives. This may have an influence on how they currently deal with it in schools, as the teachers' own biographical experiences "shape their understanding of their profession [...] their relationship to the school and to the students." (Heinritz, 2017, p. 114, translated by author). In this respect, Dausien (2015) points out ”biographical research enlightened by Bourdieu's critique and by approaches based on power and discourse theory, e.g. following Foucault, is interested in differences and power relations that have an effect on biographical constructions and pass through them“ (p. 172, translated by author). The documentary method, which is also used in gender research, offers an opportunity for evaluation. It allows access to reflexive and habituated knowledge or knowledge that guides action (Bohnsack et al., 2013). The intended procedure will be guided by Nohl's (2017) instructions to analyze interviews documentarily and should ideally result in a type formation. In doing so, different research groups of the University of Osnabrück will offer the possibility to analyze the material together in order to achieve a higher intersubjectivity and multi-perspectivity. In accordance with the research interest, the planned sample should include teachers who do not define themselves as cisgender and/or non-heterosexual. These persons should not stand for themselves as individual cases, instead they should represent something: in this case, non-heteronormative actors in the heteronormative institution school.

Discrimination based on heteronormative essentialist ideas is still a serious problem in society as a whole and thus also in schools. This was confirmed by various studies. Further studies show a partly queer-hostile school climate and a reticence by numerous queer teachers who are not open about their sexual orientation or gender diversity (Antidiskriminierungsstelle des Bundes, 2017). While some qualitative studies can be found internationally, studies that focus on queer teachers in Germany from this research perspective are lacking, and therefore constitute a research desideratum. Based on this, common experiences of queer teachers will be reconstructed by means of biographical interviews, to gain a deeper understanding of a social phenomenon. With the help of reconstructive analyzes, it will be determined how the professionalism of a queer teacher is shaped in a heteronormative institution. In doing so, it is important to consider to what extent specific challenges exist, what the influences on an open or closed approach to queer identity are, and if the individual life history is influential. Another question is to what extent one's own habitus is congruent with the respective school cultural demands. The experienced influence of the respective school culture thus represents a further matter of investigation. The theoretical assumptions of queer theoretical aspects set the framework of the intended analyses. In this sense, normalization processes are emphasized and critically questioned. Looking at the expected results, it can be stated that queer teachers are affected by discrimination to varying degrees and that this may also be related to the individual school culture.The overall aim of the study is to provide actionable implications for schools so that they become discrimination-free spaces for queer people, where they can feel safe and comfortable.

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