Costello Lisa A, Van Willigen Marieke, Walsh Clare
Department of English, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA, USA.
Department of Sociology & Anthropology, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA, USA.
J Homosex. 2025;72(10):1871-1896. doi: 10.1080/00918369.2024.2396353. Epub 2024 Aug 26.
While national trends indicate improvement in campus climates for LGBTQ+ students, these patterns may not exist on campuses in the Southeast region of the United States, particularly given conservative backlash in the region. Drawing from focus group and survey data, we investigated how students in a rural Southern location perceive campus and community space with regard to safety and support, and how the intersections of gender and sexual orientation affect those perceptions. We found LGBTQ+ students had a mostly positive perception of their campus experience, despite reports of harassment, perceptions of unsafe spaces, and some lack of awareness of resources. However, students rate the climate for queer-spectrum students more positively than that for trans-spectrum students. Cis-gender, heterosexual students were largely accepting of their LGBTQ+ peers and were mostly unaware of LGBTQ+ harassment in spaces on campus. Students' positive assessments exist despite a lack of systematic, institutional-level programming to integrate them into the campus community but are influenced by the work of faculty and staff allies through classes, curriculum, and programs. Our analyses inform recommendations for policies and initiatives and illuminate unique challenges facing queer students on campuses in conservative, rural areas.
虽然全国趋势显示 LGBTQ+ 学生的校园氛围有所改善，但在美国东南部地区的校园中可能并非如此，特别是考虑到该地区的保守抵制。基于焦点小组和调查数据，我们研究了美国南部农村地区的学生如何看待校园和社区空间的安全性与支持性，以及性别和性取向的交叉如何影响这些认知。我们发现，尽管有骚扰报告、对不安全空间的认知以及对资源的一些了解不足，但 LGBTQ+ 学生对他们的校园经历大多持积极看法。然而，学生们对酷儿谱系学生的氛围评价比对跨性别谱系学生的评价更积极。顺性别、异性恋学生在很大程度上接受他们的 LGBTQ+ 同龄人，并且大多没有意识到校园空间中的 LGBTQ+ 骚扰行为。尽管缺乏将他们融入校园社区的系统性、机构层面的项目，但学生们的积极评价依然存在，不过这受到教师和工作人员盟友通过课程、教学大纲和项目所做工作的影响。我们的分析为政策和倡议提供了建议，并阐明了保守农村地区校园中酷儿学生面临的独特挑战。
