“Misfits” and the Celebration of Queer Youth at One U.S. High School

This dissertation produces a reading of one U.S. high school’s approach to create an educational environment for its students that is inclusive and free of domination. This qualitative study, supported by queer theory and intersectionality, explores the pedagogical practices and school policies that the school uses to inform its model of inclusion. The study expands on the projects of queer theory and intersectionality by focusing on homonormativity, an appendage of heteronormativity, and the complication of identity categories and their usefulness in an educational setting. Specifically, I sought to investigate how the school’s model of inclusion promotes an inclusive, safe space for its students. How the school’s strategies of policing, resistance, and queering occur within this model of inclusion. And, how this model of inclusion acquiesce to and contests existing systems of oppression. The research occurred in a small charter school located in an urban, Midwestern city.