Study: Gay professors face discrimination from students

[w8liftinglady]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2011-06-29-gay-lesbian-college-professors_n.htm?csp=34news

Do gay and lesbian professors face discrimination from students? A new study -- just published in The Journal of Applied Social Psychology -- suggests that they do, with regard to perceptions of political bias.


The study notes the difficulty of judging the legitimacy of professors' claims that students don't treat them the same as they do straight professors.

For the study, researchers presented an ethnically diverse group of 545 undergraduates at the University of Houston-Downtown with a course syllabus for a class called "Psychology of Human Sexuality." The only difference in the syllabus presented to different students was that one version featured a professor whose brief autobiographical statement indicated being gay, and the other version featured an autobiographical statement identifying the professor as straight.

The students were then asked to evaluate the professors (based only on the syllabus review) on various factors, one of which was political bias. On average, the students found the syllabus to suggest a political agenda when the instructor was gay, but no agenda when the instructor was straight.

[Ian David]

1. Maybe it's just a recognition that one would have to be STUPID to be gay AND Conservative? n/t

[Drale]

2. Unless this was a study about discrimination in Texas

it is biased, you can't say this is true throughout the US because it might be true in Texas. Probably the favorite professor at my school is a speech professor who is gay and everyone knows he's gay.

[yardwork]

6. The study isn't biased just because it was based in Texas.

You can say that it might not be true throughout the U.S., but the mere fact that the study was done in Texas doesn't make it biased. The study might be biased for other reasons, but not that one.

[xchrom]

3. Interesting. Nt

[Tikki]

4. No lie...my best Math teacher.

Lesbian and I would have never known if it wasn't for stupid classmates
going on and on.
I struggled with Statistics so much. She made tutors available for me. I am forever grateful.
Passed my transfer Math because of her help.

Tikki

[Drale]

5. Random Fact

My favorite Math teacher was a playboy bunny in the 80's.

[yardwork]

7. So the students assumed that gay professors have political agendas.

That's probably a common assumption. I think that most people assume that gay people are politically progressive. That's true most of the time, but unfortunately the percent is shrinking. More gay people are becoming Republicans. That's sad, imo.