The Institution (School)
LexisNexis & Results
A total of 9 media pieces were collected. 4 were collected deductively (looking for something specific) while 5 were collected inductively (seeing what comes out of it). Only the 5 inductively researched pieces were used for analysis, as these were the least biased.
LexisNexis
Our inductive researched was derived by using the LexisNexis database and typing “LGBTQ” and “school” in the search bars. We choose the top 5 most relevant pieces.
Pieces included:
- Wyoming: Representation Matters: The School Librarian and LGBTQ Curriculum Inclusion (American Association of School Librarians) US Official News February 10, 2015 Tuesday
- LGBTQ & You; School librarians can provide pivotal support for LGBTQ teens just by being there School Library Journal May 1, 2014
- LGBTQ Mental Health & Inclusion Center Launches Chicago Area’s First Searchable Website for LGBT Services US Official News May 7, 2014 Wednesday
- AUSD students, staff celebrate LGBTQ History Month Contra Costa Times (California) October 28, 2015 Wednesday
- Supporting LGBTQ Youth in Honor of National Bullying Prevention Month US Official News October 2, 2015 Friday
Note: We did not decide whether to use “LGBTQ” or “LGBT” when using the LexisNexis search engine, hence, our data may have been misrepresentative of what we would eventually decide to investigate — “LGBT.”
Results
Frameworks
Of the 5 news pieces, we concluded that there were two frameworks at play.
The first framework we saw was a framework that acknowledged schools as counterproductive to LGBT youths as well as a schools lacking resources for LGBT students. We decided to call this a “deficit LGBT” framework.
Our second framework we saw was a framework that acknowledge schools as progressive for LGBT youths. This included authors explaining great strides for this community that have been made and that schools do serve LGBT youths in inclusive ways.
Word Choice
Word choices were showed “strong need/seriousness,” or “jubilant.”
Strong need/seriousness was present in all 5 articles, but were more utilized in some more than others.
- Some of the “strong need” word choices included “safety,” “inclusion,” “advocate, “barriers,” “challenges,” “bullying.”
- Some of the more serious word choices were: “legal rights,” “protections,” “assaulted,” “kicked,” “shoved,” “fights,” “discrimination.”
“Jubilant” word choices were also used, but were used sparingly in the all of the articles except for in “AUSD students, staff celebrate LGBTQ History Month.”
- Some of the jubilant word choices included “positively impact,” “resilience,” “celebration,” “powerful equity warrior work,” “everyone belongs here,” “love and respect,” “peace, love, and understanding,” “purely positive.”
