Abstract: This study used data from a national survey of homosexual and bisexual public school teachers to explore differences among participants in rural, suburban, and urban schools. A survey was sent to 1,350 participants through national, state, and urban based gay teacher organizations. Of those sampled, 904 responded. Findings included the following: (1) 15 percent of the sample population described themselves as teaching in rural school districts, and nearly 60 percent of these rural teachers were lesbians; (2) both rural and urban teachers demonstrated similar concerns and dissatisfaction regarding pay, isolation, and other work factors; (3) rural teachers were significantly more satisfied with working conditions than either urban or suburban teachers; (4) gay suburban and rural teachers were significantly more stressed and less open than urban teachers about their sexual orientation; (5) rural teachers indicated a higher rate of depersonalization from their students, a higher level of emotional exhaustion, and a lowered sense of personal accomplishment from teaching than either urban or suburban teachers; (6) rural and suburban teachers were significantly less open, more fearful of exposure, less accepting of their identities, and different in their overall sense of identity than urban teachers; and (7) rural teachers have experienced the highest rate of deaths related to acquired immune deficiency syndrome. (JB)

Title: Community and Conformity: A National Survey Contrasting Rural, Suburban, and Urban Lesbian, Gay Male, and Bisexual Public School Teachers.
Author: Juul, Thomas P.
Note: 31p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (San Francisco, CA, April 18-22, 1995). For related paper, see SP 036 022.
Publication Year: 21 Apr 1995
Document Type: Conference Paper (150); Research Report (143)
Target Audience: Teachers and Practitioners
ERIC Identifier: ED383687
Clearinghouse Identifier: SP036028
This document is available from the ERIC Document Reproduction Service.

Descriptors: * Community Influence; Conformity; Differences; Elementary Secondary Education; * Homosexuality; Job Satisfaction; * Lesbianism; National Surveys; Public School Teachers; * Regional Characteristics; Rural Schools; Sex Differences; Sex Role; * Sexual Identity; Sexuality; Suburban Schools; Teacher Attitudes; Teacher Characteristics; Urban Schools

Identifiers: *Bisexuality; *Homosexual Teachers; Job Stress; Sexual Attitudes; Sexual Orientation