LGBTQ Families Speak Out

A video interview study about the school experiences of LGBTQ families living in Ontario (2014 – 2020)

Welcome to LGBTQ Families Speak Out About School at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, September 2014 – June 2020

Hello! Welcome to the Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Families Speak Out About School project. This project is being developed by a research team from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto. Our team currently includes a full professor, four graduate students and one undergraduate student all of whom work and study at the University of Toronto.  To read our biographies please click here.

The goal of our project is to video interview LGBTQ families across Ontario about their children’s experiences in school and share our findings from these interviews with teachers, community educators and other LGBTQ families. We hope to interview families from urban, suburban and rural communities across the province of Ontario.

While the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2005 has brought LGBTQ families greater legal and social legitimacy in Canada, and while numerous studies have shown that children of LGBTQ parents are as well-adjusted and psychologically healthy as those of heterosexual couples [1], children living in LGBTQ families continue to face discrimination in school [2]. Teachers, community educators, parents, children and youth who are knowledgeable about the experiences of LGBTQ families in schools can be important allies and resources in helping families deal with the possible discrimination they may experience.

If you’re interested in finding out more about our project please click here.

If you’re interested in participating in our project please click here.

As we begin to interview families for our project, we will begin to share their interviews on this website. In the meantime, please check out the resources and readings our team has put together on the topic of LGBTQ families and their experiences in school.

You can also check out our work-in-progress blogs about our progress on the project. We are writing short blog entries about our recent research activities. Our blog entries will give our website visitors an opportunity to learn along beside us.

To find out more about our project please e-mail us at tara.goldstein@utoronto.ca.

All the best,
Tara Goldstein, PhD
Principal Investigator
Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
University of Toronto
April 5, 2017

[1] See the research findings shared by:
American Psychological Association (2005). Lesbian and Gay Parenting. http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/parenting.aspx

[2] See the research findings shared by:
The Vanier Institute of the Family. (2013). Same-sex families raising children. Fascinating Families 51. Ottawa, ON: The Vanier Institute of the Family. http://www.vanierinstitute.ca/include/get.php?nodeid=2817