Abstract:
The transphobic abuse of the transgender youth, Nare Mphale, within the schooling
environment has called into question protective school policy for South African
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other non-conforming (LGBT+) youth. Nare,
who has since passed, was harassed after her school principal instructed her
classmates to feel her crotch to “find out what is there”. This violation called for the
identification, analysing, and queering (disrupting compulsory heterosexuality) within
South Africa’s protective school polices for LGBT+ youth. This study also asked,
which protective school policies recognize gender and sexuality diversity and
teaching of inclusive curricula such as comprehensive sexuality education? What
accommodations do these policies provide in terms of admission requirements,
preferred pronouns, sex description change, dress code, and reporting procedures
following instances of abuse? A critical analysis of 7 protective school policies using
queer theory was conducted to establish how these policies protect LGBT+ youth.
Results suggest that despite national policies (e.g., the country’s Constitution and
the Alteration of Sex Description Act) making provision for the protection and
realisation of the listed accommodations for LGBT+ youth, schools may fail to
implement such policy implications based on their own interpretation of policies as
evidenced within each school’s code of conduct.
