Queering South Africa’s protective school policy for LGBT+ youth : the Nare Mphale case

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.