Research: “Communities of Discomfort”: Empowering LGBTQ+ Ally Work in a Southeastern Rural Community

Discussions of rural education are often deficit-laden, and the ways that scholars discuss rural schools relative to LGBTQ+ issues position these communities and their schooling as toxic and dangerous for queer students—particularly in the rural Southeast. However, the tightly knit connections within rural communities afford unique and important opportunities to build classrooms that empower LGBTQ+ students and teacher allies. Informed by Britzman’s queer pedagogy (1998) and Ahmed’s (2014) discussions of comfort and discomfort, this article examines a high school English teacher’s experiences during student teaching and the first two years of inservice teaching in rural communities in the Southeastern United States. This research emphasizes discomfort/disruption as productive and positive in creating a community of discomfort that draws on connections to rural communities while working within school-based restrictions to support LGBTQ+ students and issues.