Choices of non-normativity: On coming out as LGBTQA+ within higher education settings
type: CreativeWork
description: Despite diversification efforts within university spaces and changing attitudes towards the LGBTQA+ community, LGBTQA+ university members continue to report ongoing discrimination. Numerous studies have addressed this gap, and new policies based on empirical research have been implemented, but in the UK, as elsewhere, much work remains to be done. This thesis examines this organisational tension, asking what are LGBTQA+ university members’ needs, and how might they be better identified, documented and met? What do they/we want within different positions in the academic hierarchy, combining multiple cultural backgrounds with specific LGBTQA+ identities, which in turn intersect with other social categories of difference? In collaboration with a diverse group of sixty participants, and based on the in-depth analysis of thirty semi-structured online interviews, this qualitative study explores the coming and being out experiences of LGBTQA+ identifying Cambridge students and staff members with a view to designing and delivering better inclusivity policies. The aims of the study are to (1) make various lived experiences heard (data description - research question one), (2) contribute to conceptualisations of LGBTQA+ identities, coming out, and non-normativity (theory development - research question two), and (3) provide policy and practice suggestions that empower LGBTQA+ individuals in the navigation of their intersecting identities within professional and non-professional university settings (research application - research question three). Overall, the findings contribute to improved understandings of the vicissitudes of ‘coming out’ within university settings. With a strong focus on ethical research practice and methodology, the study paints a ‘picture of nuance’ by showing needs in states of tension and by highlighting individuals’ roles and, thus, agency in the co-construction of their LGBTQA+ identities as non-normative. Based on the detailed analysis of individual…
abstract: Despite diversification efforts within university spaces and changing attitudes towards the LGBTQA+ community, LGBTQA+ university members continue to report ongoing discrimination. Numerous studies have addressed this gap, and new policies based on empirical research have been implemented, but in the UK, as elsewhere, much work remains to be done. This thesis examines this organisational tension, asking what are LGBTQA+ university members’ needs, and how might they be better identified, documented and met? What do they/we want within different positions in the academic hierarchy, combining multiple cultural backgrounds with specific LGBTQA+ identities, which in turn intersect with other social categories of difference? In collaboration with a diverse group of sixty participants, and based on the in-depth analysis of thirty semi-structured online interviews, this qualitative study explores the coming and being out experiences of LGBTQA+ identifying Cambridge students and staff members with a view to designing and delivering better inclusivity policies. The aims of the study are to (1) make various lived experiences heard (data description - research question one), (2) contribute to conceptualisations of LGBTQA+ identities, coming out, and non-normativity (theory development - research question two), and (3) provide policy and practice suggestions that empower LGBTQA+ individuals in the navigation of their intersecting identities within professional and non-professional university settings (research application - research question three). Overall, the findings contribute to improved understandings of the vicissitudes of ‘coming out’ within university settings. With a strong focus on ethical research practice and methodology, the study paints a ‘picture of nuance’ by showing needs in states of tension and by highlighting individuals’ roles and, thus, agency in the co-construction of their LGBTQA+ identities as non-normative. Based on the detailed analysis of individual…
author: Sandler, Elisabeth
language: eng
keywords: coming out, identity, LGBTQA+, non-normativity, qualitative research, visibility
license: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/8aa67077-16ff-4e9e-b5ad-068fbf7c44b9/download
license: http://purl.org/NET/rdflicense/allrightsreserved
date published: 2024-03-26
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:23:56Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.115712