Before ‘gender whisperers’: morality, teacher employment and LGBTIQ futures

Abstract

This paper responds to the contemporary backlash to LGBTIQ+ rights and its focus on queer and transgender children and teachers in schools, by returning to campaigns to exclude gay and lesbian teachers in the 1970s. It brings renewed historical context to debates surrounding teacher employment and teachers’ moral status as harbingers of the future nation state. We focus on one Australian case, when in 1976 the Queensland government refused to employ a gay teacher, Greg Weir. Drawing on archival sources including campaign newsletters, activist material, and oral histories, we show how this was a formative moment in broader teacher employment relations and the contest between queer denial and ..