Ed Brockenbrough has made a career out of fusing his pursuit of social justice with teaching and researching. As a professor at the University of Rochester, he’s balancing teaching courses on diversity and social justice with researching male teachers in urban schools and LGBT youth of color.
Brockenbrough describes his research as the exploration of the “intersections of race, gender and sexuality in urban educational spaces.” Much of his work focuses on LGBT youth of color. He’s interested in complicating our notions about what those kids go through so that schools and community organizations are better able to support them.
According to Brockenbrough, schools tend to create a support space for students of color and a separate space for queer students. Each of these groups can fall short in terms of addressing the needs of students who identify with both. These students face unique challenges as they try to navigate their multiple identities, especially when they are put on the margins of spaces that would otherwise support them.
He also finds that some of the recent trends in education have troubling implications for queer students of color. Specifically, the push in urban areas for all-boy schools may make sense for the majority of that population, but not necessarily for boys who don’t behave in a traditionally masculine way. The boys who are considered “softer” (even if they are not gay) really struggle in all-boy schools. This is especially true because gay boys tend to ally themselves with girls, who are usually more sympathetic and easier for them to relate to.
Brockenbrough’s inspiration for his research stems from his time as a high school history teacher in the Bronx. His plan was to teach only for two years. He needed a break from college and “wanted to buy time.” But after a short while, he fell in love with teaching.
While he was working at Riverdale Country School, he got involved with an organization called GLISTEN, which does advocacy work against homophobia in schools. Being involved in social justice work as a teacher really shaped his perspective on that profession. He says, “It has shaped my sense of the risks that are involved in doing social justice work in K-12 schools, particularly around LGBT issues.”
When he was co-chair of the New York chapter of GLISTEN, Brockenbrough chose to come out to his principal and colleagues. He was teaching at an independent school and had the support of his principal, department chair and many colleagues. He knew he wasn’t at risk for losing his job, but not all teachers could say that. His work as a teacher in social justice around LGBT issues “helped [him] realize that some people pick bigger risks than others in doing this work.”
