Nine Undergraduate Biology Instructors Revealing their LGBTQ+ Identities in Class Resulted in Benefits for their LGBTQ+ Students and Students with Other Marginalized Identities.

ABSTRACT: Few LGBTQ+ biology instructors reveal their identities to undergraduates, often without considering the potential student benefits. Although instructors who have revealed their LGBTQ+ identity perceive positive impacts for students and a pilot study demonstrated this positive impact, we know of no multi-institution studies exploring how instructor LGBTQ+ disclosure affects students. We recruited a nationwide sample of nine LGBTQ+ biology instructors to disclose their identities and assessed the impact of disclosure on students via surveys (n = 2045). Few student participants in our study reported that instructor LGBTQ+ disclosure negatively impacted their course experience, and most students agreed that instructor LGBTQ+ disclosure is appropriate. Counter to our expectations, state

SUBMITTER: Busch CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12667366 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature