Public Attitudes Toward Homosexuals as Educators

AND LESBIANS AS PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATORS IN TWO CALIFORNIA

COUNTRIES: DO THEY DIFFER AS A FUNCTION OF DEMOGRAPHIC

According to Slater (1988), homosexuality can be defined as a sexual orientation in which one's sexual interests are in people of one's own sex. Once viewed by mental health professionals as indicative of serious psychological maladjustment, this view is no longer promulgated by mental health professionals. Rather, current views are that sexual orientation is only problematic if it disturbs or causes conflict within a person, or if there is a desire to change one's sexual orientation (Slater, 1988).

Schaffner (1986) reports that while the attitudes of mental health professionals have changed, those of American society have not. According to Schaffner, a large percentage of American society continues to believe that homosexuals are mentally ill and/or sexually abnormal. Further, Slater (1988) notes that despite all efforts to the contrary, there will always be people who oppose homosexuality on the basis of moral or religious beliefs.

An unfortunate and oppressive consequence of these negative views toward homosexuality is active discrimination, discrimination which according to Maloney (1988), has grown more virulent as a result of AIDS. In this regard, Wilson (1992) has pointed out that America is currently undergoing a "backlash" response of heterosexuals in respon

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esearch uses the logical methods of inductive-deductive reasoning to arrive at generalizations. (4) Descriptive research often employs methods of randomization so that error may be estimated when inferring population characteristics from observations of samples. (5) All variables and procedures in descriptive research are described as accurately and completely as possible so that the study can be replicated by other researchers. Research Variables Because of its descriptive nature, it is not technically valid to delineate variables in terms of their being dependent or independent factors. However, for the purposes of better understanding the nature of the research exploration, it is helpful to use these categories. With the foregoing kept in mind, it can then be noted that this study has five independent variables. These are the demographic factors of respondents' ages, religion, gender, ethnic background and geographic location (urban/rural). The dependent variables of the study consist of the ten survey items related to respondents' views of different facets of hiring openly acknowledged gays and lesbians as teachers and administrators. Each of these views will be examined for significant association/relationship with
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Approximate Word count = 2711
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)