Homophobia among Preservice Elementary Teachers

This study examines attitudes toward lesbians and gay men, knowledge of homosexuality, and personal contact/experience with homosexuals among elementary education majors. Elementary education majors are of particular interest because as future educators, the attitudes they bring into the classroom will affect all those with whom they interact Attitudes were measured using Herek's Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men (ATLG) scale and knowledge was measured using 12 true-false items randomly selected from several sexuality education test banks. Demographic items were included, as were questions pertaining to religiosity, social contact, personal sexual experience, and the number of gay friends, relatives, and acquaintances Knowledge levels were highly correlated with attitudes, as was religiosity, having gay friends/relatives/acquaintances, and having social contact with gay persons. Suggestions for reducing homophobia in the schools are presented