LGBTQ+ Educators in South Korea: A Photovoice Study
This project was awarded the Lee Chang Kook Fund: Queer Research Grant by the Beyond the Rainbow Foundation in 2025.
LGBTQ+ teachers often act as advocates and visible role models for LGBTQ+ students, yet they continue to face marginalization within heteronormative school systems. Many experience hostility rooted in identity-based stigma and must constantly balance their professional responsibilities with the concealment or negotiation of stigmatized aspects of themselves. Although existing research has emphasized these difficulties and called for institutional support, inclusive training, and safer school climates, most scholarship has emerged from Western, predominantly White contexts, limiting its cross-cultural applicability.
In South Korea, teaching is regarded as a respected and stable government profession deeply influenced by Confucian values, attracting many LGBTQ+ individuals seeking social legitimacy and financial security. Yet for queer teachers, this respectability often clashes with the silence surrounding LGBTQ+ identities in schools. The tension between public prestige and personal erasure remains poorly understood. Moreover, existing studies tend to frame LGBTQ+ teachers primarily as victims of oppression, paying less attention to their coping strategies, acts of resistance, and sources of community support. The predominant use of interview-based methods also constrains how deeply scholars can access the lived realities of these educators under systemic constraints.
To address these limitations, I will conduct a qualitative photovoice study with approximately 8 members of QTQ (Queer Teachers with Queers) a peer support network for LGBTQ+ educators in South Korea. Photovoice, which integrates photography with narrative reflection, will allow participants to document their experiences and engage in group discussions that foster collective meaning-making. Using the PHOTO framework (Graziano, 20041; Hussey, 20062), I will facilitate group interviews and, with consent, curate participants’ photographs on Padlet in collaboration with QTQ for public exhibition.
This study aims to generate culturally situated insights into the professional and personal lives of LGBTQ+ teachers in South Korea. By centering their agency and resilience, it seeks to move beyond deficit-oriented perspectives and highlight how these educators draw upon community networks and creative strategies to sustain themselves. The findings are expected to inform inclusive educational policy, teacher training, and institutional support systems. Ultimately, by amplifying teachers’ own voices, this research will contribute to a more nuanced understanding of both the struggles and strengths of LGBTQ+ educators working in non-Western school contexts.
Footnotes
Graziano, K. (2004). Oppression and resiliency in a post-apartheid South Africa: Unheard voices of Black gay men and lesbians. Cultural Diversity & Ethinc Minority Psychology, 10(3), 302-316.↩︎
Hussey, W. (2006). Silvers of the journey: The use of photovoice and storytelling to examine female to male transsexuals’ experience of health care access. Journal of Homosexuality, 51(1), 129-158.↩︎