Making the Invisible Visible: gay and lesbian issues in early childhood education

This article, based on empirical qualitative data gained from a survey and interviews with a group of early childhood educators, argues for the inclusion of sexual differences, or more specifically, gay and lesbian equity issues, in approaches to anti-bias. The article examines the discourses that prevail in the field, that perpetuate the perceived irrelevance, invisibility and exclusion of lesbian and gay issues in early childhood settings and education generally. The discussion focuses on several main areas, including: the prevalence of the dominant discourses of childhood and sexuality that intersect to constitute sexuality as irrelevant to children; the pervasiveness of the discourse of compulsory heterosexuality and the assumed absence of gay and lesbian families in settings; or the assumed absence of significant gay and lesbian adults in children’s lives; the presence of homophobia and heterosexism in early childhood settings; and the perceived irrelevance of broader social, political and economic issues to the ‘child’s world’. This article highlights some crucial issues for practice and policy development in the area of anti-bias education concerned with sexual differences. Introduction In recent years, research has demonstrated the importance of dealing with diversity in early childhood education (Glover, 1991; Alloway, 1995; MacNaughton, 2000; Robinson & Jones Diaz, 2000). However, dealing with diversity issues is not only important in order to be inclusive of the vast cultural diversity that exists in children’s lives and that of their families, but to also counteract the prejudice and discrimination that abounds in society, which begins in the early years of life (Kutner, 1985; Palmer, 1990; Glover, 1991). Such research has pointed out the need to address children’s daily practices and interactions with others, especially within the context of play, that can contribute to the construction and maintenance of power relationships and inequities across difference. Children’s understandings of and