Author Information
Timethius Terrell, University of Pennsylvania, United StatesKrista D. Cortes, University of Pennsylvania, United States
Abstract
In Thailand, a nation often lauded for its progressive stance on LGBTQ+ issues, university students who identify as LGBTQ+ still navigate a landscape marked by insufficient institutional support. This study explores their social experiences through a dual approach, combining narrative analysis and critical discourse analysis (CDA) based on the framework established by Preston and Hoffman (2015), to uncover the underlying social-psychological, political, and cultural dynamics at play. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven LGBTQ+ students, recruited through snowball sampling, and 26 articles from Thai media and university publications were analyzed using CDA. The findings reveal that, despite Thailand's surface-level reputation for tolerance, deeper prejudices persist. These prejudices are often masked by cultural practices like เกรงใจ (kreng jai), which prioritize social harmony over confronting sensitive issues surrounding individual differences and are facilitated by adherence to the concept of เพศ (phet), which contributes to increasingly complicated understandings of gender and sexual identities. As a result, LGBTQ+ students often find themselves marginalized and misunderstood, with their needs overlooked in both academic and social contexts. This research not only sheds light on the complexities of LGBTQ+ student life in Thai universities but also calls for a reevaluation of what true inclusivity means in educational settings. By addressing these challenges, there is potential to transform Thai universities into environments where LGBTQ+ identities are fully supported and embraced.
Paper Information
Conference: ACP2025Stream: Linguistics, Language & Psychology/Behavioral Science
This paper is part of the ACP2025 Conference Proceedings (View)
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To cite this article:
Terrell T., & Cortes K. (2025) Queer in the Classroom: Revealing the Social Dynamics of LGBTQ+ Students at Thai Universities ISSN: 2187-4743 – The Asian Conference on Psychology & the Behavioral Sciences 2025 Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 167-174) https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2187-4743.2025.13
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2187-4743.2025.13
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