Pride flags in every classroom, but they didn’t teach us queer sex ed: a qualitative exploration of 2SLGBTQIA+ students’ experiences with sexual health education in Ontario

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore how 2SLGBTQIA+ secondary students experience Ontario’s sexual health curriculum, and how those experiences shape their ability to navigate sex, relationships, and identity. Although Ontario’s Health and Physical Education Curriculum formally includes content related to sexual orientation, gender identity, and healthy relationships, there remains limited research on how 2SLGBTQIA+ students themselves interpret and experience this education in practice (Gowen & Winges-Yanez, 2014; Ontario Ministry of Education, 2019). Using a descriptive phenomenological approach, this study centred the lived experiences of 12 2SLGBTQIA+ youth and young adults who attended secondary school in Ontario and received school-based sexual health education. Participants were recruited through purposive and snow ball sampling, and data were collected through semi-structured qualitative interviews. Interview data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2022). Four central themes were identified: 1) cisheteronormativity as the curricular baseline; 2) teaching sexual health: tone, comfort, and classroom control; 3) curricular influence on relational scripts and identity development; and 4) filling in the gaps: peers, pornography, and the internet. Overall, findings suggest that Ontario’s sexual health curriculum was experienced as inconsistent and often disconnected from 2SLGBTQIA+ students’ lived realities. This research has implications for sexual health education policy, educator training, classroom implementation, and social work practice with 2SLGBTQIA+ youth.