You Don't Look Like a Lesbian: A Coautoethnography of Intersectional Identities in Counselor Education

Although advocacy lies at the core of the counseling professional identity, the voices and experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQQIA) students and educators are frequently silenced and marginalized within academic settings. Utilizing coconstructed autoethnography, the authors examine the ways in which the intersecting identities of LGBTQQIA individuals are individually, culturally, and systemically privileged and oppressed within counseling classrooms, curricula, and program policies. The authors discuss guidelines for interrogating and disrupting heteronormativity and other macro- and microaggressive practices in academic spaces and specified standards to ensure an affirming and inclusive environment for students, faculty, and staff.