Gender as Spectacle: Safe Zone Facilitation Experiences of Nonbinary/Trans Educators

This paper explores the experiences of nonbinary and trans (NBT) facilitators of Safe Zone workshops, what we call LGBTQ+ social justice educational interventions (SJEIs). Despite their prevalence in higher education for over 3 decades, there remains a paucity of research about them and those who facilitate them. This research focused on 33 NBT participants, a subpopulation within the larger 87 participants, to explore their preparation for LGBGTQ+ SJEI facilitation and how they use their gender in their facilitation. Using grassroots leadership as our conceptual framework, we raise concerns about what it means for identities to serve as preparation for leadership, and how these leaders give of themselves even to the detriment of themselves.