This paper considers the educational implications of the recent emphasis on the
mental health and well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning/
queer (LGBTQ) people in Ireland. Operating from the perspective that discourses
constitute rather than merely reflect material reality, thereby shaping or ‘structuring’
how we think about, and act, in relation to queer experience, the paper critically
engages with discourses which position LGBTQ youth as universally at risk of
mental health difficulties, including self-harm and suicidality. It also challenges the
corresponding preoccupation with homophobic bullying as the primary lens
through which queer experience is understood and addressed in schools, arguing
that more space needs to be devoted to other, less harrowing narratives of LGBTQ
experience and identity. It highlights some of the more problematic effects of
LGBTQ mental health research which frame LGBTQ experience primarily in terms
of vulnerability and victimhood and makes the case for a more expansive
engagement with LGBTQ identities. The article illuminates the potential that
after-queer scholarship holds for a re-imagining of queer youth, sexuality and
gender within educational and social research, curriculum materials and
educational institutions more generally and concludes with a consideration of
specific knowledge and skills that educators should be equipped with in order to disrupt normative understandings of gender and sexuality.