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Wearing a Rainbow Bumper Sticker: Experiential Learning on Homophobia, Heteronormativity, and Heterosexual Privilege

College campuses are known to be heteronormative environments that often foster heterosexism and homophobia. There is a broad call for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) awareness-building curricula as one avenue for positive change in campus climates. This study interrogates the effects of an experiential learning activity where students were tasked with wearing a rainbow bumper sticker on their person for 24 hours. The aim was to inspire deep learning through self-reflection on experiences of discomfort. Students positively rated the activity for helping them recognize how homophobia influences conformity to heterosexual norms; recognize heterosexual privilege; and empathize with others who hold nonnormative sexual identities.