“When someone with the authority of a teacher describes the world and you are not in it, there is a moment of psychic disequilibrium, as if you looked into a mirror and saw nothing.”
from Adrienne Rich
The vast majority of LGBTQ kids are victimized at their school. Bullying ranges from negative comments from both peers and teachers, to actual physical assault. Find out more about what you can do in your school to protect LGBTQ teens and make the school safer for everyone.
Resources:
Audio:
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Further Reading:
- App for parents to help their child with bullying: The Know Bullying App
- Book: Bullied, what every parent, teacher and kid needs to know about ending the cycle of fear, by Carrie Goldman. It includes a chapter regarding LGBT issues.
- American Psychological Association: Just The Facts
Organizations:
Discussion questions for Teachers:
- The kids in the show mentioned that they didn’t feel the school was doing enough to keep them safe. Do you feel confident that you know what to do when bullying is going on? Do you feel confident those actions will really make a difference? Is there a more in-depth conversation that needs to happen at your school?
- Are you interested in starting a GSTA? What are your hopes and fears about doing that?
- What are the questions you have about sexual orientation and gender identity that are hard to ask in public, for fear that everyone else already knows?
- Are there moments or comments that have happened in your classroom, that you didn’t know how to speak up about that you now feel you could bring up and facilitate a discussion about?
- If you teach health education, history, or literature, are there places in the curriculum where you could include more LGBT content? Where you could choose books that describe LGBT lives, LGBT contributions in history, or LGBT health concerns?
