Students around the country are organizing walkouts and other observances at 10:00 a.m. ET today to honor the victims of gun violence and stress the need for stricter gun control laws. As parents, we need to listen to and support them. Here are a few resources to help.
The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School GSA, along with its president, Emma Gonzalez, were honored at Equality Florida’s 2018 Miami Gala last Saturday for their work against gun violence in the wake of the tragic shooting at the school last month. Listen to Gonzalez’s remarks.
It’s GLSEN’s annual No Name-Calling Week, a time to focus on ending name-calling and bullying in schools and promoting #KindnessInAction. Somehow, it seems more relevant than ever.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made headlines by marching in Pride parades—but here are two ways Canadian provinces are supporting queer families (among others) through actual policies: Ontario now recognizes up to four co-parents, and Quebec will introduce discussion of different family types, including same-sex couples, to its mandatory sex education curriculum.
Debra Chasnoff, the Academy Award-winning film director of Choosing Children, about the first generation of out lesbian moms, and a number of award-winning LGBTQ-inclusive educational films, has died at the age of 60 from breast cancer.
Great news out of California: The state Board of Education yesterday evening approved 10 LGBT-inclusive history and social studies textbooks to be used in K-8 classrooms–and rejected two that excluded LGBT people.
Following right after yesterday’s anti-bullying Spirit Day is the synergistic National Know Your Classmates Day, an initiative aimed at ending social isolation, nurturing healthy relationships, and addressing fear of differences among middle school students. Over 850 schools across the country are taking part this year.
My son is starting high school this fall, which I find hard to believe—it seems like just yesterday that I was driving him to preschool. This year feels different for other reasons, too. Last year, we headed into school time with the assumption that progress towards LGBTQ equality and inclusion in education would continue with little hindrance. This year, however, the pall of federal actions against LGBTQ students, particularly transgender ones, hangs heavy over all of us.
“Should kindergarten include books about being transgender?” asks an LA Times column this week. For me, the answer is simple: To say that any child is too young to learn about LGBTQ people is essentially the same as saying that LGBTQ people shouldn’t be parents. At the same time, teachers may need some help in presenting LGBTQ topics accurately and with sensitivity. Let’s review some resources that can help.
Enlarged and improved for 2017! Here’s my annual collection of back-to-school resources for LGBTQ parents, parents of LGBTQ children, and educators, built on a list I started in way back in 2006. I hope it remains useful, whether your children are just entering school, starting a new school, or encountering new situations in their educational journeys.
