No-Name Calling Week: A Time to Celebrate Kindness
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.
Schools/Education
Two Cool Ways Canada Is Supporting Queer Families
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.
Groundbreaking Director of Films on Lesbian Parenting and LGBTQ Inclusion in Schools Dies at 60
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.
California Approves LGBT-Inclusive Textbooks for K-8 Classrooms
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.
Know Your Classmates Day Works to Bridge Differences in Middle School
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.
Reading, Writing, ‘Rithmatic, and Resistance: Back-to-School Time in the Trump Era
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.
How Schools Can Teach About LGBTQ People
“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.
LGBTQ Back-to-School Resources: 2017 Edition
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.
Listen Up: LGBTQ Family Podcast Picks
Already binged the whole new season of Orange Is the New Black and looking for some entertainment?
Try these recent podcast episodes about LGBTQ families and youth.
The Best States for LGBTQ Families
A new report from a major philanthropic foundation looks at “state trends in child well-being.” Families with LGBTQ members, however, will likely want to cross-reference it with some LGBTQ-specific studies if they want to determine the best state for them.
