By Amy Moran, Ph.D. and Kate Okeson
Amy joined Bergen County Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) Consortium co-founder Will Andresen to present “Visibility: Seeing and Supporting LGBTQIA+ Community Members in Schools” at the Bergen County Education Association’s first Social Justice Celebration of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
We started with a purpose: to provide LGBTQIA+ students affirming education while teaching cisgender straight students to coexist with queer/questioning peers, enabling all students to learn with greater safety and ease. Urgently relevant, 71% of LGBTQ students reported that their mental health is being impacted somewhat-to-very negatively because of recent debates about state laws restricting their rights. Worse, 41% of LGBTQ young people seriously considered suicide in the past year, with transgender, nonbinary and youth of color reporting even higher numbers.
NJDOE mandates and standards
We explored the NJDOE mandates and standards that direct and endorse this work. These include:
- 2017 – Social and Emotional Learning Competencies
- 2019 – LGBT curriculum mandate for middle and high school students to receive instruction on contributions of LGBT people and people with disabilities.
- 2020 – Comprehensive Physical and Health Education Standards, including developmentally appropriate social and sexual health instruction across all grades.
- 2021 – Mandate for instruction on diversity and inclusion for grades K-12 to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, tolerance and belonging in connection with gender and sexual orientation and others, with attention to unconscious bias and creating welcoming environments.
These regulations and legislation confirm our right and requirement to include LGBT-affirming instructional content.
Teaching and learning strategies
We focused on personal gender pronouns (PGPs) and grouping by attributes like birth month rather than sex. We explored instructional strategies by grade level and content area, and practical strategies for addressing antagonistic student behaviors.
We recommended collaboration with colleagues in collecting relevant resources, developing interdisciplinary projects, and more. We discussed strategies for authentic schoolwide engagement that include safer space signals and symbols and the value of having morning announcements be LGBTQIA+ inclusive.
Avoiding tokenism is especially important. Doing one lesson or mentioning one queer-affirming thing communicates falsely to students that queer people aren’t worth integrating much into learning or life. Rather, work to integrate LGBTQIA+ content into the areas you already teach. It’s relevant—and it’s required.
Union supports
NJEA worked with Attorney General Matthew Platkin resulting in an anti-bias statement, NJEA’s tracking of anti-LGBTQIA+ actions reported to the NJEA Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Committee and UniServ field representatives, and the potential to collaborate with county administration unions to prioritize supporting teachers in this work.
Interaction with school administration
We can’t tell administrators how to respond, but we let them know that we need their support around anti-LGBTQIA+ attacks by outside antagonists, adult cyberbullying, and gray areas concerning harassment, intimidation and bullying. We can and must support each other as we continue to do right by LGBTQIA+ students.
Action items
We brainstormed action items we’ll take up back at school. An accountability partner can help increase your integration of LGBTQIA+ affirming content. Did you do one thing last year? Great! Now try one per marking period! Or one per month! Or reach out to your school GSA and ask the advisor for student-endorsed content recommendations and resources!
Share what you’re working on at rainbowconnectionnjea@gmail.com