By Amy Moran, Ph. D. (she/her)
Welcome back to another wonderful school year! As we prepare our rooms and routines for success, let’s recommit to celebrating LGBTQIA+ culture all year long.
New Jersey has several important policies that support us in our LGBTQIA+ inclusion work and safer schools practices:
• 2010 – Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights (N.J.S.A. 18A:37-14) addresses harassment, intimidation and bullying (HIB) in schools.
• 2017 – Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Competencies help ensure that students learn self-awareness, social awareness, and relationship skills.
• 2017 – Transgender Students Legislation (S3067/A4652) enables anyone to use the school bathroom or locker room that corresponds with their gender identity and to be called by their chosen name and pronoun.
• 2019 – LGBT Curriculum Inclusion Mandate (C.18A:35-4.35) which requires boards of education adopt curricular topics and materials that include instruction on the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.
• 2020 – Comprehensive Health and Physical Education standards that support personal growth and development, emotional health, and social and sexual health in developmentally-appropriate ways by grade level.
All of these provide back-up for adults in schools as we affirm and celebrate our LGBTQIA+ students while providing opportunities for our straight, cisgender students to better understand and appreciate their queer peers, queer community members, and queer fellow Americans, past and present.
We’ve long understood that multiculturalism in curricula is a pathway toward student identity affirmation, a more positive classroom culture, and reducing incidents of harassment, intimidation and bullying. Including queer culture within a multicultural lens is something many of us have been doing for years. We do it because it’s the right thing to do, and because continuing to co-create safer learning spaces has positive ripple effects for everyone. Let’s talk about some easy-to-activate best practices.
• POST a rainbow-themed poster or sticker on your classroom door, at the front of the classroom, and/or on your desk. The intersex-inclusive Progress Pride flag is one of the most inclusive designs.
• INCLUDE your pronouns on your e-signature for your school email, letting readers know what pronouns to use when referring to you and signaling to them that you’re open to learning others’ pronouns too!
• CREATE an “intake” form that lets you learn more about students—including their personal pronouns. Learn which pronouns they’d like for public classroom use (and whether they discreetly use other pronouns in one-on-one discussions).
• CHOOSE gender-neutral language when addressing your groups. Instead of “boys and girls” or “ladies and gentlemen,” try “learners,” “scholars,” “writers,” “scientists,” or “problem solvers.”
• FORM activity teams and learning groups by characteristics other than perceived sex or gender. Try groupings by, birth month or number of pets.
• CONNECT with your school’s GSA adviser or an adviser in your district and invite GSA students to be guest speakers in your classroom. They’ll likely have tons of experience-rich insight to share about making safer spaces for all. (Once “gay/straight alliances,” GSAs can be “gender and sexuality alliances” to be more inclusive.)
• START a GSA. Check your district’s extra-work-for-extra-pay listings, work with your principal and union president about how to get the club on the next board agenda, and get started once you have approval. [NOTE: Once a club is “board official,” it’s covered by district insurance—this protects teachers. Being “board official” also helps ensure you’re being paid for your time and professionalism.] Let’s draw inspiration from Kamala Harris’s running mate Tim Walz, former social studies teacher and football coach who started Mankato High School’s first GSA 25 years ago.
In other words, let’s deepen our rainbow connections, making our teaching and learning spaces safer by design. Please share your own LGBTQIA+ inclusive back-to-school practices at RainbowConnectionNJEA@gmail.com!