Humane Educator's Toolbox: 2 Resources for Supporting Gay Youth

Exploring controversial issues in our classrooms can often be, well, controversial. Discuss global warming or animal rights or religion or a plethora of other topics and someone is likely to object. LGBTQI issues have often fallen into that category, but educators can no longer ignore the terrible damage that students of all ages are experiencing from a culture that condones, if not actively promotes homophobia, bullying, and the flippant use of phrases like "That's so gay." The recent rash of teen suicides only highlights the importance of educators raising awareness, promoting empathy and understanding, and helping LGBTQI youth and their supporters build skills for coping with an often hostile culture.

Two resources we've recently come across can help.

Beyond Tolerance: A Resource Guide for Addressing LGBTQI Issues in Schools (pdf) was created by NYQueer, a working group of the New York Collective of Radical Educators (NYCORE). The 35-page guide offers a slew of suggested resources for supporting educators in addressing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and intersex issues and themes, including:

• Resource and Support Organizations (those that are NYC-based are marked as such).
• Youth Focused Organizations
• Days to Recognize in the Classroom (No Name Calling Week, Day of Silence, etc.)
• Curricular Resources
• Film and Video
• Historical Events and Figures
• Transgender and Intersex Support
• Homophobia
• Marriage Equality
• Professional Resources
• Booklists (by NYQueer and other organizations)

Each entry includes a summary of the resource and a key to what age groups (elementary, middle school, high school) would most benefit from the resource.


Whoever coined the whole "Sticks and stones" adage was deeply misinformed. We've all experienced the sting of unkind words, and when you're battered with it day after day, like some young people who are LGBTQI are, it can become depressing, if not life-threatening. The Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) has debuted a campaign to bring attention to the fact that words have significant consequences, and that saying things like "fag" and "That's so gay" are not only not cool; they're harmful. GLSEN's Think Before You Speak campaign offers resources and action ideas for students, parents and educators to help stop the verbal bullying that's commonplace in schools today. The site includes video and radio PSAs, downloadable web widgets, how-to's and more.

For educators there's a downloadable guide (pdf) with resources, activities and helpful tips.

What other helpful resources or strategies do you know about?

~ Marsha

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