In the United States, LGBTQIA+ education and history is not a required curriculum in public schools. However, people are beginning to realize that queer—along with Black, Latino, and Native American—education is just as important as the rest of it. Queer education should, even in the smallest sense, be a part of government-regulated education.
Around three weeks ago, Scotland approved a new, inclusive public school curriculum for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender inclusive education. School staff (apart from counselors and mental health staff) have been given more resources to handle LGBTQIA+ related issues during or outside of class. Back in November 2018, Scottish Ministers agreed to and accepted recommendations to include lessons of issues faced by the community—same-sex marriage and parenting, homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia.
Queer education has also been a profession long before Scotland became the first country to incorporate it in schools. Blair Imani, a Muslim, award-winning educator, author, and historian is one of my personal favorites of LGBTQ+ educators on social media.
Social media is a great way to be directly involved and informed by many kinds of people, however, it’s important to know how to differentiate reliable information from incorrect or corrupted information.
From Blair Imani’s ‘Smarter In Seconds’, here are questions to ask yourself when validating a source.
- How recent is the material?
- Who wrote it? What are their qualifications? Motivations? Have they written on it before?
- Who published it? Who funded it? Why?
- Who does this information benefit? Harm?
- Is there supporting documentation?
WHY IS QUEER EDUCATION IMPORTANT
Education, in any scope, is integral for the growth of a healthy mindset. School is a primary place for young minds to develop uniquely and fully. This is why the quality of information in public schools is such a continuously debated topic.
Emily Schorr Lesnick, in her GLSEN blog, titled I’m a Queer Educator. Here’s Why I Need Allies, describes “queer” as: a reclamation of a history of struggle as LGBTQ+ people and a commitment to navigate the world challenging all systems of normativity and oppression.
We can incorporate LGBTQIA+ awareness into public schools by respecting, using, and telling others your pronouns, as well as respectively correcting anyone who misuses yours or someone else’s. Avoid befriending queer kids in schools just because they’re queer—being an ally does not require validation from others. Queer kids also don’t need to look a certain way, so be aware of assumptions that could be made in relation to their image.
Queer (along with Latin-X, Black, and Native) education is especially important because it improves the ability to empathize and connect with other people. For some who choose to remain dismissive, the world becomes an unnecessarily harder place to live in. Learning a separate perspective improves the social biodiversity of our society and benefits everyone involved.
So take your time to learn, understand and communicate with the world around you—you may even find yourself identifying with one of the many letters in our alphabet.
LHS resources: Gay-Straight Alliance Other resources: Read This To Get Smarter by Blair Imani