LGBTQ Back-to-School Resources: 2017 Edition

LGBTQ Back-to-SchoolEnlarged 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 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.

For All Ages—General

  • The Family Equality Council’s Inclusive Schools page offers sample letters that parents can send to teachers to start a conversation about LGBT inclusion; suggestions for making school forms more inclusive, and book ideas for all ages. Notable this year is the free, downloadable guide, Creating Transgender Inclusive Schools: Navigating the Federal Transgender Education Guidance.
  • GLSEN prides itself on “Championing LGBTQ issues in K-12 education since 1990.” They offer a wealth of resources, some of which are further detailed in the sections to follow.
  • Teaching Tolerance’s guide, “Best Practices: Creating an LGBT-inclusive School Climate,” is a useful compact reference for classrooms of all ages—and they provide great materials for inclusion and support across many aspects of identity.
  • Groundspark’s Messaging Toolkit for Supporting LGBT Inclusive Curriculum and Policies is a practical, helpful guide for parents, teachers, and others who want to create more inclusive schools by reaching out constructively to others in their communities.
  • The Trevor Project, which provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention for LGBTQ youth, offers a Model School District Policy for Suicide Prevention.
  • History Unerased offers resources and training for K-12 teachers on LGBTQ-inclusive academic content.

For All Ages—Specific to Transgender and Nonbinary Students

For Families with Young Children

For Families with Older Children

Many resources aimed at older students focus on LGBTQ youth, but most also have applicability to children of LGBTQ parents, whatever the children’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

  • GLSEN again is a good resource here, with materials on creating an inclusive curriculum, GSA tools including a Jump-Start Guide, and research about the impact of homophobia and transphobia. Of particular note is Unheard Voices: Stories and Lessons for Grades 6 to 12, an oral history and curriculum project done in partnership with in partnership with the Anti-Defamation League and StoryCorps, to help educators integrate LGBTQ history, people, and issues into instructional programs for grades 6-12.
  • GLSEN also manages a number of programs/events to engage school communities of all grades throughout the academic year, including Ally Week, ThinkB4YouSpeak, the Day of Silence, No Name-Calling Week, and the Safe Space Kit.
  • PFLAG’s Safe Schools for All: Cultivating Respect program has similar materials (in English and Spanish) for making schools safer, reducing bullying, and providing comprehensive health education. They also offer a certification program for PFLAG members who want to assist with staff training and policy creation in local schools.
  • The Gay-Straight Alliance Network has great materials for starting or sustaining a GSA.

Children’s Book Recommendations

  • The American Library Association’s Rainbow List offers LGBTQ-inclusive children’s and young adult books chosen by a committee of librarians for quality as well as content. (See also the lists from Family Equality and Welcoming Schools mentioned above.)
  • You may also want to encourage your school library to purchase Jaime Campbell Naidoo’s Rainbow Family Collections, an annotated guide to nearly 250 LGBTQ-inclusive books and media for children through grade five. (It’s a few years old at this point (2012), though still invaluable. For newer books, see the Rainbow List above or the Mombian Shop.)

Other Books on LGBTQ Topics and Schools

Educational Films

  • Groundspark’s series of LGBTQ-inclusive diversity-education films and curriculum guides include That’s a Family, for elementary school students, about different family structures; Let’s Get Real, for middle schoolers, about name-calling and bullying; It’s STILL Elementary, for and about educators discussing gay issues in schools; and Straightlaced, for teens, about the pressure of gender stereotypes. The films are also available for individual screening online.
  • Again, Welcoming Schools’ two videos for educators and parents, What Do You Know? Six- to twelve-year-olds talk about gays and lesbians and What Can We Do? Bias, Bullying & Bystanders, are both worthwhile. Both are available for free streaming.

Sports-Related Resources

2008 GLSEN study found that some students were told they should not do sports, or had their athletic abilities questioned, because they had LGBT parents. And GLSEN’s 2015 National School Climate Survey found that over one third of LGBT students said they avoided physical education or gym classes (31.9%), and more than one fifth avoided school athletic fields or facilities because they felt unsafe or uncomfortable.

  • GLSEN’s Changing the Game project is backed by a coalition of athletes, journalists, and sports figures. It features resources for athletes, athletic administrators, coaches, and parents, inspirational videos about people making a difference, and the Team Respect Challenge pledge.
  • Athlete Ally, founded by straight college wrestling coach Hudson Taylor (a former three-time NCAA Division I All-American wrestler), runs public awareness campaigns and educational programs, and mobilizes ally Ambassadors in collegiate, professional and Olympic sports.
  • The National Center for Lesbian Rights has long been a powerhouse of advocacy and education, and offers legal assistance to LGBTQ athletes and coaches.

Anti-bullying

  • Bullying and The Law is a free guide by attorney Adele Kimmel of Public Justice, a national impact litigation group. Kimmel describes the options parents have, including legal action, when students are bullied, and suggests things to consider when thinking about such action. She also provides information on what parents can reasonably expect from schools in those situations, and what the options are when schools don’t do enough. The guide was created for the Bully Project, an anti-bullying initiative inspired by the award-winning 2011 film Bully.
  • The Matthew Shepard Foundation has a number of resources for educators and others specific to anti-LGBT bullying, including Matthew’s Place, “an online village for LGBTQ youth and allies.”
  • Stopbullying.gov has many good general resources about bullying and cyberbullying. It seems to still have Obama-era content on LGBT youth,  however, so use with care, especially on legal matters, as things may have changed. (See below for some legal resources.)
  • The It Gets Better project continues to spread messages and videos of hope to bullied LGBTQ youth.
  • GLAAD organizes the annual Spirit Day (October 19 this year) as a sign of support for bullied LGBTQ youth.
  • Many state LGBTQ organizations’ websites also have information on state-specific anti-bullying laws.

Legal Resources

When all else fails, several organizations offer legal assistance to LGBTQ youth and others, often in school settings. Links are to their youth-specific pages, when available.

Personally, I try to approach the new school year not in a spirit of trepidation, but one of opportunity. Our common goal as parents and teachers is to educate our children in a safe and welcoming environment. That gives us reason to unite across our differences.

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