SOGI in schools
SOGI in schools
Question: What do parents need to know about how SOGI is addressed in schools?
00:00:05
The first thing that parents should know about SOGI in schools is one if you're ever worried about anything, talk to the teachers, talk to the staff there. Nothing's supposed to be behind a veil of secrecy. So just communicate, e-mail your teachers, talk to them. That's the first thing I encourage parents to know about SOGI. But the second two things, is that, SOGI is a commitment for schools to be a safe place for the queer community and the second part of SOGI is that it's a commitment to having more diverse resources so that you have representation of different sexual orientations and gender identities that exist in their classroom library or in their school library. So, I would say the main thing for parents to know is that it's a commitment towards safety for all students and it's a commitment to more diverse resources.
Question: What is the purpose of teaching about SOGI, as you see it?
00:01:03
Being an educator in education system, one of the main prerogatives is for student safety, and so students can't learn unless they feel safe and SOGI should be taught because we have diverse student identities in our classroom represented who need to know that their identity, their authenticity is important in matters and is going to be recognized in the classroom so that learning can occur and this also goes back to another philosophy of education is that we hope that students can grow into their full potential and their fullness. When we want to ignore or put constraints around people is that that is directly at odds with human flourishing. Teaching about SOGI is about teaching about the reality of diverse identities that exist in the world and giving space for those identities to exist so that people don't have to live in boxes.
Question: What are some of the fears about SOGI-focused education that you have heard?
00:02:12
There are lots of fear around SOGI because there's a lot of unknowns and I get that parents don't know or they fear that they don't know what's happening in the classroom, which is why I first encourage you to be open and communicating with the teacher. But again, it's about resources and representation. I think one of the main fears is that it's brainwashing children into being a certain way. And I'm not going to pretend like all teachers are perfect in anything they teach, but that doesn't apply to SOGI. That applies to everything like my grade nine teacher forced me to kiss a girl in the heterosexual setting, and that was super uncomfortable. Long story short, that created so much distress and so a teacher's role is not to put students into boxes or to enforce them on anything. But SOGI is not that. It's just recognizing that diverse identities around gender and sex exist. And so, I understand that there's fear because there's just a lot of research about sexuality and sex education. Let's not even talk about diverse sexualities, there's so much fear around just talking about sex. Are kids too old or too young, and all these are shows that talk about it more. Earlier learning decreases abortion rates, decreases unprotected sex, risky sex, sexual behavior, and so as a teacher, one of the difficult things is when you're talking about subjects that have a lot of emotional valence in them is that students in your class... like that's the job of an educator and the parent to know, what types of conversations are okay or not at certain ages, but the thing is, when we talk about SOGI, that's just representation that gay people exist, that different gender identities exist, and so that, again, is what it is. It's not about putting your students or like convincing them that they are a different gender identity or sexual orientation than they are, it's just naming that a diversity of identities exists more than what has historically been reduced to boys and girls.
Question: How have your personal experiences informed your views of SOGI?
00:04:32
I research primarily teenage boys and one of the main things that we talk about, and that the research shows, is the man box. The things that have limited their way of being, of not showing their emotions, of needing to project this physical toughness, and never ask for help from others, and how all of those things, when taken to their extreme when they're rigid, have created so much intrapersonal and interpersonal harm, and so one of my passions or my experiences is just witnessing students inside various boxes. And I’m not wanting them to live in these places where things can't grow, and they can't grow. And so that's part of it. And another one that specifically for the LGBTQ2S community is, growing up in the church and witnessing so many of my friends… hate parts of themselves around gender identity and sexual orientation and try to pray it away for so many years, to the detriment of their well-being and as well as just being socially ostracized from the community that professed to love them. And so, I've also kind of been part of that dehumanization in the past. And so, I don't love that and wanted to change that within me and that informs why I care about this subject because I don't want to continue the dehumanization of people either explicitly or implicitly, through my silence.
Question: Is there anything else you would like to share?
00:06:24
If I'm talking to parents, I do want to say I understand that there's fear. I understand that anytime you send your kid to school under the influence of other adults, it's no small thing. And that's why I do think that communication around SOGI is so important. And that's why before you, there's so much information, misinformation, and disinformation. And I think what's really important is to always go back into your own specific context, and the teachers and educators should be open to talking about it. Every time I talk about gender and in my classes, I sent parent emails out ahead of time if they want to talk about anything or interact in that way and so I would just encourage you to address these things head on in the schools in which your children are a part of.