Education Advocacy
Conversations about embracing and promoting queerness in the education system.
Recorded Sessions
Bring Pride Week to Your District!
Do you want to help the LGBTQIA2+ students in your school district feel safe and welcome? Have you heard that Austin ISD holds a full Pride Week annually and wondered, how did they do that?? Then this session is for you! Join us and learn how to Bring Pride Week to Your District!
Finding Inclusive Professional Development
Educators wanting to serve all their students while recognizing, holding space for, and honoring individual complexities deserve all the gold stars, but finding professional development to help you do that can be a challenge. We've scoured the internet and our networks to point you towards training options on everything from LGBTQ+ cultural competence to disability justice, anti-racism work, and more. Teachers ain't gonna wanna miss this!
Transitioning at Work
School staff and other working professionals are encouraged to tune in for our Transitioning at Work panel where you'll hear directly from folks who have done it... or are in the process of doing it. Allies encouraged to attend!
Educators’ Rights Surrounding Queerness
For educators, navigating laws and practical considerations surrounding queerness in schools can be complex. Non-discrimination protections are often unclear and inconsistently applied, and there are often many gray areas. This panel discussion hopes to shed some light and provide input to help queer educators thrive in the workplace and to help all educators integrate queer topics and advocacy into their classrooms without fear of legal repercussions.
Children's' Agency Over Gender Through Art
Agency over gender describes the belief of a child’s freedom to determine their own person. And, that an educator’s choice to guide, not control, that determination can help create spaces of such freedom. The idea of agency over gender through art came from my first teaching job out of college as a counselor of an elementary after school center. In college, I had finished my thesis in using an intersectional lens in public school pedagogy. This illustrated ways in which teachers should frame their curriculum using an intersectional feminist lens that centers those that are most marginalized and erased. I was excited to practice these thoughts and writings into my work with students. Within two weeks of my previous job I was promoted to Art Director and was able to put into practice my ideas, and challenge myself in new ways.
Library Queeries
LGBTQIA+ youth deserve to see themselves in the stories they read and the lessons they learn. Multiple studies have shown the importance of LGBTQ-related resources and inclusive curricula for queer students’ sense of safety and belonging. Libraries – whether in schools, communities, or homes – are powerful tools for encouraging queer youth to explore their identities and histories. Three of Out Youth’s past and present librarians will join us to discuss strategies to make libraries a safe and welcoming space for LGBTQIA+ youth, queering the stacks, and responding to parent and community backlash.
Queering Your Classroom
If you’ve ever wanted to talk about queerness more in your classroom, but weren’t sure how to do so, this panel is for you! Join us for what is sure to be a dynamic and engaging discussion on how to queer your classroom. Learn about the diverse ways you can insert LGBTQ+-related topics into your regular content, how to support the queer and trans students in your classes, and ways to establish community support.
LGBTQIA+ Students Need Parents as Allies Too
For LGBTQIA+ students, even a single supportive adult can transform their lives. We'll share some 'Ally 101' tips and give you a handy cheat-sheet version of the local and online resources you can use to help ensure LGBTQIA+ students are safe and supported in school, (even when it's distance-learning-school!)
Finding the Missing Pieces of the Rainbow: Centering QTBIPOC History & Futures
At the end of the day LGBTQIA+ history and POC history are inherently intertwined, you cannot have one without the other. This presentation will trace the historical context and stories of QTBIPOC activism and highlight certain individuals from social movements in the past such as the Stonewall Riots, the Civil Rights Movement, and various others in the U.S., and current movements like Black Lives Matter. It is important that we know the history, that we know the names, that we continue to learn and educate ourselves for our futures and beyond.
Know Your Rights Trivia: LGBTQIAP2+ Students’ Rights in Schools
Join us to play virtual trivia and learn about LGBTQIAP2+ students’ rights in schools. This interactive program seeks to inform young people, families, and advocates on the current state of students’ rights in Texas and across the country, including providing updates from the ACLU of Texas on recent court cases and how students, parents, educators, and allies can help make schools more inclusive and affirming.
How to Use Stories and Numbers as a Tool to Advocate for Supportive Policies at School: Presented by Meg Bishop
This webinar presents the Stories and Numbers Project, a new online tool for accessing resources related to the safety and well-being of LGBTQ youth in Texas schools. The purpose of the webinar is to orient students, parents, educators, and policy-makers to the resources covered on the website, highlighting the evidence on school policies, programs, and practices that are linked to positive adjustment and academic success for LGBTQ students. Additionally, we present ways to institute evidence-based safe school strategies. Attendees come away with action steps for implementing inclusive nondiscrimination policies and LGBTQ-related curricula, supporting Gender-Sexuality Alliances, and accessing professional development resources.
From Pronouns to Policy Change: How to Transform Classrooms, Orgs., and Conversations into LGBTQIAP2+ Inclusive Spaces
It's so easy to say that LGBTQIA+ people deserve rights, but how do we practice that principle in the institutions that we are a part of? This panel will give specific and actionable pro-tips to make our spaces work equitably for queer and trans folks.
LGBTQIAP2+ Inclusive Sex Education: Presented by GLSEN and SIECUS
Pride Month wraps up with LGBTQ+ Inclusive Sex Ed Week of Action June 22-26. Although in-person pride events have been cancelled due to COVID-19, it’s important that we continue to take this time to celebrate and uplift the experiences of LGBTQ+ people. Join as GLSEN’s Education Manager, Becca Mui, will moderate a panel discussion with sexual health educators and LGBTQ+ students. We will share relevant research on LGBTQ+ sex ed, share resources and best practices for K-12 inclusion, and discuss school-based advocacy efforts. LGBTQ+ youth panelists will share their own experiences with sexual health education, their advocacy efforts, and what they want educators to know to better support them.
Being an Ally to Transgender, Non-Binary and Gender Nonconforming Students
Being an Ally to Transgender, Non-Binary and Gender Nonconforming Students... that's quite a title for a little workshop, but this might be one instance where it's easier done than said. Teachers and school personnel are in a unique position to be able to support all students, regardless of how their parents or legal guardians might feel about questions of gender identity and expression. In this conversation Austin Independent School District's Community Equity and Inclusion Coordinator, Shane Whalley, will share some of hir emerging strategies for creating learning environments that are spaces where all students can thrive, inclusive of their genders.
All About LGBTQ Studies
Have you considered taking a class in LGBTQ Studies, or earning a degree in it? If you’ve ever had questions like “What even is LGBTQ Studies?” or “What kind of job can you get if you take LGBTQ Studies classes?” then this session is for you! Grayson Hunt, the Associate Director of LGBTQ Studies and the University of Texas at Austin will answer all your other questions about LGBTQ Studies too.