The Educator's Guide to LGBT+ Inclusion. Kryss Shane
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minority groups may not identify as LGBT+. Typically, this occurs when one or more minority identifications lead the individual to be desexualized by society. One example of desexualized or infantilized groups is that of people with significant physical and/or learning disabilities. Through media portrayal and the additional need of assistance to perform daily tasks, it is common for society to see individuals with physical limitations as patients, as helpless, and/or as people to be pitied. This makes it difficult for many to recognize any gender identity or sexual orientation in association with that individual or an entire group of individuals with the same characteristics. This can result in a lack of representation for LGBT+ individuals who have obvious physical limitations. The deaf community is another group where members are often not considered to also be in a gender or sexual minority. While our society has been making strides to recognize that hard-of-hearing or deaf people live rich, full lives, it remains prevalent in the media that individuals of this minority group are seen as being in need of assistance or being victims of crimes.
Although this book focuses on making schools more LGBT+ inclusive, this is not intended to be done at the detriment of recognition of other minority groups or their needs. Focusing on this particular group and its needs can also provide you with insights and tools to become more mindful of the needs of students and staff who are part of other minority groups. Use what you gain via this book to encourage you to think about how different students may need similar types of support and how you can be a more inclusive colleague.
Battle fatigue
As you move through this book, giving yourself time to pause periodically and reflect, you are encouraged to consider not just how the information impacts your life and your actions but also how the lack of knowledge and the need to educate others has impacted LGBT+ students, families, and staff. Too often, a person in a minority group is expected to provide insights to others. There can be an expectation that it is incumbent upon a person in a persecuted group to raise their hand, explain their identity, explain how the current statement or situation is inappropriate, offer suggestions, recommend a solution, and implement the new course of action.
It is also necessary to consider that laws and law enforcement may already be against them. (This is not to discount areas where non-discrimination policies exist or the many wonderful police officers; this is simply to acknowledge how many areas of the nation lack even basic LGBT+ protections and how many stories exist where officers have been unkind or downright cruel to LGBT+ people.) There is also a significant amount of bigotry that exists, especially for those whose identities are at the intersection of a number of minority groups. This means that there may never be a time when the individual is able to truly relax because they are forced to always be in fear for their safety and their lives, spending a significant portion of their energy simply trying to stay alive, before they can even begin to add other areas of focus to their day.
As such, it is easy for a person to become exhausted from trying to meet or manage the expectations others have of them, while being seen as the voice of their entire minority group and while trying to avoid becoming the victim of violence. For students, they are often juggling this while also attempting to figure out their own identity and place in the world and meet the requirements placed upon them during the learning process. For families, they are often juggling all of the multitudes of parental requirements alongside judgment from others and stress of safety risks. For LGBT+ employees, their jobs become that much more difficult when they are not only at risk as people but even more so in areas where it is legal for them to be fired for their identity, which means that they consistently also live in fear of sudden job and income loss.
Siblings and families of LGBT+ people may also experience this fatigue. Families may be forced to forever defend their child’s identity to adults to ensure appropriate educational opportunities and treatment in schools. Siblings may spend much of their time in school defending their LGBT+ sibling, monitoring whether their sibling is safe from bullying, or fending off those who mistreat them because they have an LGBT+ sibling. This can result in significant and ongoing efforts by everyone to keep the LGBT+ person as safe and respected as possible.
As you move through this book and as you become more mindful of the experiences of LGBT+ people, you are encouraged to take time to think about when you personally have felt most unsafe, in danger, or at risk of violence. You are asked to think about how it felt when you were called down to the boss’s office. You are asked to think about how your life would change if you were to be suddenly fired at this very moment. How would each of these situations feel?
As you consider each of these and the impact they would have on your life, you are encouraged to imagine the experience of living full-time in that feeling. You are asked to then consider how much additional strength it would take to feel this way and then complete your daily tasks and meet the expectations given to you by others. Finally, consider how it might feel if there was a person you could spend time with and a place you could go where those fears were lifted, where your safety was affirmed, and where your goals were supported. This is where you can begin to understand just how much of an impact you, your classroom, your school, and your school district can have on LGBT+ youth, LGBT+ families, and LGBT+ staff.
5
Terminology
As we get ready to begin, people may be on very different levels of understanding about the topics of this book. Additionally, some people believe they understand more than they do, and others probably understand more than they think they do. In a desire for everyone to begin on the same page, let’s start off talking about terminology so that we all move forward together through the rest of the book.
Before we begin with current knowledge, let’s take a moment to discuss the history of the naming of this group of people. We used to see the abbreviation that GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender); now we typically see it as LGBT+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender). Why? Many women’s groups argue that GLBT is yet another place where men are placed before women, so it is often considered more inclusive to place “lesbian” before “gay” as in “LGBT.” However, as society and science begin to indicate that gender and sexuality may be more of a spectrum than a set number of boxes a person may check, it is becoming more common to see it listed as LGBT+. That allows for keeping the acronym short while also being the most inclusive possible.
What do professional sources say? This is really crucial because it considers the awareness that the LGBT+ population exists and why it exists, based on fact and on medical research. Too often, when talking about this population, there is an expectation that people’s opinions should dictate how others are perceived. Instead, however, it is vital that we consider what professional associations say about this area in order to ensure that we are behaving based on best practices from science and research, rather than our own personal opinions, biases, or beliefs. (This is not to say that we can’t acknowledge that we have our own opinions, biases, and beliefs; it is simply to indicate that although we have those, it is not our place as educators to impose them on others.)
When looking at this from an educator perspective, we have to consider the ways in which our own personal behavior toward and treatment of those who identify as LGBT+ may be hindering their ability to learn and fully contribute to the academic community of our school, school district, and overall community.
Let’s look at appropriate terminology. This is something that does change often, so you may see some terms that used to not be accepted now being used, and you may also see that some terms that used to be accepted no longer are. Let’s start with the umbrella terms first and then work into what falls under those umbrellas.
Sexual orientation: This refers to someone’s sexual and romantic attraction. Most people have a sexual orientation. (Someone who does not is called asexual.) You can be attracted (romantically, emotionally, and/or sexually) to people of the opposite gender and identify as “straight” or “heterosexual,” or be attracted to people of the same gender and identify as “gay” or “lesbian.” You can also be attracted to people of either gender, which is called “bisexual.” Some people identify as being attracted to a person regardless of their gender. This person would identify as “pansexual.”