Being an Inclusive Ally: Teaching LGBT In Class and Out

(created by yours truly, activities gathered from life experience, especially time spent with Dr. Lesley Bogad, Dr. Gerri August, Ruby, and YPI)
What is an Ally?
Ally- someone who actively chooses to stand up for another person in crisis, as opposed to a bystander who watches and does nothing, a perpetrator that starts/perpetuates and incident, or the target who is the focus of the incident (using “victim” rids this person of agency)

How to Be an Ally as a Teacher/Activist in Your Community/Classroom:
This is multifaceted, and includes your language, pedagogy, how you create community, your materials, your interactions with all individuals, and responsiveness to problem situations
1. Silence=compliance. If you see a situation, STOP it. Have words ready, like “Hey! Not Okay.” Don’t shy away from these teachable moments, have a conversation.
2. Use questions to clarify/redirect a situation. What did you mean by that?
3. Build a curriculum with windows and mirrors: ways students can both see themselves represented, and other types of people represented
a. For Elementary ed: inclusive unit on family, allow for gender bending dress up
b. For Middle Level: make sex ed inclusive, encourage inter-click bonding, see HS
c. For High School: teach Stonewall, Harvey Milk, Gay Marriage, no “that’s so gay”
4. Inclusive language: ask all students for preferred name/pronouns, use “partner” and not “husband/wife”, make questionnaires and permission forms inclusive to all family types
5. Make the classroom a safe space: be mobile and aware of interactions, build a community of trust, pick groups for students so no one is left out, never do gender-based divisions (girls here!)
6. Teach students to read the world and analyze media: what messages are they being sold?
7. Have safe policies in the school: tough on anti-bullying, no father-only activities (or vise versa), inclusive permission forms, inclusive dances, functional GSA/Diversity Club
8. Make safe zones throughout the school: single stall bathrooms available for students, alternatives to the locker room to change, gender neutral residence halls
9. Make safety and inclusion a universal practice in community through Professional Development
10. Prepare a lesson on bullying as part of the “get to know you” days, take a stand from the start!

Ally/Bystander Lesson Activities
• Crinkle paper: draw or write on it, crinkle, unfold, wrinkles are forever, so are memories
• Own the room: write a personal story, collect and redistribute, read anonymously aloud
• Define Ally: give a chart with four spaces, define ally, bystander, perpetrator, target
• Fix it: Read a story with no allies, ask students to write and act out a new ending

Inspiring Readings

Eled

1. King and King
2. 10,000 Dresses
3. Tango Makes Three
4. The Family Book
5. Who's in a Family?
6. Heather Has Two Mommies
7. Daddy's Roommate
8. The Sissy Duckling
9. The Boy Who Cried Fabulous

Middle/SecEd:

1. Kissing Kate
2. Well of Lonliness
3. Empress of the World
4. Bullied
5. Annie on My Mind
6. Boy Meets Boy
7. Nothing Pink
8. Boyfriends with Girlfriends
9. Rainbow Boys

College/Advanced:

1. Sexing the Body
2. GenderQueer
3. Nobody Passes
4. Her Husband Was a Woman: Female Gender Crossing in Early 20th Century British Pop Culture
5. Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold
6. Transgender Studies Reader
7. Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers
8. Female Masculinity
9. Author: Dennis Carlson
10. Author: Adrienne Rich
    
    Movies/Youtube: Kids in America, Andrea Gibson, Fried Green Tomatoes, TransAmerica, GLEE, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, GI Jane, FIRE, Lost and Delirious, Stick It, But I’m a Cheerleader, Camp, RENT, Boys Don’t Cry, Imagine Me & You, Athens Boys Choir, It Gets Better, L Word, Better than Chocolate, Brokeback Mountain, Milk, Queer as Folk, Will & Grace, D.E.B.S.