People who define as 2SLGBTQ+ have always existed in this world but now in the 21st century have gotten the courage to show their true selves and change heteronormativity. We are passed the point where we hide and shun people who are different from society and from living like privileged people are heterosexual. It is a fact that people who define as straight or cisgender do not understand how scary life can be if you are not. So it is time, in our evolving world, to accept people who do not define as cisgender with open arms because they are people who need our support, who need support from people who are heterosexual too.
To begin to address transphobic, homophobic, biphobic and oppression towards people who define as 2SLGBTQ+ underlies through our hidden curriculum. We can start to address these issues by thinking how schools reflect straight students and corner 2SLGBTQ+ students. How majority of the students who are bullied belong to this group. To steer away from this would be to stand up for students who you see have a hard time because of how they express and define themselves. These students are easily picked on because of their differences and we need to make sure we are praising our differences in the classroom. To not tiptoe around hard topics. As teachers we need to incorporate diverse gender perspectives, question dominant ideas that are guided by heterosexual views, address issues related to LGBTQ+ that are happening in the world, and to present recourses like books on our shelves to help students who have questions.
Most importantly as we talked about in class was switching our language to more inclusive language. To us the phrase "Welcome friends, Welcome folks, Welcome people" instead of using genders like boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen. Include the students who do not define as either. Make the classroom comfortable for all races, gender, and sexualities by advocating change in the classroom.
I like that you are so passionate about inclusion and on the fact that we need to really take care and allow our students to be who they are. Turning a blind eye to those who define with the 2SLGBTQ+ community is just allowing people to continue the cycle of hate in our society, and the only way to stop it is by providing those in our classroom with the proper education and understanding. 🌈
I love what you said about switching our language, as gendered pronouns are so prevalent in our speech and in most languages. I also love that you wrote about needing resources about gender/sexuality in classroom as there is not many we educators can use. Discussion is important and how we learn as students and by not bringing in queer work we are only further exemplifying the hidden curriculum