Queering the Curriculum

How might we begin to address the ways in which the systems that we teach our curriculum in are intrinsically homophobic, transphobic, biphobic and oppressive towards queer and trans people?

As a future educator, I will adapt my own speech by eliminating the use of saying references such as “you guys” and instead I will reference my students with other names such as their grade level or other things. I remember in high school, I had a teacher who greeted us by saying “Good morning my blueberries”, I didn’t understand why he did this then but I do now. In order to develop an inclusive classroom for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, I will have pride flags and posters in my classroom, encourage the use of pronouns, use classroom resources that include the 2SLGBTQIA+ perspectives, and encourage the use of gender-neutral bathrooms (if there isn’t a gender-neutral bathroom, I will find a space for students to feel comfortable changing in such as in an empty classroom for example) in order to normalize the topic of 2SLGBTQIA+ as well as provide a safe and comfortable environment for students of this community.

In my elementary and high school experience, I lacked education surrounding the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. In elementary school, I remember having someone in my class who identified as a transmale but instead was often referenced as a “tom-boy”, at the time. I don’t believe any of us had any previous education of the proper terms to reference a transgender/transexual individual. After reading The Climate Survey, I realize that part of this reason was likely because I went to a Christian school, although bullying and discrimination can happen in any environment regardless if the school is Catholic or public. In my schooling experiences outside of university, my teachers often avoided the topic of 2SLGBTQIA+ community by overlooking the topic and not implementing proper terms or integrating this community into the curriculum. I am now looking forward to the new generation of teachers because we have a much higher education based on the topic of 2SLGBTQIA+ community to promote inclusion in our classrooms with resources such as the Deepening the Discussion article. Each and every individual deserves to feel safe, included, accepted and respected in both school and the community and by implementing these practices in our classrooms will remove the stigma and further promote the standardization of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.