During this week we were asked to answer the following question: 

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

While thinking long and hard to address these issues, individuals should take a look at our curriculums and take an understanding to whether or not there are any outcomes or indicators that openly ignore the LGBTQIA2+ communities. By doing this we will be able to see which curriculums may hold the ideals of oppressive ideas. It is also important that we ensure that the curriculum uses and includes the correct terminology for gender diverse individuals as well as sexually diverse individuals. There are many subject areas that include topics surrounding gender and sexuality, as well as pronoun usage and inclusive language. By including a more in depth explanation of these areas hopefully we can work towards making our curriculum more up to date. In the case that individuals need to expose and be able to express the idea that these oppressive systems only had three ideas of what gender is: gender biology, gender expression and gender identity (Saskatchewan ministry of education, 2015). By doing this we will hopefully be able to reduce the oppressive systems that our schools and curriculum currently have, this can be done by increasing awareness. This is important in a school system where students are still trying to find themselves. 

While taking a look at the curriculum, another good resource to use is the classroom itself and the systems implicit messages. Suppose the system assumes different ideas about other genders and sexuality, which when looked at from a heteronormative perspective is often overlooked. We often do not discuss same-sex partners in any form (Saskatchewan ministry of education, 2015). 

Resources:

Saskatchewan Ministry of Education. (2015). Deepening the Discussion: Gender and Sexual Diversity. Saskatchewan Government. https://publications.saskatchewan.ca/#/products/75989