information in this section.
Section take-away
The purpose of this section is to inform the reader, to correct mis-understandings and outdated knowledge, and to prepare the reader with the foundation necessary to best utilize the entirety of this book.
1
Safety
There are currently no mandates of federal protection and this lack of requirements has too often resulted in no legal consideration for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT+) community at all. This means that each state (and sometimes each city within a state) gets to decide whether a person can be discriminated against for being LGBT+. What considerations and protections to provide LGBT+ members of a school community is also left up to specific cities or individual school districts or even individual schools. This can create situations where different schools in the same community may have vastly different rules, policies, and procedures regarding the LGBT+ community. This information is vital to understand so that educators can be mindful of the life experiences of the LGBT+ people with whom they regularly interact.
In some places, there are legal questions and attempts to pass bills to undermine the success of LGBT+ people. These are seen with transgender bathroom bills, with same-sex adoptions, and in situations where a city or state has a clear legal inability to alter a person’s gender marker on their identification paperwork. In other areas, specific cities, school districts, or schools may have created their own policies to ensure safety and inclusion of support in the school experience. When looking into LGBT+ people’s protections or lack thereof specific to your own community, it is essential to consider not just what has happened within your school or school district, but also what is happening in the surrounding communities.
In some schools, there are signs or stickers identifying a school or classroom as a “safe school.” This program has been around for quite some time. The thought behind this, and its goal, is to identify which places and people do not allow homophobic, biphobic, or transphobic language or attacks. When coming out and being out were much rarer, it made sense for the goal to be rooted in recognizing where somebody would not have to hear horrible slurs. In more recent times, however, this is not enough. Now, the most inclusive and welcoming identification is that of being a brave space: a brave-space classroom, or a brave-space office.
This may simply seem to be a change in semantics, but it is not. In a safe space, there is a designation that homophobic, biphobic, and transphobic language and actions are strictly forbidden. In a brave space, it goes beyond this. Experts have realized that while it is crucial to stop horrible things from being said, it is insufficient to stop there. In a safe space, a homophobic statement is responded to by telling the student that this is not acceptable, and ending that type of talk. In a brave-space setting, the conversation is much different. Instead of shutting the conversation down, those in brave spaces encourage further discussion about what has been said or done. Rather than saying that it is not acceptable to use a word or phrase, it is asked why the person chose to use that word or phrase. The focus is not on shutting down the communication; it is on nurturing the communication so as to better understand the perspective of that person, and to encourage them to think through where their thoughts and ideas originate. Whether these are biased or bigoted, and no matter how overarching these ideas and ideals are, starting the conversation where that person is at allows the speaker an opportunity to recognize the impact of their words, to consider where their assumptions began, and to make sure that what they have said is what they genuinely feel and intend when they are using this type of language.
In a school setting this may be somewhat tricky, because it is not always possible for an educator to stop an entire class to talk through this process with one student. It makes sense then that a safe-space protocol is used, as it is much more efficient to tell a student to be quiet than it would be to sit with them and talk through why they said what they did. However, these types of conversations can occur during a recess, in a study period before or after school, or you can assign them to write a paper that clarifies their words or requires them to research their incorrect assumptions about the person or group of people they spoke poorly about. In some classrooms, it may be best to establish a planned protocol at the beginning of the school term when all rules and expectations are being provided to and with the students. In elementary classes, it may be most appropriate to have the student draw or write about a time when their own feelings were hurt to help them recognize that what they say and do can help or hurt others. As students get older and become better writers, essays can be required that consider why the person said what they did, where the language came from, and the impact it may have on those who heard what was said. If a specific number of requirements, word count, or page length are provided in an age- and grade-appropriate manner, this can make it very quick for an educator to mandate this assignment without pausing classroom learning during class time.
When we look at the idea of safety, we must consider who is being kept safe. Politically, this can be a topic of significant debate. Often, this debate boils down to the difference between those who believe that people should not be forced to hear, see, or experience bigotry, and those who believe that shielding students from this experience makes them ill-prepared to deal with the real world and the things that people may say in public spaces or during their careers. It can be easy for a conversation about safety to become a conversation and debate over one side or the other. However, this is not necessary, nor is it helpful to students or educators.
This can lead to discussions about what safety measures are realistic. While some may feel that there should be significant opportunities for LGBT+ students or students of other minority groups to lead these conversations, this is not often possible. It is necessary as an educator to recognize that those in a position to make decisions about budgets may not be able to allocate programming or funds to one specific minority group within the school. However, it cannot be that nothing is done because action is said to be unaffordable. Instead, it is necessary to consider what changes and improvements can be made with little to no cost and with little to no change in the daily interactions of students and staff. These recommendations are much more likely to be approved by those in positions of power because they cause very little, if any, upset to predetermined budgets or to how educators and students typically behave.
Instead, educators can refer to existing school rules and policies. If there is already something in place regarding bullying, verbal assault, or physical assault, creating inclusion for LGBT+ people by making small changes becomes very simple. In some schools, support for LGBT+ people would be listed as a separate item within the school rules and guidelines. In other schools, they simply add the language “sexual orientation and gender identity” to rules that already list the types of bigotry or harassment that may exist, and which are not permitted. In today’s society, most schools already have policies in place regarding sexually explicit words and actions, as well as gender biases, so including “sexual orientation and gender identity” or replacing previous words with these can make this policy much more inclusive, with very little change. This can result in a reasonably quick alteration without significant discussion or concern by the community or the school board.
In addition to this set of rules being a requirement of students to understand and follow, schools typically mandate educators be mindful of the rules and be held accountable for following them. Usually, this is because schools believe that educators are automatic role models and that following these rules is simply modeling appropriate adult behavior and interaction, which betters the school experience for everyone. It may be necessary to alert all staff in the district when a policy change is made or when additional words are added to existing policies. This allows everyone to recognize the change, and this will also enable educators and staff to be held accountable if they break these rules. These not only protect all LGBT+ students, but they also protect LGBT+ staff members, LGBT+ parents, and LGBT+ members of the community who may interact with the school through volunteer work, attending school assemblies or plays, and/or those who advertise with the school in academic
