Safe Spaces by Gerri August

"Refusing to talk about LGBT issues or showing discomfort when LGBT topics arise are nonverbal messages that tell youth that being LGBT is abnormal or wrong."

This statement hit me hard because it is very true in the world I grew up in. I went to a Christian School, and, regardless of teachers' personal beliefs, bringing up the LGBTQI+ community resulted in the teacher telling you to be quiet about it or an awkward change in subject. It was an unspoken "rule" that talking about LGBTQI+ was "wrong." I personally never truly believed that it was wrong but I was scared to talk about it. I myself wasn't gay, lesbian, bisexual, or anything like that but I had friends and family who were. It made me angry when I heard people saying rude things about the LGBTQI+ community because aren't they people too? Why should we dislike someone just because of who they date? I didn't understand then and I still don't understand now.

Another part of this quote that interested me was the nonverbal messages. Children are constantly absorbing the world around them and taking cues from the people in their life. In elementary school, we don't talk about crimes or sex because it's not age appropriate and it's a parents choice to discuss that stuff with their children. Homosexuality is treated as a topic that's up to parents to tell their children about when it shouldn't be. Children assume it's wrong because it is also tucked away in a corner from their knowledge.

"Teachers and peers usher children from the relative protection and insulation of family life into the classroom where (perhaps for the first time) children encounter cultural and ethnic norms different from those of their family."

The first time children are exposed to the outside world without their parents is when they go to school. It's the first time they are forced to be with people who may be different from them. Children either learn to tolerate children different from them or they learn to bully children different from them. A teacher's guidance is important in this area. I truly believe it is a teacher's job to teach children to be tolerant of one another in all situations. Every child in the classroom comes from a different background and has their own mind. Teacher's need to help children expand their experience and mind by exposing them to new things and then guiding the judgments the children conclude.

"While it might seem to be the safest and least political of all curriculum units, the study of family can either reinforce or interrupt heteronormative beliefs or attitudes."

I never thought before about how when we study families in elementary school that it never includes a homosexual family. There are families out there with two moms or two dads and we are making them invisible. I can't imagine how hurt children who have two moms or two dads must feel when their family isn't discussed in a classroom setting. These children are automatically deemed different and less important in front of their whole class. Is it fair to alienate a child's life just because their parents are gay or lesbian? I don't think that it's fair to do that and that each child deserves to be addressed in a classroom.