EDUC6357: Diversity, Development, and Learning “Start Seeing Diversity: Sexual Orientation” Program Transcript NARRATOR: Bias related to sexual orientation, also called homophobia, is any attitude, action, or institutional practice that subordinates people because of their sexual orientation as lesbian, gay, or bisexual. Homophobia is often used to keep people from moving outside their assigned gender roles. For example, Carol's son, [? Shola ?], really wanted a doll. She said everywhere he went, he talked about it. But her mom and sister said that if he played with dolls, he'd grow up to be a sissy. Carol brought the issue to staff. We responded by asking what kind of help Carol would have liked from her husband in caring for the kids and what kind of man she hoped [? Shola ?] would become. We suggested that playing with dolls was a way for boys to practice nurturing. CAROL: After that, I felt a lot more comfortable, and I went and bought him a doll. I explained to my mother and sisters-- I said, he's training to be a father like he's watching me be a mother. The book William's Doll really helped me too. It's about a boy who loves things like basketball and electric trains but still wants his doll. NARRATOR: In early childhood programs, the issue of sexual orientation often comes up when we're talking about families. Children growing up in a variety of families face bias. To validate the families in our program, we begin with our own photographs, drawings, and stories, and classroom visits from family members. To ensure the inclusion of diversity, we combine the reflections of our own families with many others, using commercial materials like puzzles and pop-its. We also find photographs of diverse families to use in making games and for discussions. We talk about the ways families are similar to and different from one another, and do number activities like counting the number of people in different families, looking at pictures of single parent families, racially mixed families, extended families, adoptive and blended families, two parent families, and others. Photographs like this one of a family in which the parents are lesbians have sparked many difficult discussions among staff. One person said she had the right to her own beliefs, and using pictures and stories that include gay and lesbian families, or even acknowledging that some families have two dads or two Page 1 moms, went against those beliefs. Then in one group, a teacher heard a child say, "You can't have two mommies." FEMALE SPEAKERS: I could see one child was really upset, so I stepped in and said, there are lots of different kinds of families. In some families, there are two mommies. NARRATOR: Although this was difficult for her, the teacher said she knew her role was to help all children develop a positive identity, regardless of her own beliefs. A couple of people said they didn't think this wa ...

1. EDUC6357: Diversity, Development, and Learning
“Start Seeing Diversity: Sexual Orientation”
Program Transcript
NARRATOR: Bias related to sexual orientation, also called
homophobia, is any
attitude, action, or institutional practice that subordinates
people because of their
sexual orientation as lesbian, gay, or bisexual.

2. Homophobia is often used to keep people from moving outside
their assigned
gender roles. For example, Carol's son, [? Shola ?], really
wanted a doll. She
said everywhere he went, he talked about it. But her mom and
sister said that if
he played with dolls, he'd grow up to be a sissy.
Carol brought the issue to staff. We responded by asking what
kind of help Carol
would have liked from her husband in caring for the kids and
what kind of man
she hoped [? Shola ?] would become. We suggested that playing
with dolls was
a way for boys to practice nurturing.
CAROL: After that, I felt a lot more comfortable, and I went
and bought him a
doll. I explained to my mother and sisters-- I said, he's training
to be a father like
he's watching me be a mother. The book William's Doll really
helped me too. It's
about a boy who loves things like basketball and electric trains
but still wants his
doll.
NARRATOR: In early childhood programs, the issue of sexual
orientation often
comes up when we're talking about families. Children growing
up in a variety of
families face bias. To validate the families in our program, we
begin with our own
photographs, drawings, and stories, and classroom visits from
family members.

3. To ensure the inclusion of diversity, we combine the reflections
of our own
families with many others, using commercial materials like
puzzles and pop-its.
We also find photographs of diverse families to use in making
games and for
discussions.
We talk about the ways families are similar to and different
from one another, and
do number activities like counting the number of people in
different families,
looking at pictures of single parent families, racially mixed
families, extended
families, adoptive and blended families, two parent families,
and others.
Photographs like this one of a family in which the parents are
lesbians have
sparked many difficult discussions among staff. One person said
she had the
right to her own beliefs, and using pictures and stories that
include gay and
lesbian families, or even acknowledging that some families have
two dads or two
Page 1

4. moms, went against those beliefs. Then in one group, a teacher
heard a child
say, "You can't have two mommies."
FEMALE SPEAKERS: I could see one child was really upset, so
I stepped in and
said, there are lots of different kinds of families. In some
families, there are two
mommies.
NARRATOR: Although this was difficult for her, the teacher
said she knew her
role was to help all children develop a positive identity,
regardless of her own
beliefs. A couple of people said they didn't think this was an
issue for their
classroom, because none of the children came from families
with gay or lesbian
parents.

5. After discussion, though we decided that it is still important to
acknowledge the
existence of families with gay and lesbian parents, so that
children are prepared
to be respectful when they do meet people who are lesbian or
gay.
This issue came up in a different way another day when two
girls were talking
and laughing while working closely together. Another child
passing by said, ooh,
they're gay. The teacher intervened saying, some people are
gay. All of us,
whether we are gay or not, want to have friends that we really
like, and even hug
or kiss them sometimes.
When we discussed this incident at a staff meeting, some of us
felt that the
teacher didn't need to acknowledge that some people are gay,
because the
children didn't know what gay meant anyway. There was
controversy about this,
so staff decided to ask at a group meeting if children knew what
the word meant.
Several of the children said, gay is when two men or two
women love each other.
The teacher asked, but I love my mother and sisters. Does that
mean I'm gay?
Children said, no, gay is when two women or two men really
love each other.
In followup discussions, staff agreed that even if children don't
know what gay

6. means, many of them are using it as a put down. We agreed that
this hurts all of
us, whether we are gay or not, by making us afraid to be
affectionate with friends.
After some difficult negotiations, we decided that it w as
important to have in our
classrooms pictures and stories that included families of two
women or two men
with children. We also decided to respond when children ask
questions or use
gay as a put down.
As well, we had a dinner meeting for families and staff together
to introduce our
curriculum approach regarding family diversity. We wanted to
create an
Page 2
opportunity to discuss values, experiences, and bias, and to get
feedback from
families.
In this meeting, we broke into small groups and played games
with photographs

7. of diverse families. After the games, the small groups
brainstormed lists of
diverse kinds of families. We expected there to be some
controversy. Instead,
with some giggling, gay and lesbian families were included on
the list.
Then we talked about our own childhood experiences. Some
people said they
had been teased for not having a father at home and had learned
to lie to avoid
the teasing. This discussion helped everyone to see the need to
validate all the
kinds of families children are coming from.
Page 3
© Laureate Education 2011

8. EDUC6357: Diversity, Development, and Learning
“Start Seeing Diversity: Gender”
Program Transcript
NARRATOR: Bias related to gender, also called sexism, is any
attitude, action,
or institutional practice which discriminates against people
because of their
gender. If you haven't heard children's comments about gender
roles, try telling a
story without showing the pictures. Use characters' names that
could be either
male or female, like Chris or Alex, and refer to the characters
without using
pronouns like him or her. Then ask the children to draw or
describe one or two
specific characters. Compare the drawings or descriptions and
discuss why the
children thought the characters were male or female.
This exercise usually brings up children's stereotypic thinking
about girls and
boys. One of the most helpful ways to respond to biased
comments is to ask why
the child thinks that. This helps us to keep focused on the

9. children's thinking, and
to avoid attributing adult motives to children's actions. For
example, in dramatic
play, a teacher heard a child say,
FEMALE SPEAKER: You can't be the doctor. You're a girl.
NARRATOR: The teacher joined the conversation and asked,
why do you think
girls can't be doctors? The child replied, only boys can be
doctors, like my dad.
To help make the child's simplistic thinking more complex, the
teacher said, did
you know some doctors are men and some are women? Does
anyone know a
woman doctor?
Asking questions encourages children to share their diverse
experiences and
perspectives. A girl working nearby said, my doctor is a girl.
The teacher then
helped the children solve the original problem, saying, if you
both want to be the
doctor, can you think of a way to play so that you both can do
that?
In addition, the teachers plan to follow up because children
need many
opportunities to think about the same concepts in different
ways. Class meetings
are one good follow up strategy.
MALE SPEAKER: I heard someone say that Nikesha couldn't be
a doctor
because she was a girl. I was wondering what everyone thought
about that. Do

10. you think girls can be doctors when they grow up?
NARRATOR: Field trips are another useful way to follow up.
To continue the
discussion, a visit was planned to the local clinic so children
could meet a woman
doctor, and a male nurse as well.
Page 1
To enhance children's dramatic play, we create materials like
these tube dolls

11. from photographs mounted on cardboard tubes and covered with
contact paper.
The photographs are chosen carefully to depict both men and
women in non-
stereotypical activities. Materials like the tube dolls encourage
children to take on
a variety of roles without the limits of gender bias. They also
encourage the
transformation of play areas into restaurants, factories, theaters,
mechanic
shops, construction sites, hospitals, and so forth.
Traditional math activities like using color circles for counting
can also easily be
adapted to an anti-bias approach. Here children do some of the
same math
operations, like finding pictures with the same number of
people in them, using
photographs carefully chosen for anti-bias information. As with
many games,
teachers can change these game rules to adapt them to different
developmental
levels without changing their anti-bias content. The inclusion of
photographs of
children themselves engaged in non-stereotypical activities
further strengthens
the anti-bias messages.
We also choose a word of the week related to anti-bias issues.
In the week that
stereotype was the word, teachers introduced a game called
Stereotype or Fact?
to be older preschoolers. They asked questions like, stereotype
or fact: boys can
run faster than girls? They talked about how some boys and
some girls can run

12. fast, but not all boys run fast, and not all girls run slow.
Soon after children began playing the stereotype or fact game, a
group was
jumping rope. One of the boys announced, boys can jump higher
than girls. But
then he stopped, put his hand up to his mouth and said, oops, I
just said a
stereotype.
We also evaluate our responses to children based on their
gender by asking
ourselves questions like the following, and paying close
attention to our behavior:
are we more likely to treat boys' play and work as important and
avoid
interrupting them? Do we feel more free to interrupt girls to
take on a different
task or activity? Do we often encourage girls to clean up, even
if they don't want
to? Do we avoid conflict with boys who don't want to clean up
rather than
encouraging them as well? Are we more likely to accept girls
watching but
actively encourage boys to participate? Do we comment more
often on girls
appearance and on boys performance.
Do we encourage girls to express their feelings but distract boys
from theirs? Do
we encourage boys more often to express their opinions,
including
disagreement? Do we more often encourage girls to agree at the
expense of
their own opinions?

13. Page 2
Often we need to keep track of what we actually say and do
with children for a
day or a week, or even longer, to understand the ways we
unknowingly
perpetuate bias.
Page 3