2. +
AGENDA
Presentation:
GLBTQI Education in schools
1990’s
Discussion
“Am I Blue”
“We Might As Well Be Strangers”
Revisions
Due date Friday week 11 before
noon
3. + Presentation: The 1990’s
1990 First National Bisexual Conference
held in San Francisco.
1990 Federal Hate Crimes Statistics Act
passed; first law extending federal recognition
of gay men and lesbians.
1990 Justin Fashanu is the first professional
footballer to come out publicly in the press.
1991 First Black Lesbian and Gay Pride
celebration held in Washington, D.C.
1992 World Health Organization removes
homosexuality from its classification of
illnesses.
4. +
1993 “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” U.S. military policy adopted.
1993 March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi
Equal Rights and Liberation held.
1993 Brandon Teena is murdered
1995 First U.S. conference for FTMs.
1995 President Clinton names the first-ever White House
liaison to the gay and lesbian communities.
1996 Congress passes Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA),
forbidding federal recognition of (and benefits for) married
same-sex couples.
5. +
1997 South Africa becomes the first country to enact
a constitutional ban outlawing sexual orientation
discrimination.
1997 The UK extends immigration rights to same-sex
couples akin to marriage.
1998 Matthew Shepard murdered in Wyoming.
1998 The Executive Council of the UCC called for
the "Passage of Hate Crimes Legislation". In this, they
called for immediate passage of the Federal Hate
Crimes Prevention Act of 1998 and urged all United
Church of Christ members to communicate support for
this legislation to their congressional representatives.
1999 Britain bans discrimination against transgender
people.
6. +
LGBT Texts in Public Schools in the
1990’s
Talking about LGBT issues is a discussion
about people and families present in our
communities, a struggle for civil rights and
addressing bias-based bulling. None of these
include talking about sex or human
reproduction. Many educators once feared
that the two were inseparable, and schools in
the 1990s typically limited discussions about
LGBT people to high school health classes.
7. +
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues
in K–12 Education [in the US]
by Sarah Schneider Kavanagh
8. +
Am I Blue? A Banned Book
Am I Blue? Is one of 55 books that parents in Fayetteville, Arkansas
are petitioning to have removed from school libraries. The parents,
who formed Parents Protecting the Minds of Children, object to the
profane language and depictions of sexuality in many of the books
and have accused the librarians and other opponents of their efforts
of promoting a "homosexual agenda". PPMC also objects to the
book because of its gay content, as well as the fact that proceeds
from sale of the book went to Parents and Friends of Gays and
Lesbians.
2005: Challenged in Solon (IA) 8th grade language arts class
because Bruce Coville's "Am I Blue" explores a boy's confusion with
his sexual identity and the gay fairy godfather who helps him
overcome homophobia at school. The short story was eventually
retained.
2001: Challenged, but retained in Fairfield (IA) Middle and High
School libraries despite objections to sexually explicit passages,
including a sexual encounter between two girls.
9. +QHQ: “Am I Blue?”
Q: What was the purpose of turning all gay people
blue?
Q: Were people in the society actually glad when
everyone turned blue from coast to coast?
Q: What if this phenomenon happened in real life?
How do you think people would react?
At what age should this story be made available to
students? Should it be in the curriculum?
10. +QHQ: “We Might As Well
Be Strangers”
Q: What is the proper way to come out to your parents?
Q: Are there better ways to come out?
Q: Is it necessary to come out to parents?
Q: How does Alison’s grandmother’s experience with her roommate’s
family mirror Alison’s experience with her mother?
Q: In what ways, consciously or subconsciously, do we come out
throughout our lifetimes?
Q: What is the most hurtful part of Alison’s mom’s reaction?
Q: Do you think it would be Alison’s responsibility to try and create a
relationship between her kids and her mother or if she should just let the
issue rest? What would be the healthiest choice?
Q: Why did Alison not reveal to her mother that she had already come out
to her grandmother, and that her grandmother accepted her
homosexuality?
11. +QHQ: “We Might As
Well Be Strangers”
Q: If the mom already “knew” that Alison was gay with Laura, then why didn’t
she do anything sooner?
Why does Alison’s mother react so differently than Alison’s grandmother about
coming out?
Q: Was it right for Alison to come out to her grandmother and mother
separately?
Q: If we can make connections like Alison’s grandmother did towards her
feeling, could it make the coming out experience a bit more easier, instead of
exploding in rage like her mother? Does it possibly show the two types of
people in this world between Allison’s mother and grandmother?
Q: Why did Alison’s grandmother not help her come out to her mother?
Q: If Alison’s grandmother had not had any Holocaust experience, would she
have been as closed-minded as Alison’s mother?
