Blog Post #10

 "Queering Our Schools" and "Woke Read Alouds: They, She, He Easy as ABC"

A Reflection/Connection

My experience with queerness began in middle school. There were a lot of big changes happening in my life. Everything was overwhelming and I was desperately searching for my identity. I was constantly told I was "too young" to know what I wanted or liked, and I grew up in a family where anything other than "the ordinary" (cis and straight) was considered shameful. I felt like I was constantly biting my tongue around family members because of how insensitive their comments would be. Why was I, at age 12, more accepting and open-minded than my 30-40 year old family members? Why did I have to explain why "gay" shouldn't be used as an insult, and why "those gays" have just as many rights as heterosexual people do? I was in middle school during the year same-sex marriage was legalized and while Donald Trump was running for president. I couldn't escape the talk about politics that would somehow always lead to demeaning comments about the LGBTQ+ community. I was punished for wearing a pride shirt and banned from hanging out with certain friends; my best and only friends. I felt stifled. My identity was being molded for me by family members who were narrow-minded and uneducated. 

I couldn't help but smile at this week's video, "Woke Read Alouds: They, She, He Easy as ABC" because it reminded me of how I used to talk to my family members about pronouns. My closest friend at the time used they/them pronouns, and I was constantly arguing with my parents about why it was important to respect their pronouns and use their preferred name. It got to the point that my parents stopped letting this friend hang out at my house, and they were no longer interested when I brought that friend up in conversation. To this day, my parents still can't wrap their heads around the fact that some people use they/them pronouns. 

I believe it is important to educate the youth and keep an open conversation within schools to create community and nurture children's hearts/minds. I think it's necessary to teach children to be kind and accepting of all human beings. That's how we create kind and accepting adults. As the reading said, "Community is built by working through differences, not sweeping them under the rug" (24). We have to be bold like Johnson and Delpit to name the injustice and get comfortable speaking about it. If we continue sweeping issues like transphobia and homophobia under the rug, we are continuing the same pattern and mistakes as the educators before us. I certainly cannot be a part of that. As an aspiring teacher, I want my classroom to be safe, nurturing, and inclusive. I want to set an example for other teachers as I push for inclusivity and acceptance of all identities and family structures. Adding lessons surrounding pronouns or different family structures may seem new or "difficult" to implement, but with time and continued integration, it won't feel so daunting.