11 and gender fluid by Erin Zelle and Safe Spaces by Annemarie Vaccaro

LGBTQ + YOUTH IN AMERICA

"11 and Genderfluid" by Erin Zelle and "Safe Spaces" by Annemarie Vaccaro represent two different approaches to supporting LBGTQ+ youth in american and how to take care of any issues in a large classroom sized environment to a small household basis.

Vaccaro speaks from a rather political point of view and strives to show the reader ways to integrate LBGTQ+ education and support openly into the curriculum. It goes into detail about how to approach homophobic and trans-phobic slurs being used like adjectives in public school classrooms which is most certainly major issue. I talks about teachers duties to the children of their classrooms to create a positive and safe environment to learn in and their job to raise awareness about any hateful issues that should arise. This article takes about including LGBTQ+ articles, historical figures or writers into lesson interchangeably with Cis-Het authors to make it feel commonplace and normal for these people to be openly represented in society.

(A sign free to use in classrooms)

Zelle takes a more personal approach and talks about his more personal experiences with the LBGTQ + community.  He talks about his experiences as the father of a non binary child and how he learned to adapt to what that means. He even states “My 11-year-old daughter Sullivan’s style is defined as gender fluid, which translates as a “fluid” shift between masculine and feminine, depending on how one feels. The first time Sullivan mentioned it, I’m embarrassed to admit, I had to Google it.” Zelle states that while he had to learn to adapt he has learned to embrace his child's gender identity and even took his child shopping to suit themselves better. He uses his experience as an ally parent to set an example or lose guidelines other parents to follow. Now they are even able to bound over his daughter sharing similar tastes in suits.

(The Nonbinary Flags)

Here are the links to the two articles:

11 and Gender Fluid

Safe Spaces