21 I Say Gay: The Many Benefits of LGBTQIA+ Inclusive Education

About the Author

Asa Strain was born in Provo, Utah but grew up in Laie, Hawaii. They are a sophomore studying Sociology and Criminal Law. Asa identifies as Non-Binary and leaves their sexuality unlabeled. They enjoy reading, writing, and analyzing fiction!

This essay was composed in April 2022 and uses MLA documentation.

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WHO DID YOU KNOW IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL? Who did you see? Did you see little boys in blues and reds and little girls with skirts and dolls? Who were your teachers, and what did they look like? If your education was like mine, and like most in America, you were taught through representation the roles and expectations of the gender binary and the expectations of heteronormativity. I was eight-years-old when I realized I was different. My elementary school’s dress code asked that girls were skirts and had pretty but plain hair ties. The boys wore tennis shoes and polo shirts, and they weren’t allowed long hair. And then there was me, masquerading as a girl with dainty flats and collar shirts with round sleeves and lace collars. People told me I was a girl, that someday I would be a mom, and I would grow into a lovely woman. Something about womanhood made me miserable. No one seemed to understand something I had always known, that I was not a girl.

In 2022, several bills were introduced and passed through state legislation regarding LGBTQIA+ rights, many of them targeting schools and children. Out of all these bills, a certain one has received a national spotlight; it is not unique, with several other states having similar bills in action, drafted, or under debate. This bill has been dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Its nickname comes from the most debated section of the bill, meant to prevent discussions surrounding the LGBTQIA+ community in elementary classrooms. Section three of Florida’s controversial bill 1557 reads:

Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade three or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards. (Florida House of Representatives Bill 1557)

This section would disallow teachers from teaching or even presenting anything regarding the LGBTQIA+ community but in broad terms, leaving a discomforting amount of room for interpretation of what is “appropriate” in the eyes of the state and the schools. Following Florida, in April of 2022, Alabama signed its own “Don’t Say Gay” bill, and it remains a heavy topic of conversation among Americans. I intend to answer several questions many people have regarding this bill. Firstly, what is the true intention of the lawmakers who signed this bill to law? Secondly, what are the fears people have around gender and sexuality inclusive learning, why is it needed, and what does inclusive learning look like?

The vague wording of this bill presents several issues, the bill forbids discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity, which has confused many who have read it. Professor Charles Copeland from the University of Miami School of Law is quoted by The Washington Post on the wording of bill 1557:

Vagueness is deployed for certain purposes. People aren’t vague just because they’re ignorant… Sometimes they’re intentionally vague to move the site of where the political fight is going to take place. (Hesse)

While the bill does not mention the word gay, it bans all conversations regarding sexuality and gender. As Copeland suggests, this allows them to fight the LGBTQIA+ community without enacting a blatantly prejudiced law. If Florida meant to apply the law indiscriminately as it is written, this would prevent discussion of any gender or sexuality, including cisgender and straight. However, that is not the case, as the discourse around the bill has been made clear.

There is a lot of opposition to representing LGBTQIA+ people in schools, and most of the forces against inclusive learning have several misconceptions about what LGBTQIA+ education looks like. Professors of Education and Sociology from various colleges in Canada ran a nationwide study supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. In their research, they spoke to several teachers and administrators about their experiences teaching and discussing LGBTQIA+ topics in their classrooms. Only 20% of teachers reported they felt their children were too young to be introduced to the LGBTQIA+ community, but 83% said they feared teaching these subjects for various reasons, the main one being reported was community backlash. This study found that teachers reported that “parents felt the material was not ‘age-appropriate’ for elementary school children” (Meyer et. al). The assumption that discussing matters LGBTQIA+ is not appropriate for children comes from the misconception that anything involved in the community is inherently sexual. This misconception is shared by the supporters and those involved in the making of Bill 1557.

At the signing of the “Don’t Say Gay” Bill, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis remarked, “We will make sure that parents can send their kids to school to get an education, not an indoctrination.” He then followed up by claiming those who protest the bill are “sexualizing kids,” as reported by Mellissa Block from NPR (Block). Many people, such as DeSantis, seem to correlate the LGBTQIA+ community with hypersexuality and assume that talking about being gay or trans is inherently inappropriate for school. However, this is untrue and a harmful perception of the LGBQTIA+ community.

Block interviewed teachers who expressed concerns about what this bill means, some questioned how it would be affected by students with same-sex parents. One teacher, Ms. Stephens, asks, “[W]hen I talk about families in my classroom, am I going to be violating this law because the children were having discussions about what their family looks like?” (qtd. in Block). Block found many teachers called this bill an “attack on education” and have risen in protest against it (refer to fig. 1) (Block). This bill was made to protect children, but what it is doing will cause immeasurable harm to thousands of students. What this bill aims to ban is accepting and inclusive learning, something that is needed in America’s schools. Gender and sexuality inclusive learning is not sexual nor is it indoctrination; it is allowing students to be themselves. It includes reading books with LGBTQIA+ characters or seeing pride flags in a classroom. This learning includes allowing teachers and students to share their pronouns and represent non-traditional families. Gender and sexuality inclusive education are about giving teachers, parents, students, and faculty permission to “say gay.” Gender and sexuality inclusive education is not harmful, nor is it sexual, instead it can be life-saving and protect LGBTQIA+ kids from alienation and anguish.

The consequences of the “Don’t Say Gay Bill” could be fatal. LGBTQIA+ youth are already at high risk of suicide and feelings of depression and isolation. The Trevor Project’s survey found that 42% of LGBTQIA+ students aged 13 to 17 considered suicide in 2021, and 20% attempted to end their life. The Trevor Project found when students had an affirming place, such as school, they were less likely to consider self-harm (Payley). LGBTQIA+ children already feel isolated, and bills like 1557 increase these feelings, putting them at a higher risk of depression and even suicide. While lawmakers are concerned about myths of sexualization, LGBTQIA+ kids are in despair and many are dying. The number one concern and focus of legislation regarding schools should be the safety and well-being of all students, regardless of gender and sexuality.

Professors in Canada who studied the positive effects of LGBTQIA+ clubs and school activities reported that “[s]chools can be hostile places and sites of victimization for sexual and gender minority youth. Subtle interpersonal sanctions can also manifest in social and emotional isolation” (Bain and Podmore). The “subtle interpersonal sections” mentioned by these professors are heteronormative and binary restrictive terms and representations that Florida classrooms are now bound to. These restrictions will only increase depression among LGBTQIA+ students and thus put them at higher risks of suicide and self-harm. Teaching representation and inclusiveness is not only suicide prevention, but it benefits all children in education.

As mentioned above, LGBTQIA+ students are at high risk, representation and inclusion positively benefit their health and make school a place where they can be themselves without fear of repercussion or bullying. Andy K. Steck and David Perry from the Department of Education and Teacher Development at the University of La Verne interviewed administrators from their local schools regarding gender and sexuality inclusive learning. They quote some of their interviews, saying:

Students need to feel safe, need to feel welcomed… The kids have said, “I know what teachers are accepting and what teachers aren’t and which classrooms are safe spaces”….Your bottom line mission is to get students to achieve, to graduate and be good, healthy citizens. It’s not going to happen if you have an environment of separation, of hate, of disdain, that’s unsafe and not secure. (Steck and Perry 7)

Allowing teachers to be vocal and visible allies or members of the LGBTQIA+ community makes it easier for children to know that they are accepted and safe at school, something that Bill 1557 forbids. The second quote puts this struggle into perspective, that the schools are there to help the children be healthy in society, not force them to change for it.

LGBTQIA+ students are not the only ones who benefit from inclusive environments at school, studies show that gender and sexuality inclusive learning is beneficial to all students. Cisgender and heterosexual students have also been positively affected by a culture of acceptance in schools. Doctors of education and sociology, Wendelien Vantieghem and Mieke Van Houtte, find that LGBTQIA+ students have substantially more interpersonal struggles with students than their heterosexual and cisgender peers. They studied the impact that acceptance at school had on all students, finding that not just LGBTQIA+ students were happier, but their cisgender and heterosexual classmates felt the effects by saying they were happier with their school environment (Vantieghem and Van Houtte). In their study, Vantieghem and Van Houtte found that cisgender boys were happier and less likely to bully or be bullied when they didn’t feel pressure to conform to binary gender standards. Gender-inclusive learning includes allowing students to express themselves, without feeling they need to follow any binary rules.

This inclusive environment impacts children of all genders. Mr. Tell Williams is an openly gay preschool teacher who has gained popularity on TikTok. He does his best to break down gender binaries by allowing his students to use any toys, no matter their gender. He also wears nail polish as an active way of showing that boys can express themselves in ways that are not traditionally masculine. In a video, Williams speaks about students who were mocked for wearing nail polish, he began painting his nails to show support, he reflects on his experience at seeing the excitement from all his students saying it was “like my nails painted gave them permission to be whoever they wanted to be.” Small steps, like Mr. Williams, help make schools a place where students can accept themselves without fear of mockery.

Teachers who made an effort to foster a safe and accepting environment were life-changing and saving for me, even when I wasn’t out. In ninth grade I was at my peak of discomfort with my gender. Entering high school and being exposed to dating while going through puberty induced extreme body and gender discomfort, known as dysphoria. While I was not out at the time, I recall a few teachers who made an effort to make their classrooms a safe and inclusive environment. One such teacher often spoke to me about my love of musicals and acting before the school day began; she was the first teacher I confided in regarding my discomfort with being perceived as a woman. Later in the school year, this teacher handed me a bookmark she found on a trip. The bookmark in question had a cross-dressing actress, famous for her male roles as well as her same-sex relationships. While I have long since lost the bookmark she gave me, I remember the feeling of visibility I had at that moment. I knew that my teacher saw me, even though I had told no one about my identity. I was unsure if she understood how much that gesture meant to me, but I received clarity years later when I came out and she said with a smile, “Remember the bookmark? I know.”

While made with an intent to protect children, the “Don’t Say Gay” Bill does the opposite. Bill 1557 is fueled by misinformation around gender and sexuality inclusive education and perpetuates the false perception that the LGBTQIA+ community is inappropriate. This bill and the precedent it sets puts LGBTQIA+ students at risk while removing from Florida’s education system of opportunities to learn self-expression and acceptance for themselves and others. “Don’t Say Gay” bills those rob LGBTQIA+ people of visibility. As a queer adult, I worry about the future this will bring the children in America. What are we teaching when we ban diversity from our schools? What will happen to the children unsafe at home, and who cannot find safety at school? How many more LGBTQIA+ youth will face depression and suicide, and when will the states begin to protect them?

Works Cited

Block, Melissa. “Teachers Fear the Chilling Effect of Florida’s so-Called ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Law.” NPR, NPR, 30 Mar. 2022, https://www.npr.org/2022/03/30/1089462508/teachers-fear-the-chilling-effect-of-floridas-so-called-dont-say-gay-law

Bain, Alison L., and Julie A. Podmore. “Challenging Heteronormativity in Suburban High Schools through ‘Surplus Visibility’: Gay-Straight Alliances in the Vancouver City-Region.” Gender, Place & Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography, vol. 27, no. 9, Sept. 2020, pp. 1223–46.

DePalma, Renée, and Elizabeth Atkinson. “‘Permission to Talk About It’: Narratives of Sexual Equality in the Primary Classroom.” Qualitative Inquiry, vol. 15, no. 5, June 2009, pp. 876–92.

Florida, House of Representatives, Bill 1557, Florida Gov, 2022. https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2022/1557/BillText/er/PDF. Accessed 26 April 2022.

Hesse, Monica. “Don’t Say Gay bills cloak their likely effects in neutral language.” The Washington Post, 12 April 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/04/12/dont-say-gay-bills-language/. Accessed 29 April 2022.

Lavietes, Matt. “Here’s What Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill Would Do and What It Wouldn’t Do.” NBC News – Breaking News & Top Stories – Latest World, US & Local News, NBC News, 16 March 2022, https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/floridas-dont-say-gay-bill-actually-says-rcna19929. Accessed 29 April 2022.

Meyer, Elizabeth J., et al. “Elementary Teachers’ Experiences with LGBTQ-Inclusive Education: Addressing Fears with Knowledge to Improve Confidence and Practices.” Theory Into Practice, vol. 58, no. 1, Winter 2019, pp. 6–17.

Paley, Amit. The Trevor Project. www.thetrevorproject.org. Accessed 17 November 2021.

“The Trevor Project National Survey On LGBTQ Youth Mental Health 2021.” The Trevor Project, 2021.

Steck, Andy K., and David Perry. “Challenging Heteronormativity: Creating a Safe and Inclusive Environment for LGBTQ Students.” Journal of School Violence, vol. 17, no. 2, Apr. 2018, pp. 227–43.

“Why I Wear Nail Polish.” Tik Tok, Jan 2022, https://www.tiktok.com/@mrwilliamsprek. @mrwilliamsprek

Vantieghem, Wendelien, and Mieke Van Houtte. “The Impact of Gender Variance on Adolescents’ Wellbeing: Does the School Context Matter?” Journal of Homosexuality, vol. 67, no. 1, Jan. 2020, pp. 1–34. EBSCOhost.