Educate Yourself!
Without the proper information to understand our students and their intersecting identities, we risk creating more harm when we try to help them.
Professional Development
Professional development training and education is integral to our work with LGBTQ+ students.
This page of resources is meant to aid you in your journey to educate yourself to become more aware of the needs of LGBTQ+ students and more inclusive of their identities and modes of expression.
If you don't see the resource you're looking for, reach out to us!
Curriculum Support
LEARN MORE: LGBTQ+ Educational Resources
Safe Schools Program for LGBTQ+ Students
The Safe Schools Program for LGBTQ Students is a joint program of the Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ Youth and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).
The Safe Schools Program provides training and technical assistance relating to LGBTQ students and staff. This includes addressing bullying, understanding sexual orientation and gender identity, and improving school climate.
GSA Network
The GSA Advisor Handbook includes an introduction to GSAs, sample activities, frequent issues that arise, and some thoughts on the various roles an advisor might play. We wanted it to be comprehensive while not overwhelming, and we made every effort to include many voices in compiling the information it contains. In addition to the staff of GSA Networks and GSA-serving organizations around the country, advisors and students
Erasure and Resilience: The Experiences of LGBTQ Students of Color
LGBTQ+ youth of color often face unique challenges at school related to their marginalized identities resulting in negative educational outcomes, such as more school discipline, lower academic achievement, lower graduation rates, and lower rates of admission into higher education. Further, they have limited or no access to in-school resources that may improve school climate and students’ experiences. Existing studies show that schools nationwide are hostile environments for LGBTQ youth of color, where they experience victimization and discrimination based on race, sexual orientation, gender identity, or all of these identities. This report is one of a series of reports that focus on LGBTQ students of different racial/ethnic identities and recommendations for change.
Welcoming Schools
HRC Foundation’s Welcoming Schools is a bias-based bullying prevention program providing LGBTQ+ and gender inclusive professional development training, lesson plans, booklists and resources specifically designed for educators and youth-serving professionals.
Responding to Bias to Bias Based Bullying At School
This resource focuses deeply on how to address biased based behavior in school. This resource goes over how to assess one’s school climate in order to implement preventative measures, what to consider doing after a bias based incident occurs, and how to plan to prevent other biased based incidents from occurring again in the future.
Teaching Kids about Identity and Bias
Introduction to Trauma-Informed Classrooms: Inclusive Learning Strategies for Educators
Essential Approaches For Excellence & Sustainable School System Transformation
Teaching Racial Justice: Black is Beautiful
In this article Kara Hinderlie explains how she teaches racial justice and adjusts her methodology to her first grade class. She also discusses addressing bullying and students who are resistant to the curriculum.
It’s OK to Be Neither: Teaching That Supports Gender-Variant Children
In this article Melissa Bollow Tempel discusses how a gender non-conforming child created the need to deconstruct gender norms and find ways to remove gender-based language, stereotypes and expectations from her classroom. Melissa gave great examples of the struggles that GNC children face both at school and at home that create challenges for their emotional wellness.