In a survey conducted by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, 96 percent of all LGBTQ students could identify one adult in their school who was supportive of students of varied sexual orientations and gender identities. Teachers play a crucial role in supporting and advocating for LGBTQ students, ensuring they are able to learn and explore in a safe classroom space. The following resources highlight the importance of inclusive classrooms and provide tips and tools for being an ally to LGBTQ students.

• Lesson Plans to Create LGBTQ Inclusive Classrooms and Schools: Welcoming Schools teacher-friendly lesson plans are designed to help educators teach about LGBTQ people and topics to foster equity and belonging in schools.

• Creating Safer Spaces for LGBTQ Youth: This toolkit has been developed to assist educators, and others that see the value of incorporating key safer space components into their organizations so that young people survive and thrive.

• Schools In Transition: A Guide for Supporting Transgender Students in K-12 Schools: This guide responds to the dynamics that affect a transgender student’s experiences in school. The guide is geared toward the needs of all students, and incorporates distinctions and recommendations based on the specific ages and stages of students’ development.

• GLSEN Educator Guides and Lessons for each of our days of action, along with other resources for increasing LGBTQ visibility and affirmation in any curriculum. While these days of action are at specific times during the year, all of the lessons, resources, and activities found here can be implemented at any time.

• Gender Spectrum’s Educator Resources provide foundational information on gender and resources from the growing body of knowledge and tools that specifically support the needs of students who are transgender or nonbinary.

• Communicating a Change in Gender Status at School: See how you can plan for school wide support of a student’s authentic gender, and plan for supporting a student in communicating a change in one or more aspects of their commonly assumed gender status at school.

• Sex? Sexual orientation? Gender identity? Gender expression? A blog post Teaching Tolerance for educators who have ever struggled to support students who question their sexual identity or don’t fit neatly into social expectations of what it means to be a boy or a girl.

• Bullying and Youth with Disabilities and Special Health Needs: information for adults on how to prevent bullying against LGBT youth.