Family Equality Council: Inclusive Learning Environments

After a big shift, it seems to take some time for the dust to settle, to start seeing the ripples of change and how it all plays out. The big change I’m referring to here is the recent Supreme Court ruling on same sex marriage.

I often find myself feeling a little (or maybe a lot) jaded – not wanting to be too excited about the progress around marriage, in consideration that there are so many areas where equality is still escaping us. You may have noticed in my recent post about County Clerk Kim Davis, (if you missed it, you can catch up HERE.

While I sometimes have moments of frustration with the “state of things as they are,” this past week I have come to a new place of excitement for the movement and where we are at.

As I sat down to complete my week’s social science lesson planning for a 4th-6th grade Montessori classroom, I flipped through the teacher’s edition and had a brilliant moment of recognition. Despite clear historic value, talking about same-sex marriage has been a bold move in a classroom over the past years. This year, there is no questioning the educational value and importance of acknowledging students’ conversation and questions around same sex marriage and non-hetero normative family structures.

We are at a place in history that acknowledges LGBT rights as a movement.

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What starts with same sex marriage being federally recognized turns to a child’s freedom to ask, an educator’s freedom to answer, and a stronger sense of community awareness.

Same-sex couples and parents have been in communities as long as communities have existed – We now have the permission to start acknowledging these family units and celebrating their contributions.

In the spirit of opening doors, I would like to share with you a resource guide from the Family Equality Council – Click HERE to request safe and inclusive school tools to help provide resources as we take steps to providing safe and inclusive learning environments. I am still awaiting my copy, but from what I have gathered this is designed for parents, educators, and students who want to help support student inclusion.

Skye Bigari is an educator, community organizer and regular contributor to Fertility Source Companies LGBT blog
Email Skye (insert link) at: [email protected]