Module 6 E-Journal #5

 

1. Key ideas or questions from the reading connected to course goals

• What ideas or arguments stood out most to you in this week’s materials?

Discrimination and violence toward LGBTQ+ people has become so normalized that it almost feels expected, despite decades of advocacy and progress made by activists, lawmakers, and communities. Much of what we discussed this week isn’t new information, but the way the public talks about LGBTQ+ people—often with dehumanizing language—has become frighteningly common. What gets lost is the fact that we’re discussing real human beings and their basic right to exist peacefully.

Gender non-conforming and transgender people are facing the most intense discrimination right now. California’s 2024 law banning schools from outing LGBTQ+ students to their parents (Adamczeski, 2024) is both a sign of progress and a quiet horror. The fact that we even need a law to protect children from potential violence or rejection from their own families because of their gender expression or sexuality is unsettling.

Obviously, I support LGBTQ+ people one hundred percent. Fighting for inclusion and acceptance—for all of my students—is something I see myself doing both inside the classroom and beyond it. The films Bullied and For the Bible Tells Me So highlight the roots and impacts of homophobic and transphobic beliefs. And honestly, I often find myself thinking how absurd it is to claim that a God would want to harm people He supposedly created. I’m not spiritual or religious, which probably heightens how irrational this discrimination feels to me. LGBTQ+ people simply exist. I want my students who identify as LGBTQ+ to know they are safe with me and with one another.

• How do these connect to the larger goals of this course (equity, diversity, access)?

Equity, diversity, and access are goals that still fall short when it comes to LGBTQ+ students. Equity begins with identifying discriminatory practices—policies that harm LGBTQ+ students or moments when peers or adults make school feel unsafe or unwelcoming. Diversity is the heartbeat of any affirming school, and LGBTQ+ people represent a type of diversity that has existed long before any of us.

Access becomes an issue when students feel they have to hide who they are just to survive the school day. When students are unsafe, anxious, or unsupported, attendance drops, grades suffer, and many disengage entirely. While many California schools have made meaningful strides toward creating safer, more inclusive spaces, much of the country is moving backward—reviving harmful, outdated rhetoric that casts LGBTQ+ people as deviant or mentally ill, often using misinterpreted biblical passages to justify cruelty. These shifts directly impact students' safety, dignity, and opportunity.

True equity means students receive a quality education regardless of their differences—and, crucially, that they feel they belong.

• How do you see these ideas influencing your thinking as a future teacher in your subject area?

There is a quote by Daniel Radcliffe, of all people, where he says, “I’m an atheist, and a militant atheist when religion starts impacting on legislation.” Even when I was still Catholic, that sentiment resonated with me. Religion is one of the most common reasons people justify discrimination or even violence against LGBTQ+ people, and there’s often little effort to contextualize what was written in the Bible or understand how those passages were interpreted historically.

As an English teacher, reading has always helped me understand other people—how they think, feel, and make sense of their lives. That directly affects how I plan to teach. These ideas remind me that my classroom must be a place where students see LGBTQ+ identities represented in the literature we study and in the conversations we have about humanity, conflict, and justice. It also reinforces my responsibility to choose texts intentionally, create norms of respect, and intervene when language or behavior harms LGBTQ+ students. Ultimately, these materials shape my belief that students should encounter a wide range of voices—including those their home environments or communities might silence. There will be no hiding in my classroom, only opportunities to learn with honesty and empathy.

4. How you plan to apply course concepts in educational settings

• Which specific strategies, ideas, or examples from the materials would you use in your classroom?

When I was younger, films about LGBTQ+ people were never shown at school. I vividly remember an Economics teacher asking whether marriage should only be between a man and a woman—and proudly answering “I do” while an openly lesbian student sat in the front row. She immediately pushed back. Another student, in the spirit of the moment, basically asked, “Why do you care so much about who two people love?” And that question has stuck with me ever since.

I want students to engage with films like For the Bible Tells Me So and Bullied. Depending on grade level, I’d also bring in more candid documentaries or interviews that show the realities of LGBTQ+ life. Reality is often the best teacher. Books like Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides and Stonewall by Ann Bausum come to mind for older or more mature students. I’d also research more current documentaries to ensure that nonbinary and transgender identities, pronouns, and modern issues are fully represented.

• How would you adapt these strategies to your subject area?

English Language Arts is my home. I love reading, and much like the “podcast person” who always has a recommendation ready, I naturally connect texts to the topics we’re exploring. Any literature I assign will need to be affirming and inclusive—something that adds to my students’ understanding of themselves and the world.

One strategy I plan to use is reflective journaling. Sometimes writing things down helps students process complex information or emotions, even if they initially resist the topic. Journaling can genuinely feel like having a conversation with yourself. I also plan to continue using book reports and character analyses because fiction allows students to see a character’s internal world. They can identify with universal experiences—bad grades, heartbreak, bullying—while also learning about challenges that LGBTQ+ students face that straight or cisgender students may not.

• What barriers might you encounter in applying these concepts, and how could you address them?

Barriers can range from the national political climate to individual parents who object to certain materials. I remember bringing home a waiver for sex education in middle school, and I know those kinds of conflicts may happen more often given the current debates around LGBTQ+ rights. As teachers, we’re at the micro level—we work with students every day, and that means our values may sometimes clash with the beliefs of families, colleagues, or the wider community.

Negative discourse in society absolutely finds its way into classrooms, but I can respond in thoughtful and practical ways. One strategy is to anchor everything in state standards and course objectives so parents and administrators can see that my choices are grounded in academic goals, not personal agenda. Another is maintaining open communication with families and providing alternative assignments when appropriate, without compromising the safety or dignity of LGBTQ+ students. And as we’ve learned from Nieto, Bode, and Kay, implicit teaching is powerful: I can choose high-quality literature—like Elatsoe, written by a queer Native American author, or poetry by Gloria Anzaldúa, who happens to be lesbian—that offers representation without turning lessons into political arguments. Fighting the negative with the beautiful is far more effective than becoming a talking head. My job is to empower students to think critically, understand others, and feel unafraid to be themselves.