On Thursday the 19th, we went to an assembly at the high school about LGBTQ equality at our school, and others. There was a panel of LGBTQ students from our school and the assembly run by a lower school transgender teacher; Joel. There were two high schoolers from Elizabeth Irwin, and three high schoolers from other schools as well as one 8th grader. First the two high schoolers from Elizabeth Irwin educated everyone about the different terms within LGBTQ and pronouns. They explained their stories and how people shouldn’t assume anything about anyone, they should just ask. We learned about new pronouns that we never knew before. We learned that people should just ask about people’s pronouns and not assume one thing over another. Then Joel asked some questions to the panelists such as, what’s your story? How does your school deal with LGBTQ topics? The different panelists identified as queer, pansexual, transgender and more. They all told us their pronouns , and how they identify. The pronouns activity was really important and we thought we would bring it back to school and use it in some aspect in our teach-in. Some questions included their families such as, who are you out to? They all answered each question very honestly and in detail. Another question that was asked was, how is the education on LGBTQ topics in your school? They all said that LGBTQ topics weren’t spoken of enough in their classrooms. I feel grateful because I do think that we speak of LGBTQ issues a lot in our school. They also talked about how they want their teachers to be more comfortable asking about pronouns, because it’s better to ask than assume. I learned a lot from the assembly, and a lot from the panel of students. We are going to include the pronoun activity into our teach in because it makes a huge difference.
