Gender, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation

As a fifth grade teacher, the word "gay" and "homo" have come up on many different occasions. When I have questioned the children about it, they generally know a very basic definition about what the terms mean. A couple of boys called a couple of girls “lesbos” because they went to the bathroom together. I simply pointed out that girls go to the restroom with other girls on a regular basis and that they also went to the restroom with other boys as well. So did that mean the same thing? Of course, they said, “No!” I think that most children use these terms for a shock factor. Most don’t know the complete definition, but they know something. Therefore, they use it to be “cool.” When the girls were called this, it bothered them because they know that it is a term that is used to describe girls doing sexual things with other girls. Kids that bully other children by using these kind of terms can lead to depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and can make children become afraid to come to school. We must step up and take this type of situation seriously. Because it is not something that we see a lot of in elementary school, we tend to brush it off and not really discuss it. GLBTQ students are also at risk for not getting the support they need when they are being bullied due to their perceptions that adults at school may have intolerant attitudes or may not provide confidential help in which to deal with their situation.10 Four out of five GLBTQ students say they know of no supportive adult at school (Riese, 2014).
As I thought about material that I have seen throughout our school, I would say that we do not do a good job of representing the different family structures in our classroom libraries. It is not just homosexual families but we do not do a good job of representing heterosexual families either. We are a small school, and I only know of two children that come from families with two moms and two dads. We do have several single parent homes and those where the grandparents or other family members are raising them. If we are going to represent one type of family structure, then I feel we should seek material that would depict as many family structures as we can.
References
Riese, J. (2014). Youth who are bullied based upon perceptions about their sexual orientation. Retrieved from http://www.violencepreventionworks.org.