Being a Queer educator and advocating for LGBTQ+ education is especially challenging in the overly politicized world we live in.

In this episode Kaitlin chats with Nate Lyon who has been teaching 4th grade in the suburbs of Chicago for fifteen years. He is passionate about teaching kids to think critically about inclusive practices.

Their conversation focuses on inclusive education but also delves into the dangers of, but also the benefits of, social media, the importance of having hope, the power of knowledge, the politization of gender, and much more.

This one is a must listen for any educator, ally, or member of the LGBTQ+ community. We hope you love it!

Full transcript

QUOTES
"educate yourself, first and foremost"

"kids start to learn about who they are and what their gender is at a very young age"

"we want to create spaces in which they can see themselves and know that who they are belongs there."

"That gives me a little bit of hope, right? That some kids are finding communities online or Queer advocates on Tiktok and Instagram that aren't educators but just living their lives as queer people. That I hope kids can see and learn from."

" I do think there are politicians that benefit from politicizing it and getting people riled up and those people that are riled up aren't the ones that want to learn more"

" people's fears and worries are definitely stoked and it's definitely been pointed in the direction towards kids. 'We got to protect the kids. We gotta protect the kids.' It's unfortunate for sure because It's queer kid that need the most protecting and they're being attacked."

"If we have kids in our classroom that have ADHD we make accommodations to help them succeed... we do what we need to do to help those kids if we have at least in my district food allergies really changed our policies as a district...that's what educators do we look at who's the most vulnerable or who just needs something extra and we make that happen...and so when we look at statistics and see that lgbtq+, kids have more anxiety, have more depression, are less connected at school, higher dropout rates... As educators, it would make sense to ask 'What can we do to change this? What can we do to help these kids?"

"things feel very tumultuous right now but I'm a big believer in we're gonna be a better place in 10, 20, 30 years. We just kind of get through this rough patch."

"If you ask a lot of queer people, five ten years ago, it felt like we're on a nice trajectory forward. Now it feels like we've taken a step back and I don't think anyone would've really predicted this."

"Adults are so hanging on to their biases, kids are just like that kid doesn't feel like a boy or a girl. Great. Let's go play."

" I always think about the difference between being nice and being kind, And you can sound sweet and say nice things and use good manners and it doesn't mean kind. Really what it comes down to kindness for me is look who is in the room or what groups of people need something and do something about it"

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