Beyond LGBT+ History Month: Cross-curricular inclusion

Where should we put the apostrophe?

• The girls cloakroom

• The childrens playground

• Davids boyfriend

I stepped back, held my breath and waited for the silly comments, the sniggers and the inevitable disruption, but…they never came. NOTHING HAPPENED! I couldn’t believe it.

At that time, I was new to inclusion work. I had nothing LGBT+ inclusive displayed in the classroom, there had been no inclusive assemblies and we'd only had one PSHE lesson on anything LGBT+. “Surely, they’d never handle this?” I thought. 

Much to my surprise, after discussing where the apostrophes should go, the class simply got on with their work. It was fantastic to witness.

For some teachers, cross-curricular LGBT+ inclusion can sound like a daunting prospect but, as is often the case, success lies in many small inclusive acts rather than one big one. So below I’m going to discuss two little approaches that can have a big impact. 

Drop-in references

Like my example of a question in the English class, ‘drop-ins’ are a great and easy way to spread diverse representation throughout the curriculum and it can be applied to pretty much every subject. 

Here are some other examples we can all use across different subjects: 

History: One of the people who really influenced Martin Luther King was Bayard Rustin. He was a black, gay man, inspired by Gandhi to believe in the power of non-violence. Do you think non-violence is a good way to get across your point of view?

Physical Education: Professional Canadian footballer, Quinn, said coming out as non-binary and having the support of their teammates was so important for them. Why do you think this support was important for them?

Modern foreign languages: Marie vit à Paris avec ses deux papas.

Visibility

I’m a strong believer that it is extremely hard to be what you can’t see. Children spend a long time in school and their environment shapes how they view themselves. By including LGBT+ lives in displays and showing our allyship around school, we show that being LGBT+ is just another way to be a human.  

Displays: Think beyond a display for Pride or LGBT+ history month. How about other displays? Can you include LGBT+ people in a display about a historical topic?  (e.g. Alan Turing when talking about the history of computer science). Can you include LGBT+ sportspeople and their achievements in a sports display? (e.g. Jake Daniels, an openly gay footballer). 

Visible Allyship: A simple act of wearing rainbow lanyards, supportive pin badges or even raising LGBT+ flags around the school, year round, tells everyone in your school community that you and your classroom/school are an LGBT+ safe and inclusive space. 

When we include positive references to LGBT+ lives in all aspects of our teaching, we indicate to children that LGBT+ people are a welcome part of society - that LGBT+ lives are just as diverse and varied as everyone else's. 

We also know that representation has a significant mental health impact, not only on LGBT+ children, but on ALL children by visibly demonstrating that there are all sorts of different ways to be human and that they are all equally valid. To understand more about the mental health impacts on children you might find it useful to read the Growing Up LGBT+ Report (2021) by LGBT+ young people’s charity Just Like Us.

So this LGBT+ History Month, go ahead and use the time as a launchpad to do some specific LGBT+ lessons but remember,by scattering references to LGBT+ lives across the curriculum, throughout the year, we can create a more effective, long lasting culture of inclusion and diversity in our schools. 

• Mel Lane (she/her) is head of education at Pop ‘n’ Olly. She is a co-author of Pop'n'Olly's book What Does LGBT+ Mean? Learn more about Mel's inclusive education at diversitymel.com