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I feel that they shouldn’t tell parents about it if they ask not to unless it’s life threatening

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I think school counselors especially should have to adhere to confidentiality agreements

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Should elementary students be allowed to chose their name or should it be in the parent's control? Does age matter?

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i agree with alexsys, we are very VERY privileged with the clubs/safe spaces that we have. however, i do not think parents should be included with the clubs or conversations happening. a lot of our parents are not supportive.

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Its also about a personal thing some students don't know how to respond or think about themselves and they have hard times finding out and transition to there pronouns

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I think if a parent gets a paper at the beginning of the year for the student, the said student should be the one to chose what they want to be called in school at not the parent choosing for you.

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I agree, I don't think it should be required because some students may not be ready to come out to their parent yet or their parents may not be respecting of their sexuality.

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I feel as though if teachers are mandated to inform someone of a students struggles, they should have to tell a source who is bound by some secrecy but is still a professional.

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I feel like students should have a say in what they wanted to be called because it can really affect a student through out that whole year

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There was a teacher who made a note of what the students proffered names would be and if their parents knew about it so they know how they would address the student in front of their parents, so nothing gets mixed up.

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Long before this gender identity was an issue in schools, as teachers we asked students and parents what they wanted to be called. Did they have a preferred nickname? Then I would use that in class, but I always went with what the student wanted to be called.

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I feel that school can be seen as an outlet for students with tough lives at home and if parents are told everything about the student even if the student does not want them to know it could lead to the kid secluding themselves and feeling very uncomfortable.

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Can the mental health crisis among LGBTQ individuals be related to lack of support through mandated reporting or over reporting?

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How can teachers help support the student, but also respect the parent's requests?

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I agree with Victoria that school counselors should have confidentiality when it comes to things students tell them.

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I also agree with Victoria, that respect has a huge factor in the doubt they have. But I also agree that parents may be mad or disappointed in their child after finding out.

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Should school and teachers always be a safe space for queer students? Like, should teachers be required and trained to help students who reach out to them?

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Do you think it goes against parental rights to have confidentiality in schools? Or should it be on the parents if they have not created a home environment that their children feel comfortable to share their gender identity/sexual orientation?

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I know or have a few friends that are wanting to be transition with there gender and some relatives that are too and sometimes I mess up and i call they by the wrong name or pronouns and they want to fight or get mad at me and call me names and it just a problem

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What happens if older, veteran teachers don't agree with LGBT students? I feel like they disrespect these individuals. How can teachers fix this?

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Even just changing the signs could make a huge impact. Instead of a "gender neutral bathroom" its a "family restroom" because it doesn't discriminate on gender

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Discrimination, and bullying has a huge part in this topic. Administration needs to take action and step in, but does this require a specific training for staff and administration? How can they help these students?

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How much falls onto teachers? Going back into mental health within students, how much responsibility of educating these kids lands in the educators lap?

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i agree with Spencer- i think you need to talk to the student first and what they are comfortable with being let known about their own personal sexual orientation or gender identity is what you should share with the parent.

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Yes I agree that students as they get older and start to learn more about this topic they have a better understanding this

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I agree with Cade as a teacher with 25 years of experience. Disruptions to class are not okay.

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I agree with Spencer, we need to talk to the student first. This is very important to not out a student, but also make sure they are safe and have the help and support they need.

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As a teacher as long as your students are not hurting anyone or themselves and are not being disrespectful then i think that they are ok

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I agree with Arrianna, no matter how they feel personally, they must respect the students.

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with what Audrey said, If you are working in a public school then you have to make compromises/ get over your own personal biases so you can effectively teach. Being a teacher isn’t about making every student think like you it’s about educating them to your best effort.

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In my hs I noticed that a lot of our teachers in the English department were the ones that were trusted outside of our counselor for many lgbtq+ issues

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I agree with Cade that you can be the safe space for all students. You can't change other teachers so you have to be the best you can be for the students.

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I think that if you are a vetren teacher and you don't agree with the LGBTQ+ community and their ways, you can still go about teaching, but you can't be disrespecting someone that is in the community.

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I agree with Arrianna, but not just on the teachers side. We as students and future educators aren’t required to agree with everything that everyone does but it’s our job as decent human beings to treat everyone with kindness and respect. I feel like a lot of people don’t understand that it’s the bare minimum of what we can do.

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I think if you're going to be a teacher, you need to be expecting students who are different. I think there's no point in being a teacher if you're going to disagree with the way students are. That is very unethical of teachers. There is always going to be a diverse community in your classroom, so going into that with a racist or homophobic mindset is really unfair to the students. It's not their fault that you disagree with the way they are as a person.

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I think as a teacher, your job is to accept all of your students, you may not agree with everything you hear, but it is your job to treat all students equally.

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What kind of professional development or training should teachers and school staff undergo to become better allies to LGBTQ+ students?

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When we learned about sex ed in my school we really only talked about the body and what consequences can happened from our actions but I don’t really remember ever covering lgbtq+

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being a safe space that your lgbt students really believe in and utilize can be the literal difference between life and death for them and that is a HUGE weight on the teachers shoulders, should we be 'trained' in talking about these things like counselors? or do we just provide the space and listen to those students?

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Going back on one subject should students as a class themselves know how to treat each other in the classroom

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I really like the term Calix used of "weaponized incompetence." I think that a lot of people hide behind the defense of "I didn't know" when they have had every opportunity to learn and have refused to.

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going off of alexsys, what age is it appropriate to start teaching sex ed? and what should you teach in those grades?

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I do think in general, teachers are the type of people who tend to be more understanding and so I do think a lot of veteran teachers do want to adapt to "newer" mindsets, even if they struggle with it, so I think there should be some credit given there. (Of course that is not to say all teachers are open to change, but I think many who go into education in general tend to have more progressive mindsets).

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My middle school also handed out a sheet with what was going to be covered and there were a lot of students who were pulled from sex ed because their parents didn’t want them to learn about it

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For me i wasn't really taught anything about sex ed or lgbtq until middle school, but once i hit 6 grade we started to get a basic understanding of what it is. And middle school is really where we learned more about the diseases but never about safe sex with same gender sex. Like Alexsys said middle school kids weren't mature about same sex until they hit high school. Once they were in hs they started to actually understand what the teacher are actually teaching

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I feel there are subtle ways to introduce students to LGBT concepts before they have a health class. Knowing that gay people exist isn't inherently inappropriate.

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in my psychology class we talked about how children are starting puberty younger because of the things (i forget what theyre called) being put in foods, should we be teaching the signs at a younger age so children arent embarrassed or confused with what is happening in their bodies?

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The heath teachers in my opinion need additional background checks and an assessment of some sort to show their knowledge and credibility because health is a topic that needs to be taught in an unbiased way.

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Just because society doesn't acknowledge something doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Gay people, trans people, gender nonconforming people, etc. have existed FOREVER. Its not a trend or a fad, and I think that is important to understand.

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Schools should support LGBTQ+ students the same way they support all students, accept every student for who they are and make the appropriate accommodations for students who want to identify as something other than what we are traditionally used to. Parents shouldn't have the right to come to the school and verbally abuse students because of their behavior. Students should have all confidentiality except when it comes to them trying to harm themselves in any way.