Browsing Tag

education

Safe Spaces: The Role of Schools in Protecting LGBTQ+ Youth

Posted on June 2, 2024
An image of an LGBTQ+ youth at school.

With a nation so divided over how people should be allowed to identify, it’s more urgent now than ever for schools to take action to protect LGBTQ+ youth. The majority, 62 percent, of elementary school teachers report that they don’t think gender identity should be taught in their schools. Queer issues in the classroom aren’t broached very often across the board, with just 29 percent of teachers reporting discussions of gender identity and sexual orientation.  For LGBTQ+ students, this can feel…

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Continuing the Conversation: Black Queer History Doesn’t End in February

Posted on March 11, 2021
A photo of Black queer history.

Well, Black History Month is officially over. As someone in the Black community, the fact that our history is confined to the shortest month of the year is troublesome to say the least. The month is also shared with other holidays, like Valentine’s Day, that tend to dominate the conversation, putting Black History Month on the back burner. And when Black History is acknowledged, it's often focused on slavery, oppression, and campaigns featuring quotes from the most well-known Black historical…

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Taking Things ‘One Gay at a Time’: Houstonian Mycah Angelou Taylor’s New Podcast is All Things LGBTQ

Posted on February 2, 2021
A photo of One Gay at a Time podcast creator Mycah Angelou.

Mycah Angelou Taylor's podcast, One Gay at a Time, feels like listening to a good friend talk about anything and everything. Every other Wednesday evening marks the launch of a new episode, in which Taylor dives into topics ranging from their own coming out tale, to the “lavender tax,” to the intersection of Blackness and queerness. Whatever the discussion of the week may be, Taylor both educates and entertains their audience.…

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Unlearning: The Evolving Education of Queer Adulthood

Posted on August 14, 2020
A photo of unlearning.

What does it mean “to know?” How do we confirm a belief, or distinguish between bias and truth? As children, we believe what we are told. Our parents, caregivers, communities, and teachers tell us how the world works. We are given plenty of answers but rarely feel empowered to question them. As queer people, many of us were told that we didn’t have the option to be who we are—either explicitly or through the omission of our identities in conversation.…

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Out of the Darkness: The Power of Queer Education

Posted on October 18, 2019
An illustration of queer education.

The mission of Pride Houston is to educate, commemorate, and celebrate. I’d like to focus our attention on that first, foundational bit. One kind of education teaches skills toward a job that earns money. I believe education can also be revolutionary; after all, the Latin root educere means “to lead out.” That kind of education is how we lead each other out of darkness by sharing light—light that we discover we can hold and pass on to others. That kind…

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Make Your Voice Heard: How to Become a Student Activist

Posted on August 26, 2019
A photo of a LGBTQ student activist.

When you think of an “activist,” who comes to mind? Is it someone on the frontlines of a march? Someone starting a non-profit or excelling in a campaign? It is easy to equate charisma, volume, and power with an activist role. Perhaps that is why we typically think of activism as something that comes in adulthood, after we have earned our stripes and position of authority. But today, I am not speaking to the adults—I want to highlight activism that…

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Some Heroes Wear Flags: Texas Educator Brings Pride and Acceptance to the Classroom

Posted on August 6, 2019
A photo of openly gay Texas educator Bill Becker.

Beads of sweat slide down the skin of weary travelers as the terminal’s oppressive heat overwhelms the expansive silver hall. A tall, slender man sits at the gate—in one hand, a ticket to China; in the other, a phone he has forced to sleep. Just moments before it entered its slumber, the phone was used to deliver a critical text message—revealing the man’s truth. The young man, face flushed from the persistent heat, sentenced any impending response to wait within a…

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To Cecil: The Power of Being Out in the Classroom

Posted on August 8, 2018
An illustration of a queer professor in the classroom.

I went to college at UNC-Chapel Hill in the early 1990s. To my recollection, only one of the professors I knew was ever “out” in the classroom—we’ll call him “Cecil.” He and a woman colleague co-taught “Gender and Sexuality in the Ancient World,” and I confess, I enrolled mostly because it had “gender and sexuality” in the course title. I wasn’t alone, either. A clump of us queer kids sat in the front row of that auditorium, eager to learn…

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At The Forefront: Texas A&M Research Fellow Explores Evolution of Queer Youth Culture

Posted on August 18, 2017
A photo of Nikita Shepard, a research fellow focusing on the history of queer youth at the Don Kelly Research Collection of Gay Literature and Culture at Texas A&M University

Queer scholar Nikita Shepard sits at a long wooden table—the soft overhead lighting shines down as they dive into another issue of ONE magazine, one of the first pro-gay publications in the United States. This library has been Shepard’s home for the past month as they conduct research in one of the country’s premier collections of LGBTQ scholarly literature. But Shepard isn’t studying in the halls of Berkeley or the Ivy Leagues of the Northeast—they’re in College Station, Texas, in…

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