New Curriculum and Union Support LGBTQ Students and Staff

The Boston Herald reports today on a new Massachusetts curriculum with LGBTQ themes that will be available this fall:

The curriculum, developed by a team of teachers with Massachusetts Safe Schools Program for LGBTQ Students and the Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ Youth, will be released this summer. It will feature lessons on the 1969 Stonewall Riots and writings by gay and lesbian authors such as Langston Hughes and Willa Cather. It will also feature lessons like how Nick Carraway’s love for Jay Gatsby may have influenced themes in The Great Gatsby.

The Boston Teachers Union has been focused on staffing schools to support LGBTQ students.

“There is a lot of anxiety in coming out as a student,” said Jessica Tang, president of the BTU, who is openly bisexual. “This is important. It is still hard for students and teachers to come out.”

Teachers and students at Charlestown High School, Another Course to College, Boston Green Academy, Boston International Newcomers Academy and New Mission High School, in partnership with Boston Public Schools’ Safe and Welcoming Schools initiative, have been training teachers on how to support kids.

On May 1, BPS will have a summit at the Boston Teachers Union Hall in Dorchester that will allow students to share their own stories.

Read the full article on the Boston Herald website.