I have been doing outreach for over 15 years, the first time that I spoke in front of group was at the Children from the Shadows conference (Later it became know as the True Colors conference.) at the University of Hartford. It was impromptu, they needed one more person on the panel in fifteen minutes and they talked me into it, something I don’t regret doing.
I was hooked, I could see that I made a difference but then it was a LGBTQ+ conference and the conference attendees were either LGBTQ+ people or our allies.
I joined a LGBTQ+ speakers bureau and started talking in junior high schools, high schools, and colleges, for a few years I did the circuit of the schools. But I noticed a pattern, they were more interested in what I call fluff questions… “How did you chose your name?” “What do hormones do to you?” “Who do you date?” "Did you have 'The Surgery'?" etc. etc. etc.
Then I went to grad school for my masters in social work and they had a day set aside for diversity training and I realized that having students ask question was not the way professional trainers do diversity training, it is a long through presentation, they follows a logical flow. So for an Independent Study class I asked if I could develop diversity training presentation, and they thought that was a great idea. They assigned a professor to me for the class.
From that Independent Studies class I created a 90 minute PowerPoint presentation back in 2010-2011.
I have constantly been update the presentation and I have given it to…
- Albertus Magnus: Multicultural Education
- Connecticut and Massachusetts chapters of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) annual conference.
- Department of Corrections
- Department of Justice
- Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS)
- Jewish Family Services
- Quinnipiac University: Multicultural Education:
- Southern Connecticut State University - DPH: Introduction to Health Promotion
- Yale University - DPH: Introduction to Health Promotion
- University of Connecticut Counseling and Mental Health Services
For the classes the professors turn the class over to me and I run the class for the day.
Some of the feedback that I got from teaching the classes…
Thank you for inviting Diana to guest speak. She was candid, open, and super informative. I am especially excited by what she told us about transgender brain studies.
Though I know her presentation benefited me, I worry that it might have let other students not as accepting of trans folks as I am off the hook too easily. We need the opportunity as a class to hash it out and learn from each other. People who expressed lacking knowledge or tolerance on the discussion board and outside of the classroom were able to be spectators, not participants. In order to ready ourselves for diverse classroom populations, we must engage in active discussion. I recommend that we continue the LGBTQ conversation next week.
Again, though, I am glad Diana came to speak. Her presence humanized the "issue" for me and, I suspect, for my classmates.
Diana’s presentation on the science behind the term “transgender” as well as the transgender community was thought provoking, informative, and interesting. I have many family members who are also members of the LGBT community, so topics such as gender identity have always captivated my attention. I have watched numerous documentaries on individuals who identity as transgender and the science behind this phenomenon. I have also had the opportunity to expand my knowledge of transgender biology, psychology, and culture through my interactions with a myriad of students at Hall High School. It was fascinating to learn that sections of a transgender person’s brain often possess gender characteristics that are different from the individual’s physical gender markers. I was also elated to discover that doctors can halt puberty in a transgender person’s body at a young age and help them experience an easier physical transition to their true gender. Such developments make me hopeful for the future. Ideally, treatments such as these will become more widely available to any transgender person who wishes to transition. However, I think the most important takeaway from Diana’s presentation was that people are just people, even if they were born in the wrong body and feel the need to make a change. Everyone should display empathy and compassion for their fellow human beings.
I found Diana's presentation to very interesting and informational. Before this presentation, I could honestly never understand how or why somebody would think they were trapped in the wrong body. I specifically found the videos she showed to be moving and allowed for me to understand how some people truly feel. It was amazing to me that the little boy in one of the videos was struggling on so many levels, but greatly improved once his family was on board with him wanting to become a girl. It made me realize that nobody should be afraid of being who they really are, no matter how the public may take it. I learned how hard it truly is for someone to completely switch their lives and literally become a new person.
I got to class on weds at 4 minutes past 2pm. When I walked into the class I was given a soft accepting smile from the person who appeared to be teaching for the day, so I quickly put down my stuff, shook off all the wet, (it was absolutely pouring outside, which is why I was a little late (people can't drive in the rain in Hartford)) and begin to listen. I was very taken by how brave she was and I found her life story to be quite moving and inspiring. The video clips that she played were particularly touching and I found it hard to turn away. Especially the girl that wanted her parent to call her Jazz and to block her puberty. Overall, I learned a lot on weds and I must admit I knew nothing about the subject of trans gender before I walked into class, but I knew a ton after I left.
I truly enjoyed Diana’s lecture this week and I know that many others in the class agree! She was showing a video near the very end and she cut it off because she felt it was too long, but Christine, Emily, and I all wanted to continue watching!
One thing that stood out to me was the discussion of microaggressions. We had just learned about microaggressions in our previous class! I think that hearing Diana’s perspective enhanced my understanding of microaggressions. Many of the questions that she said never to ask or say are things that I could easily see well-meaning people saying unwittingly. For example, have you had the surgery?I would have never known you were a male! “Which bathroom do you use?” “What was your real name?” and “When did you decide to become a woman?” are all things that I can imagine people would say if they were trying to be kind or genuinely trying to understand her experience. I’m glad that I’ve been taught to be more sensitive about these types of matters and now I can see why it’s actually very rude to say any of these things.
One of the professors wrote me this note…
I did an activity yesterday in my UConn class. It was a simulation in which the 20 students were required to look at 17 resumes and hire seven teachers unanimously. Each brief resume has a loaded statement, such as one person belong to a military militia group, another was a professed segregationist, another had 10 kids, etc. One of the potential people to hire was a transgender teacher FTM. in the past when I did this activity it was usually early on in the course and rarely, if ever do the students choose to hire this person. Often the reason is that there are other candidates better suited. In yesterday's class all four groups unanimously hired the transgender teacher. This was a first. my role is to challenge them on why they hired or did not hire each candidate. The students were uniformly saying that this person is well-qualified.
You are making a difference.
I break down the training into modules…
- Definitions
- Deconstruction gender
- The Standard of Care
- The Coming Out Process
- Transition
- Children/Elder care
- Intersectionality
- Community
I switch modules according to whom I am training, long term care facilities get the Elder Care module while teachers get the module on Children.
The Speaker Bureau has its place but for a more substantial training you really need an hour or two to do proper training.
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