Is Teaching Tolerance Enough? A Straightforward Approach to Sexuality in the Classroom

Photo Courtesy of http://www.nhps.net/nathanhale/ U.S. guidance counselors grapple with homosexuality in health curricula like New Haven's Nathan Hale School.

Budnick wants her school's health curriculum to include a discussion of sexuality and orientation. But even when the educators want to address these topics, they are wary of how students will react: A normally calm classroom can erupt if the subject comes up. Even though a health curriculum should attempt to avoid a potentially savage moral debate, it must give all students the information, skills, and support that they need-including lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) students. Establishing a tolerant classroom and trying to avoid an explicitly heterosexual focus is not enough. LGBT relationships need to be included explicitly.

The United States does not have a standard health curriculum, so health classes may be taught by a variety of people: school counselors, physical education teachers, academic classroom teachers, outside volunteers from groups such as the Yale undergraduate organization with which I teach, Community Health Educators (CHE), or not at all. The material may differ greatly depending on who is teaching the class. For instance, sex education curricula may include comprehensive education on contraception or may follow an abstinence-only model-or may fall somewhere in between. The variety of programs across the nation permits much discussion over how to address health in U.S. schools, and debates rage over both ideological and practical concerns.

Some experts believe that a neutral approach to sexuality is best for health education. Eliza Byard, the Deputy Executive Director of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), favors a curriculum that gives students one set of information and clarifies that it applies to all students and relationships. "It's about being included in the same terms," she said. Even when questions are asked about LGBT issues, Byard would steer clear of sparking any moral debate in health education workshops. "Those are classes that are about behavior, not belief," she explained. But, she does believe that educators should not shy away from being specific and frank when discussing different forms of sexuality, including the introduction of correct terminology. "Health education classes have a purpose," she said, "and part of that purpose is being direct and evenhanded."

Although curricula that use language and examples that can apply to any orientation rather than confront different orientations directly may be easier to teach in a heated classroom, I believe that they risk letting LGBT students slip through the cracks. In CHE's workshop on STDs for high school students, the educators often use names like 'Leslie' or 'Sam' to avoid being gender-specific. It is not enough to try to avoid limiting the workshops to heterosexuality, said Noah Dobin-Bernstein, a former coordinator of CHE. "If we take a neutral stance, where we're not saying anything that explicitly ignores difference," he explained, "the conditions of the classroom make it hetero-normative."

Students will assume that any reference that does not specifically refer to non-heterosexual relationships applies only to heterosexual relationships. Almost all models of openly gay people in the media are wealthy and white, Dobin-Bernstein pointed out, so students who do not fit the media's typical description of "gay" may view any relationship that is not spelled out as LGBT as automatically heterosexual. Often, he added, terms such as "men who have sex with men" instead of "homosexual men" can be useful in teaching students who may be sexually active with people of their same gender, but may not identify explicitly as homosexual, the information they need to know. Dobin-Bernstein said that gay students frequently become confused in health class when the discussion only involves heterosexual relationships. The students' confusion shows that even if teachers try to be implicitly inclusive, LGBT relationships need to be explicitly described and addressed in curricula so that they are not ignored.

For the best guidance available, GLSEN points to the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), which publishes the 112-page "Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education" for kindergarten through 12th grade. The guidelines spell out the topics, messages, and concepts that SIECUS thinks educators should use to create a comprehensive curriculum for students in elementary, middle, and high school. The guidelines include entire sections on both sexual orientation and gender identity in the "Human Development" section, beginning in elementary school with definitions of heterosexuality and homosexuality, and statements about tolerance, such as "Making fun of people by calling them gay (e.g. "homo," "fag," "queer") is disrespectful and hurtful." Meanwhile, the guidelines state that educators may explain to their high school students, "Civil rights for gay men and lesbian women are being debated in many states and communities across the United States." As a nod to the variety of opinions in U.S. culture, the guidelines read, "Understanding the diversity of views about sexuality is important." While potentially too comprehensive for most health curriculums to cover in their given amount of time, the SIECUS guidelines represent an ideal sexuality curriculum.

Once LGBT relationships are explicitly included in a health curriculum, a further discussion of LGBT issues may begin naturally. "There is an important and potentially successful discussion to be had," Dobin-Bernstein said. For students who firmly believe that being anything but heterosexual is unnatural, "Challenge them to think about it more," he said. And, perhaps of greater importance, let the students who are not heterosexual witness someone defending their sexualities.

With limited time in health classes and limited school patience, this discussion may have to happen outside the realm of a controlled workshop. But, if the material that actually is covered includes examples of all relationships, then hopefully all students will leave the classroom a little bit safer and a little bit wiser.