Are Your Children Homophobic?
See Our CHECKLIST Below...
First of all, the fact that you’re reading this demonstrates your commitment to inspiring LGBT+ acceptance and allyship in the lives of your children and students. *Virtual High-Five!*
Secondly, multiple studies have revealed that children are not born prejudiced: it is a learned behaviour. This is great news! It means that we can actively help to prevent our children and students from becoming homophobic, biphobic or transphobic. However, this result will largely be down to the actions that you (as a parent or as a teacher) take as well as how soon you implement them.
Hey, don’t panic! We've made things super easy for you by putting together a short LGBT+ inclusion checklist below. Have a look through and see where you might already be winning, as well as what else you can do to ensure that your children and students grow into accepting and supportive adults.
Use Our Checklist
LGBT+ people are a welcome and significant part of our society but often the media around us doesn't always reflect this. How can a child possibly understand that LGBT+ people are welcome and significant if they never see LGBT+ people in the stories they love?
Children benefit from many depictions of loving straight couples in their entertainment but it’s equally important that they get to experience LGBT+ joy too.
Making sure LGBT+ people are positively represented in your children’s lives can easily be achieved with diverse and inclusive content. Here are a few ideas…
• Picture books for primary-aged children that include LGBT+ characters.
• Longer storybooks for older children that feature an LGBT+ protagonist or theme.
• Children’s media, TV programs and films that are inclusive of LGBT+ characters.
Be sure the books and media you share reflect LGBT+ people positively and demonstrate how being LGBT+ is simply just another way of being human.