Teachers in the Surrey school district are highlighting the importance of SOGI-inclusive practices in classrooms in response to recent push-back from some parents, students and others in the community.
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, or SOGI, is described as an inclusive term that applies to everyone, since every person has a sexual orientation and a gender identity.
“There is no SOGI curriculum,” the B.C. government website states.
Instead, a SOGI framework was implemented in schools by the Ministry of Education and Child Care to promote inclusive classrooms, where human rights are discussed, along with the topics of diversity, anti-bullying, respect and discrimination.
“We are not teaching kids to be queer or trans. We, as educators, are bringing awareness and celebrating the stories and lives of students and people in society who identify as different genders and sexuality, which historically have been suppressed or not spoken of,” explained Noel Abraham, a math teacher at Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary who is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns.
In line with the provincial policy, SOGI 123 is a resource available to all teachers in B.C. to help them navigate and explore the subject in their classrooms. Topics are also outlined in a course syllabus for each class at the beginning of each semester for parents to reference.
“The point is, the kids are looking for this information. We don’t want them to go to the internet or social media… that can be very dangerous, we want them to be safe,” said Annie Ohana, teacher at L.A. Matheson Secondary and diversity director of Surrey Pride Society.
Since SOGI has become more prominent in schools across the province, queer-phobic and trans-phobic sentiments have seemingly risen, some teachers in Surrey have noted. An anti-SOGI protest was held over the weekend (Saturday, March 25) in Surrey.
Last year, during L.A. Matheson Secondary’s Pride Week in May, a parent showed up outside the school with signs to protest the event, Ohana said.
The parent’s in-person presence spurred a social media frenzy at the time, targeting the school.
“The attacks weren’t just coming from Canada; people were piling on from all over,” Ohana explained.
“They say things that are absolutely against human rights. It’s not ‘I’m uncomfortable with my child learning this material.’
“It’s like ‘Trans kids shouldn’t be in our school,’ ‘People should be fired,’ ‘SOGI is grooming our kids, it’s sexualizing our kids.’ That’s the language they’re using.”
The expression of these ideas shows that misinformation about what goes on in educational buildings is spreading, Ohana said.
“Schools are not teaching this (topic) the way that they think we are teaching this. SOGI is well-vetted.”
Having even one protester at their school has left some queer students feeling unsafe, Ohana added – something SOGI was intended to help alleviate.
For Lexa Perl, social studies and careers teacher at Grandview Heights Secondary, SOGI-inclusive practices in her classrooms have made for a change in education that she longed to see for years.
“I just don’t want to see students grow up the way that I had to. That’s it,” said Perl.
“For me, SOGI inclusion is, in part, being an ‘out’ teacher. My students know that I am trans and I am queer because, for me, that alone would’ve been so valuable when I was growing up.”
Abraham described SOGI as a “gradient scale” noting that in Kindergarten to Grade 4 classrooms, sexual orientation is introduced from the perspective of diverse families, children having two moms or two dads and using simple terms that they will understand.
“Then in older elementary classes, Grade 5 to 7, the same concepts in sexual orientation and gender identity are explored at age-appropriate levels, through its definition and distinction from each other. Gender as a spectrum and not just binary, social injustices in gender identity, expression and sexual orientation, and books around SOGI themes… approved by the school district,” Abraham said.
In their classroom now, SOGI practices will appear as including people with different pronouns in math word problems, exploring social justice through math projects and creating a space that allows the diverse group of students to feel included and seen.
Ohana and Perl, both high school teachers, said that a SOGI lens allows for diverse films, books and speakers to be in classrooms and for discussions to take place around what diversity and respect and social justice mean for all people. In Perl’s social studies classes, she aims to tell the stories that historically have not been told, she said.
Human rights is part of the curriculum, Ohana said, and so, human rights through a SOGI lens is a part of that.
Having conversations with people who are against SOGI is crucial, all three teachers agreed. As a result, many have changed their opinions because their stance often comes from misunderstanding, which is why they urge parents to engage with their schools more to learn about SOGI.
“You have kids that are trying to commit suicide over this. It happens a lot,” Ohana said. This is why they need to feel like they belong and see themselves in schools.
“It’s amazing when all kinds of kids are comfortable, when they’re happy, when their parents are proud of them.”
While fears about education in the province regressing are at the back of the teachers’ minds, they say it is now more important than ever for governments to support SOGI.
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To move SOGI-inclusive practices forward, Abraham believes that the Ministry of Education and Child Care should re-work its existing policy on diversity and expand it to a K-12 equity, diversity and inclusion plan, and create a department where students, teachers and other staff can turn for support.
Perl said there needs to be more diversity among adults in schools, holding all types of positions in education.
“It makes me really happy to see the students have what I didn’t. For all of the situations I’ve been in where things are really negative and while those things have hurt, there’s far more positive,” she said.
“The kids are alright. For the most part, they are kind, empathetic and they are really, really keen to learn and include people.”
@SobiaMoman
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