The Gender and Sexuality cohort of Bridge Builders CHANGE is working to make Memphis a place where all people, regardless of sexuality and gender, can be brave to speak their truth, feel safe in their identity, and get educated on the LGBTQ+ community. To do this, we are building from the bottom up, and marking one-by-one the spaces that meet the criteria below. Once a space meets all the criteria listed, they can be marked with a Brave, Safe, Educated Space sticker, and be celebrated as a welcoming environment for the LGBTQ+ community in Memphis.
Upcoming events:
Brave, Safe and Educated INTEREST Meeting
Our most recent Brave, Safe and Educated Interest Meeting was scheduled for March 28th from 11-1pm. This was an interest meeting for businesses, organizations, and Healthcare Providers and Organizations that want to become Certified as Brave, Safe and Educated for LGBTQ+ people.
The meeting was postponed due to COVID-19. To keep up to date with our newest events, sign up for our newsletter by clicking this link. |
Brave Safe and Educated Inclusive Classroom Interest Meeting
Inclusive Criteria Conference (ICCON): On March 7th from 3-5 pm, We invite all teachers, students, administrators, and coaches to join us in the Jim Boyd Building (477 N 5th St.) in creating a list of criteria determining what we as a community would like to see in classrooms to promote inclusiveness for lgbtq+ students. Together we will have an open dialogue giving everyone the opportunity to give their input on what they think is important for classrooms to ensure a brave, safe, and educated environment for all students. We will be
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The Nomination form
Nominate spaces here that you believe would be interested in working towards meeting the criteria below to be Brave, Safe, and Educated, or spaces that you believe already meet them. Please include your name, your email address, the name of the school, business, or healthcare facility you're nominating, and a comment on why you think they should be marked as a Brave, Safe, and Educated Space. Thanks for working to make Memphis a safer and more welcoming place!
The Criteria
We designed this criteria by compiling a diverse set of peer-reviewed articles from reputable sources and fashioning their suggestions to fit the capabilities of organizations in the Memphis community. In addition, we collected surveys from people all around Memphis, asking what they felt would make spaces Brave, Safe, and Educated. While research is essential, the personal experiences and needs of local LGBTQ+ people are just as necessary to our mission of making Memphis safer.
FOR SCHOOLS
- Proudly and visibly identify as a safe space
- Have an active and running GSA (Gender and Sexuality Alliance, Gay Straight Alliance, or other LGBTQ+ club)
- Have all teachers trained in “Creating Safe School Environment for LGBTQ+ Youth" by OUTMemphis
- Have all teachers, administrators, and staff be trained in working with LGBTQ+ students and implicit bias
- Normalize giving preferred pronouns by including them on staff and student name tags and email signatures
- Always include pronouns in introductions, with both students and staff
- If there is a school directory, remove any dead names (possibly legal names, which students no longer use) of transgender students from the directory. Only use them for legal purposes, not publicly.
- Equipping school leadership and staff on legal policies regarding student vs. parent choice (name by which student is referred, pronouns by which student is addressed, confidentiality classes)
- Make gender neutral restrooms available for students and staff
- Ensure anti-bullying and anti-harassment policies explicitly protect LGBTQ+ students and staff
- Have policies and procedures in place that ensure claims of gender and sexuality discrimination are properly investigated and taken seriously
- Hold faculty and staff accountable for insensitive behavior
- Have literature or a point person concerning the mediation of gender and sexuality discrimination
- Create an LGBTQ+ history course or include LGBTQ+ history in the traditional curriculum
- Ensure sex education is LGBTQ+ inclusive
- Gives students the opportunity to learn more broadly about LGBTQ+ life and history
- Change homecoming and prom “king and queen” to “royalty”
- Teachers may not organize students for working groups by gender
- Any spousal benefits for staff must explicitly include same sex couples
- Any gender question on all surveys and forms should have a blank and “prefer not to answer” option
- Dress codes should be gender neutral, with all people adhering to the same rules
- Recognize and promote LGBTQ+ holidays
- Provide a designated safe space for queer students with a point person concerning the mediation of gender and sexuality discrimination
FOR BUSINESSES
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FOR HEALTHCARE FACILITIES
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