Ready or Not at Northwest Education Association Conference

It was a great two days at the Northwest Education Association (NWEA) conference in Eau Claire. We presented three times and had a booth in the vendor area. We hope our presence had an impact with the school personnel represented at the conference. We had a great time and had meaningful discussions with many educators in the area.

Now, here are the questions for you. Has your workplace or school provided training for you on GLBT issues in the workplace? If not, should they? Should it be mandatory for all? Are you in compliance with the Safe School Law? If you are a business, have you ever discriminated on the basis of gender orientation or identity? Let's have a discussion - join our blog!!

A visit with University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Staff and Students

David Gardner, LGBTQ Program Coordinator from the Women's and Gender Equity Center at the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire, did a fantastic job advertising our presentation at the Davies Center on the evening of October 7. We exceeded 100 people in the audience who asked great questions at the end of our presentation. One group in attendance was a material selection class. We shared with them the importance of having GLBT material in schools and public libraries and our fear that librarians/media specialists may use self-censorship because of the controversial nature of GLBT books in general. Remember our blog on the West Bend Public Library controversy? You never know when the challenge will hit your community. Although our book is a recommended title for middle and high school, some media specialists may feel it is just easier not to order it for their library even though our book has only received positive reviews. Or perhaps it won't be used in an educator book club even though we were educators for over 30 years and offer suggestions for schools on how to protect GLBT students and staff.

What is your opinion? Do you think schools will include our title in their library bookshelves or will it just be easier not to order it? Do you have a reasonable amount of books on GLBTs in your media center? Will they use our book or another GLBT title as a staff development tool for educators or continue to ignore the issues of harassment and bullying of our GLBT sons and daughters? We want to hear from you on this.