LGBTQIA+ Resources
This page includes:
The Pride Flag- Explained
Year-Long Gender-Inclusive Classroom Curriculum Guide
Tools for supporting Black LGBTQ Youth Mental Health
Body Mapping Exercise
Children’s Books Guide
Young Adult Books
It's Time Black and Brown People Be Included in the Pride Flag.
This is a rebooted pride flag by Daniel Quasar. Representation matters — especially for the most marginalized communities. The reboot is meant to be inclusive of queer people of color and trans people. Learn more about the redesigned flag here, and other Flags of the LGBTQIA+ community here.
Pink, Blue, and White Strips explained: Trans Pride Flag — Monica Helms, an openly transgender American woman, created the flag in 1999. The light blue and light pink are the traditional colors for baby girls and baby boys, respectively, while the white represents intersex, transitioning, or a neutral or undefined gender. According to Helms, the flag is symmetrical so “no matter which way you fly it, it is always correct, signifying us finding correctness in our lives.”
Brown and Black Stripes: These stripes stand for Black and Brown Queer folks. We are the foundation of the Pride movement, although readily written out of history. It’s time Black and Brown people be included in the Pride Flag.
Year-Long Curriculum Guide
Our founder, Mx. KT, has recently collaborated on Gender-inclusive Classroom’s year long curriculum guide. This curriculum provides a framework to help guide your work as you move through the year. Please note: this in-depth curriculum guide does cost money. If you are unable to pay for it, please reach out to us and we’re happy to make it accessible to you.
Each monthly guide provides a student goal, student-friendly definitions, book recommendations by topic, lesson plan ideas, tips for communicating with families, and additional reading for teachers.
August/September: Identity Work and Pronoun Exploration
October/November: Thinking Critically and Unpacking Stereotype
December: Beyond the Binary
January/February: Unlearning the "Universal He"
March/April: Using LGBTQ+ Language
May/June: Looking Back, Looking Forward - History and Activism
Supporting Black LGBTQ Youth Mental Health
By: Tia Dole, Ph.D., Chief Clinical Operations Officer, The Trevor Project
Over the last several days, The Trevor Project has been supporting Black LGBTQ youth in crisis expressing a wide range of emotions over the senseless and unjust violence against Black Americans. No matter where you’re located, it’s possible that these current events are impacting your mental health in ways you might not realize.
Black LGBTQ young people hold multiple marginalized identities. Under the minority stress model, experiences of discrimination, rejection, threats, and violence are compounded, and can lead to negative mental health outcomes. In addition, we know from our research that despite Black LGBTQ youth having similar rates of mental health disparities to all LGBTQ youth, they are significantly less likely to receive professional care.
Common feelings
The LGBTQ youth reaching out over the last few days have expressed a variety of feelings as they try to process current events. While The Trevor Project will always be here to support you, we also want to provide you with some ways to understand and cope with the anxiety and stress that has come up consistently across our phone, chat, and text crisis services. It’s important to normalize and acknowledge that you may be experiencing some or all of the following feelings.
Grief.
You may experience sorrow because of the senseless deaths of so many Black Americans, including numerous Black trans women over many years. This grief isn’t simply about recent events. For many, this grief has compounded over time. Working through this feeling is an ongoing process–one that may result in many conflicting desires.
Sense of helplessness.
You might feel like there’s nothing you can do because you’re only one person. This helplessness can be rooted in the sense that you are a single person, with a single voice. We want to emphasize many people are feeling this as well. Being open and candid about it can make you feel vulnerable. This is something we understand very well.
Sense of hopelessness.
It’s possible that the long history of systemic racism can make you feel as though things will never change. As a person who may hold multiple identities, sometimes it seems like we as a country may not do the work that needs to happen for there to be equality.
Disconnecting from white allies.
You may distance yourself from white allies who are supportive of the Black community. This may be because it can seem burdensome to share your experience or put your complex thoughts into words. Or it may be that you are feeling anger towards people who share that identity, in this moment.
Rage.
On social media and in the news, people are seeing coverage of Black Americans who were unjustly killed, and it can leave you feeling rage. This rage could be directed towards individuals or to institutions.
Desire to escape.
As certain towns experience unrest and protests, it’s possible you may feel a desire to leave your area or change your life completely. We hear a lot of people talking about going to another country simply because circumstances here have become unbearable.
Fear.
You may be experiencing a great deal of fear. The things that are happening right now are scary. Fear is a normal reaction to these events; in fact, fear is a protective emotion that is your body’s warning symptom that something is dangerous. Based on what is happening in the world right now, if you are feeling fear, that means that your body’s warning system is working.
Numbness.
You may be feeling nothing. For some people, feeling nothing is worse than feeling intense emotions. The events of recent months and years may be too much to process. Numbness can be your body’s reactions to being overwhelmed.
I want you to know that all of these experiences are valid. All of them. I also want to emphasize that whatever you are feeling is true to your experience. I ask that you do not judge your own experience (or others!) and try to find some support in your community.
Body Mapping Exercise
Designed to help understand, name, and communicate what makes you and your body feel good. Great for all bodies. Made by POC Non-binary and GNC Folks in mind. Fill out, and share with your loved ones to help communicate how you identify!
Children’s Books with Black Transgender, Non-binary and Gender Expansive Characters:
Peaceful Fights for Equal Rights
by Rob Sanders
Protesting. Standing up for what’s right. Uniting around the common good - kids have questions about all of these things they see and hear about each day. Through sparse and lyrical writing, Rob Sanders introduces abstract concepts like “fighting for what you believe in” and turns them into something actionable. Jared Schorr’s bold, bright illustrations bring resistance to life making it clear that one person can make a difference. And together, we can accomplish anything.
Inclusive pronouns are learned alongside the alphabet in this joyously illustrated take on the classic ABC book.
They, She, He easy as ABC shows that including everyone is all part of the dance. It’s easy. It’s fundamental. As the dance begins the kids proclaim, “No one left out and everyone free,” in a sing-song rhyme about inclusion. This sets the stage for readers to meet 26 kids showing us their dance moves.
by Susan Verde
(Click for video-read aloud)
This companion book to I Am Yoga and I Am Peace explores what it means to be human. It begins with "I was born. A miracle! One of billions but unique!" and continues with traits that make us human—learning, having dreams, seeing possibility, curiosity, wonder, and friendships.
The Moon Within
by Aida Salazar
Celi Rivera's life swirls with questions. About her changing body. Her first attraction to a boy. And her best friend's exploration of what it means to be genderfluid.
by Kyle Lukoff
This sweet and groundbreaking #ownvoices picture book celebrates the changes in a transgender boy's life, from his initial coming-out to becoming a big brother.
by Cheryl Kilodavis, Suzanne DeSimone
My Princess Boy is a nonfiction picture book about acceptance. With words and illustrations even the youngest of children can understand, My Princess Boy tells the tale of a 4-year-old boy who happily expresses his authentic self by happily dressing up in dresses, and enjoying traditional girl things such as jewelry and anything pink or sparkly.
by Jessica Love
WARNING: This book was not written by a Black GNC person. This story is not - #OwnVoices. While riding the subway home from the pool with his Abuela one day, Julián notices three women spectacularly dressed up. Their hair billows in brilliant hues, their dresses end in fishtails, and their joy fills the train car. When Julián gets home, daydreaming of the magic he’s seen, all he can think about is dressing up just like the ladies in his own fabulous mermaid costume: a butter-yellow curtain for his tail, the fronds of a potted fern for his headdress. Mesmerizing and full of heart, Jessica Love’s author-illustrator debut is a jubilant picture of self-love and a radiant celebration of individuality.
The Gender Wheel: A Story about Bodies and Gender for Every Body
by Maya Gonzalez
Now the Gender Team returns, expanded and stronger than before, inviting you on a picture book journey through the Gender Wheel. This body-positive book is a powerful opportunity for a supportive adult and child to see a wide range of bodies, understand the origins of the current binary gender system, how we can learn from nature to see the truth that has always existed, and revision a new story that includes room for all bodies and genders. The Gender Wheel offers a nature-based, holistic non-western framework of gender in a kid-friendly way. (Also available as a clothed School Edition.) www.genderwheel.com
Young Adult Books with Black Queer and Gender Expansive Characters:
by Candice Montgomery
By Any Means Necessary dives into the intersection of race and sexuality through the lens of its main character, Torrey, a gay Black college student. Though the crux of the book is complex, exploring family ties and what parts of ourselves we do and don’t choose to give up for the sake of family, it still centers around a romance.
by Faylita Hicks
Hood Witch examines what power looks like when reclaimed by Black women and nonbinary people. Considering the unique path of survival that queer Black people have to claim in our society, often alone, there’s something comforting about reading stories of resilience.
The Stars and The Blackness Between Them
by Junauda Petrus
It’s rare to come across a book from the perspective of a young Black character, let alone two, but this debut young -adult novel alternates between the perspective of Audre and Mabel, Black girls who find romance just in time for everything to fall even further apart. It’s a lyric novel and one that shakes up what romance looks like in young adults. Queer young-adult novels have historically been very white, but books like this one suggest that the tides are changing in a positive way.
by Camonghne Felix
Build Yourself a Boat, Felix’s debut poetry collection, pairs well with Hood Witch as each prioritizes illustrations of strength and survival from the perspective of Black women. “With Build Yourself a Boat, Camonghne Felix heralds a thrillingly new form of storytelling.” This is about what grows through the wreckage. This is an anthem of survival and a look at what might come after. A view of what floats and what, ultimately, sustains.
by Brontez Purnell
DeShawn lives a high, creative, and promiscuous life in San Francisco. But when he's called back to his cramped Alabama hometown for his uncle's funeral, he's hit by flashbacks of handsome, doomed neighbors and sweltering Sunday services.
by Mia Mckenzie
At one time a wild young girl and a brilliant artist, Ava Delaney changes dramatically after a violent event that rocks her entire family. Ava and her family are displaced from the community even as they continue to live within it, trapped inside their creaky, shadowy old house. When a mysterious woman arrives unexpectedly for a visit, her presence stirs up the past, and ghosts and other restless things begin to emerge. And something is reignited in Ava.
Winner of the 2013 Lambda Literary Award for Debut Fiction