“The field of early childhood education has historically recommended best practices (Gomby, Larner, Stevenson, Lewit, & Behrman, 1995; McDonnell & Hardman, 1988). Such practices are developmental and often built on culturally-specific information and assumptions. According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC, 1996), developmentally appropriate practice (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997) is based on knowledge about how children develop and learn. For developmentally appropriate practices to be culturally relevant, we need to challenge our assumptions of how and at what age children learn as learning and development vary across cultural contexts” (Cope & Kalantzis, 2010).
Homosexuality has been around since the beginning of time. Egos wanting to control the masses created different religions where homosexuality is frown upon. While I was growing up I never saw a book or a puzzle demonstrating gay and/or lesbian families. Time has changed. In my classroom, we have books, posters, and other manipulatives embracing the LGBTQ community. Just like other forms of diversity, children and youth who identify as LGBTQ or who have LGBTQ families must see themselves and their lives/realities reflected in the curriculum they are immersed in every day. The school must reflect the diversity of the entire student population. How a school chooses to intentionally do this has direct and indirect implications on the integration and well being of members of the school community who are LGBTQ (Department of Mines and Resources, 2011).
Not everybody is going to be comfortable with the inclusion of books depicting gay or lesbian individuals such as same-sex partnered families. But, just because they are not comfortable with this notion, it doesn't mean that the rest of the world isn’t. Live and let live.
I have never felt comfortable with the word “fag” and I never knew that “tomboy” related or was coined for lesbian. I used to consider myself a little of a tomboy, being the only girl and wanting to be exactly like my older brother, but I did not see how that term coined my sexuality. I know people who use the word “fag” so freely and are opposed to their children being gay, “but love gay people”. Some people will never change and have strong opinions when it comes to homosexuality. For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others~ Nelson Mandela.
Some books that celebrate diversity
Reference
Department of Mines and Resources. (2011). Campobello, New Brunswick. https://doi.org/10.4095/213337
