Educator Resources

overhead view of students sitting

Supportive educators make a difference in kid’s lives! Being supportive can be as simple as displaying a Safe space sticker and poster in your room or creating a Safe Space environment. Check out the resources on this page for more ways to be the one who makes sure LGBTQ+ students feel safe, welcomed and encouraged to learn.

Culture

Definition of a Safe Space

A Safe Space is intentionally designed to be a welcoming, supportive, secure and inclusive environment that is free from discrimination and harassment.

 

Research shows that LGBTQ students with supportive educators feel safer at school, have better attendance and earn higher grades.


Safe Space Posters

Great Diverse Books For Your School, Library or Home

A simple way to let students and families know that your school welcomes everyone is to integrate books into your curriculum that reflect the diversity of your classroom and the world.

 

Welcoming Schools booklist

Curriculum page
California History-Social Science (HSS) Framework

The California HSS Framework contains a number of references to the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) Americans to California and United States (U.S.) history throughout its grade level chapters.


California Health Education Framework

California is working to ensure that every classroom is a safe learning environment and every student has access to the information they need to grow into a healthy adult. The 2019 Health Education Curriculum Framework for California Public Schools, Kindergarten through Grade Twelve (Health Education Framework) is a guidance document that districts may use when developing health education programs for students.
Administrators page

Local & State Resources

Merced LGBTQ Alliance

We are the Merced LGBTQ+ Alliance. A group of dedicated and passionate community members who strive to create a safe space for everyone through education, advocacy and community events!

 

 

GLSEN Merced

Every day GLSEN works to ensure that LGBTQ+ students are able to learn and grow in a school environment free from bullying and harassment. Together, we can transform our nation’s K-12 schools into the safe and affirming environment all youth deserve.

 

 

California Department of Education, Supporting LGBTQ+ Students

Offers information related to many laws and policies pertaining to LGBTQ+ advocacy, inclusion, and protections with relevant curriculum guidance where applicable – from actual copies of legislation to FAQ documents.

 

 

Teaching LGBTQ History

This website is dedicated to “Teaching LGBTQ History” which primarily focuses on providing resources and materials that fulfill the requirements put forth by the FAIR Education Act with regards to LGBTQ history.

 

 

one archives foundation

The ONE Archives Foundation has partnered with the UCLA History-Geography Project to host Professional Learning Symposiums and provide LGBTQ history lesson plans for educators at no cost. The lesson plans comply with California’s FAIR Education Act, which requires California K–12 schools to integrate fair, accurate, inclusive and respectful representations of the LGBTQ community and people with disabilities into their social studies and history classes.

 

 

pride center at the mac
THE MERCED PRIDE CENTER PROVIDES FREE MENTAL HEALTH AND MEDICAL RESOURCES, PEER-LED SUPPORT GROUPS, EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOPS, JOB OPPORTUNITIES, ADVOCACY, AND VISIBILITY TO THE CENTRAL VALLEY’S LGBTQIA+ COMMUNITY IN AN INCLUSIVE, WELCOMING, AND SAFE SPACE FOR ALL.
UC Merced LGBTQ+ pride center
The LGBTQ+ Pride Center contributes to a society that fully embraces, accepts, recognizes, and supports the lived experiences and intersecting identities of members of the LGBTQ+ community

National Resources

California Department of Education

Offers information related to many laws and policies pertaining to LGBTQ+ advocacy, inclusion, and protections with relevant curriculum guidance where applicable – from actual copies of legislation to FAQ documents.

 

 

GLSEN

Offers a plethora of resources expressly for educators and students alike. Some of its better known resources/programs include the Safe Space Kit, Solidarity Week, Day of Silence, and No Name Calling Week. Its biannual National School Climate Survey is the largest one of its kind surveying roughly 17,000 students.

 

 

gender spectrum

Guidance for parents, educators and community members for supporting a transgender student.

 

 

 

History Unerased

History Unerased’s Mission is simple: putting LGBTQ history in its rightful place — the classroom.

 

 

maproject-01

Featured Reports chronicle numerous issues affecting LGBTQ across the U.S.. Equality Maps provide LGBTQ Equality progress by state including progress for students. Messaging Guides are research-based and are designed to help positively direct discussions related to advancing LGBTQ equality.

 

 

Suicide Prevention Hotline

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, across the United States. The Lifeline is comprised of a national network of over 180 local crisis centers, combining custom local care and resources with national standards and best practices.

 

 

welcoming schools, human rights campaign

A program of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation that focuses on support at the elementary school level and offers a plethora of resources for educators.

 

 

 

 

 

Supporting Transgender Students on effective school solutions website

Article

Supporting Transgender Students

California Legislative Information, Assembly Bill No. 493 opens in new window

Assembly Bill No. 493
CHAPTER 775

 

An act to add Article 2.7 (commencing with Section 218) to Chapter 2 of Part 1 of Division 1 of Title 1 of the Education Code, relating to teachers.

 

[ Approved by Governor October 12, 2019. Filed with Secretary of State October 12, 2019. ]

California Department of Education
California History-Social Science (HSS) Framework External link opens in new window or tab.

The California HSS Framework contains a number of references to the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) Americans to California and United States (U.S.) history throughout its grade level chapters.

  • California HSS Framework Chapter 20, “Access and Equity,” External link opens in new window or tab. (PDF) includes a section on meeting the needs of LGBT students in the HSS classroom, found on pages 24–25.
  • References to LGBT history are found primarily in the eleventh grade U.S. history chapter but can be located in three places:
    • Chapter 14, “Grade Nine—Elective Courses in History Social Science,”
    • Chapter 16, “Grade Eleven—U.S. History and Geography: Continuity and Change in Modern U.S. History”
    • Chapter 17, “Grade Twelve—Principles of American Democracy”

California Health Education Framework External link opens in new window or tab.

California is working to ensure that every classroom is a safe learning environment and every student has access to the information they need to grow into a healthy adult. The 2019 Health Education Curriculum Framework for California Public Schools, Kindergarten through Grade Twelve (Health Education Framework) is a guidance document that districts may use when developing health education programs for students.

  • Chapter 7, “Access and Equity,” includes a section specifically on meeting the needs of LGBTQ+ pupils, found approximately on pages 37– 43
  • Content and pedagogy for meeting LGBTQ+ students’ needs is woven throughout this framework


California Education Code (EC) Section 51204.5—the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act—(formerly Senate Bill 48) prescribes inclusion of the contributions of groups previously excluded in the history of California and the U.S. This section previously included men and women and numerous ethnic groups; the expanded language requires inclusion of the contributions of LGBT Americans to California and U.S. history as well as their roles in contemporary society.

To review the Fair Act statute, please visit the California Legislative Information External link opens in new window or tab. web page. Frequently Asked Questions: regarding Senate Bill 48 External link opens in new window or tab. are also available.

Resources to Support Implementation of the FAIR Act


Teaching LGBTQ History External link opens in new window or tab.: This website provides resources and lesson plans for teaching LGBTQ history and fulfilling the requirements of the FAIR Act.

LGBTQ History Month in October External link opens in new window or tab.: These are specific resources for the October LGBTQ history month.

ONE Archives Foundation External link opens in new window or tab. states that its professional development opportunities empower educators to diversify their curricula and create an affirming learning environment. The foundation’s goal is to ensure that LGBTQ history is visible and accessible to kindergarten through grade twelve (K –12) students and educators through free and low-cost resources.
The California Healthy Youth Act, which took effect January 1, 2016, requires school districts to provide students with integrated, comprehensive, accurate, and inclusive comprehensive sexual health education and HIV prevention education, at least once in high school and once in middle school.

All instruction and materials in grades K–12 must be inclusive of LGBTQ students. Instruction shall affirmatively recognize that people have different sexual orientations and, when discussing or providing examples of relationships and couples, must be inclusive of same-sex relationships. (EC Section 51933[d][5] External link opens in new window or tab.) Instruction must also teach students about gender, gender expression, gender identity, and explore the harm of negative gender stereotypes. (EC Section 51933[d][6] External link opens in new window or tab.) The California Healthy Youth Act also prohibits sexual health education classes from promoting bias against anyone on the basis of any category protected by EC Section 220, which includes actual or perceived gender and sexual orientation.

For information on the California Healthy Youth Act, EC sections 51930–51939, please visit the California Legislative Information External link opens in new window or tab. web page.

More information regarding the implementation of The California Healthy Youth Act is available on the California Department of Education (CDE) Frequently Asked Questions: California Healthy Youth Act External link opens in new window or tab. web page.

Additional information and resources regarding the California Healthy Youth Act, is available on the CDE Comprehensive Sexual Health & HIV/AIDS Instruction External link opens in new window or tab. web page.
EC Section 221.5(f) (formerly Assembly Bill 1266), requires that pupils be permitted to participate in sex-segregated school programs, activities, and use facilities consistent with their gender identity, without respect to the gender listed in a pupil’s records.

Please visit the CDE Frequently Asked Questions related to the implementation of School Success and Opportunity Act web page External link opens in new window or tab. for more information.

The CDE has issued a Legal Advisory External link opens in new window or tab. regarding application of California’s anti-discrimination statutes to transgender youth in schools.

This communication includes External link opens in new window or tab. guidance for changing a student’s gender in the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data (CALPADS), and guidance for changing a student’s legal name in CALPADS.

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