When this teacher, then a closeted lesbian, heard her students using the word gay negatively, she had to choose between playing it safe and genuinely fostering an inclusive classroom culture.
In her poem, Kelly Norman Ellis brings to life a vivid picture of the kind of women she was surrounded and brought up by during her childhood in Mississippi. The poem's speaker takes you down south and makes you feel like a guest at the kitchen table by way of her descriptions.
LGBT school leaders speak to a group of students about their own identities and explain why it’s important to ask questions and learn more about people who are different from ourselves.