 ODE Sexuality Education Newsletter
June 7, 2021
Dearest colleagues,
As you may already know, June is Pride Month! This month provides time to reflect on ways to support, affirm, and celebrate LGBTQ2SIA+ students and school staff in sexuality education and across all subject areas.
Health & Sexuality Education is an important vehicle to affirm the identities that students and families hold. Oregon’s Health Education Standards focus on building empathy and respect for others, celebrating the differences and uniqueness in all of us. Research confirms that when classroom education focuses on this, and school buildings reflect this message, all students benefit: bullying is prevented, violence based on sexual orientation or gender identity can end, and all students can be their full, thriving, and unique selves. There are resources aplenty to celebrate LGBTQ2SIA+ students and communities, with more listed below.
Let’s use this month to practice some important K-12 LGBTQ2SIA+ Inclusive Practices:
- Normalize pronoun sharing
- Support use of student’s affirming name and pronouns
- Create identity-specific spaces for celebration and education like Gender Sexuality Alliances (GSAs) or Black Student Unions
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Avoid gender-based terms like “boys and girls” and “moms and dads” and opt for “students” “folks” “families and caregivers” “everyone” “learners” instead
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Interrupt LGBTQIA+ bullying & discrimination every time. Educate about harm and model apologizing/repairing after “getting it wrong”
- Provide information on all bodies, for everyone -- not separating classes by gender
- Describe many pathways to building (or not building) families (e.g. adoption, surrogacy, IVF, birth control)
- Include historic examples of oppression and resilience within LGBTQ2SIA+ communities
For more steps to building inclusive classrooms, see Gender Spectrum's resource.
In this newsletter, we will share with you some announcements, research, resources, and opportunities for training by ODE, as well as other offerings by statewide and national colleagues that may be of interest to you.
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ODE Sexuality Education & LGBTQ2SIA+ Pride Updates
ODE Sex Ed Office Hours: Pride for Sex Ed
The sexuality education specialists at the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) host regular office hours in order to better support districts in implementing K-12 comprehensive sexuality education. The topic for June is Pride for Sex Ed: LGBTQ2SIA+ Inclusion Strategies for Districts, Tuesday June 15, 3:00-4:00pm PDT. Register today for meeting information and to submit your questions.
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More Pride Month Resources
Call for participants: Oregon LGBTQ+ Older Adults Survey
Be part of the first state-wide project on the aging, health and service needs of LGBTQ+ and Two Spirit adults 55 and older in Oregon! The Oregon Department of Human Services Office of Aging and People with Disabilities (APD) is leading a ground-breaking project to gather information to enhance planning, program development, and community education and advocacy to address the service, aging and health needs that support the strengths of LGBTQ+ and Two Spirit older adults in Oregon. Please visit here to complete a confidential and anonymous on-line questionnaire.
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Sex Ed News & Resources
Teaching inclusive sexuality education is a critical piece in our equity work. While we know the Oregon Human Sexuality Education OAR 581-022-2050 requires the use of “inclusive materials, language, and strategies that recognizes different sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expression” that must also be “culturally inclusive,” this work cannot happen overnight. ODE is committed to supporting school districts to provide sexuality education that allows all students to feel safe, seen, and valued.
Oregon Open Learning Health Group
Have you visited the Oregon Open Learning Hub yet? There are a number of Health and Sexuality Education instructional materials and resources available within the OOL - Health Group. Take a moment to check them out!
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Upcoming Events, Training & Conference Opportunities
All trainings are listed in Pacific Time zone unless otherwise noted.
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2SLGBTQ: Level Up the Inclusion, June 9, 10-11:30am, Healthy Native Youth Community of Practice
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What, Wait! You Want Me To Talk About Sexuality?, June 10, 11-12, for professionals working with people with I/DD, Elevatus
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Latino Health Equity Conference, June 24-25th, The conference provides a forum to focus on individual and community issues addressing health equity through research, programs, and policies.
- OHA’s Peer Support Think Tank, June 16th 4:30-6:00pm. This event is for peer support specialists who are working youth and young adults (ages 12 to 27) to meet other peer support specialists throughout the state and inform the Oregon Health Authority on how to improve the experiences of peer support specialists. Stipends are available. Register here.
- Advocates for Youth Professional Development for School Nurses, June-August Customizable, free hour-long session to practice clinical skills talking about and teaching about human sexuality. See the video for more information. You can sign up here
- Gender Spectrum Online Professionals' Symposium. July 15-16. Save the date.
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Planned Parenthood of Southern Oregon’s Sex Ed Boot Camp, July 19th-23rd is a virtual sex ed training for educators and youth serving professionals. E-mail education@ppsworegon.org for more information.
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Planned Parenthood of New Jersey’s Virtual Teen Conference (asynchronous) is an interactive, self-guided, virtual learning experience advised by high school students, featuring high school students, for high school students, parents/caregivers, and teachers.
- Transgender Training Institute Webinars (pay what you can)
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Institute For Sexuality Education and Enlightenment (ISEE) Course Catalog
Call for proposals! Oregon Suicide Prevention Conference (OSPC)
Brought to you by Lines for Life, in partnership with Oregon Health Authority, the virtual Oregon Suicide Prevention Conference (OSPC) seeks to highlight suicide prevention innovations, explore advances in policy and share effective practices occurring throughout Oregon, as we center the voices of those with lived experience. Learn more and submit a presentation proposal here. Online Proposal Submission Deadline: July 3, 2021 at 11:59 pm Pacific Time.
Note: Unless hosted or facilitated by The Oregon Department of Education (ODE), these training opportunities have not been endorsed by ODE, but are being shared as relevant and high-quality opportunities for sexuality education professionals to consider.
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Grants, Job Openings, and Youth Opportunities
My Future My Choice is seeking Teen Advisory Board applicants
The Teen Advisory Board (TAB) is a statewide leadership opportunity for teens wanting to develop leadership skills and act as the youth voice of the program. TAB members work with a local mentor to carry out a leadership project over the school year as well as provide program feedback. Check out their flyer and application process here!
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Become an Amaze Youth Ambassador
Virtual information sessions for the Amaze Youth Ambassador Program will be held on July 13 and July 14. Sign up here.
Job Opening: Sex Trafficking Senior Program Strategist
The Multnomah County Department of County Human Services (DCHS) is hiring a Sex Trafficking Senior Strategist to provide subject mater expertise, technical assistance, leadership and facilitation for the Multnomah County Sex Trafficking Collaborative and various subcommittees and workgroups which meet regularly to comprehensively address this complex issue. Deadline to apply is June 16, 2021.
Job Opening: Shelter Support Advocate
Helping Hands Oregon is hiring a Shelter Support Advocate. Helping Hands Oregon is a non-profit which serves sexual assault and domestic violence survivors and their children through shelter, advocacy and education.
Job Opening: Education and Training Coordinator
Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette (PPCW) is hiring for a Full-time Education & Training Coordinator is responsible for supporting the training and skill-building of grant-partner staff to be equipped to effectively deliver youth sexual health programming.
Online application can be found here. Please feel free to reach out with any questions. The position is open until filled.
Listserv Submission Process
We welcome your submissions to ODE's Sexuality Education ListServ! If you have announcements, job postings, or general questions for your colleagues, you can submit them to ode.sexed@state.or.us.
In an effort to streamline Listserv messages, we are now planning to send out ListServ messages once a month, during the first week of the month. To accommodate this change and to ensure that we can equitably share announcements from everyone, we're now asking that you submit your Listserv posts no later than the 25th of each month.
Questions? Connections?
Please reach out to us at ode.sexed@state.or.us.
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