A webinar from cslpreads on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2B8t4imCgI&ab_channel=cslpreads
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Collaborative Summer Library Programs (CSLP)
Special Inclusion webinar
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Cathy Lancaster – Library of Michigan also
president elect of Collaborative Summer Library Program
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CSLP empowers libraries to foster community,
provide inclusive literacy based programming, share resources and provide
education and information for library professionals
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Jen Taggart – Youth services head at Bloomfield
township public library plus inclusion chair for CSLP
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Jen introduces Amanda Erickson has worked for
Kaleidoscope Youth Centre since 2017 focusing on advocating for LGBTQIA+ Youth
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Webinar is on inclusive and affirming programs
for LGBTQIA+ Youth in programs
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Jen
o
Context for why this is important is due to the
history of inequality of sexual rights for queer people and history of mental
health treatment – queer identities were previously seen as something that
needed to be ‘fixed’ or ‘cured’ – this is still occurring even now particularly
for transgender people in the US as many states still have anti trans
legislation
o
All of the discrimination mentioned above plus
more has a huge effect on the mental health of queer people and racism, sexism
etc is still rampant in systems and institutions
o
‘adultism’ – americans believe adults know more
than young people, young people are rebellious etc but Kaleidoscope believes
that young people are experts on themselves and deserve to be listened to and
to have a say in their own lives
o
Outcomes of the webinar is that we will learn
about implicit bias, complexity and depth of gender, info on acronyms, and be
given strategies to make the library and library’s programs a safe and
inclusive space for queer youth
o
gender identity is how a person understands
their gender internally
o
sex assigned at birth does what it says on the
label
o
gender expression is how we use clothing,
styling or general appearance to show their idea of gender
o
sexual orientation is who and what we are
attracted to
o
queer encompasses both gender identity and
sexual orientation but is a reclaimed term so some people may be uncomfortable
with it
o
biases are pervasive, they don’t always align
with our declared beliefs, they are related to our explicit bias, we favour our
own in-group, our biases can be unlearned
o
there are different levels of bias
o
there is both individual and organisational bias
as well as systemic bias like libraries being targeted by anti-queer groups
o
our role as librarian is to be a disruptor of
bias. When we recognise bias we should
§ pause to think before going on when we see bias
§
engage in conversation with our selves and
others and talk about what it means to challenge that bias
§
be an ally in the moment by reacting to other
people’s prejudice pr discrimination and stand up for ur community
§
create safer spaces proactively sdo bias has
less of a chance to resar its head
§
as a librarian for youth, be a safe person. Many
schools will out students to their parents and families but we have no need to
do that
o
to be a safe space/person for queer youth
§
understand diversity within the queer community
– not just within the queer identifiers but within sex, race etc
§
don’t make assumptions on pronouns, gender just
like we wouldn’t assume name or age
§
use inclusive non gendered language like partner
or spouse instead of boyfriend/girlfriend
§
look at how we use gender in all contexts eg
boys vs girls or boys space/girls space
§
support young people that are coming out – do
they need anything, is it confidential etc
§
respond to negative behaviours as soon as you
hear it – call out bad behaviour towards queer people immediately, every time
§
being queer isn’t taboo and it doesn’t need to
be sexualised – family structures, respect, love etc are all a apert of sexual
identity but aren’t necessarily sexual
§
normalise pronoun use – assuming someone’s
pronouns based on how they look is an example of gender bias
§
we shouldn’t be assuming pronouns
§
offering your own pronouns is normalising it and
we need to give them space to give theirs
§
using the correct pronouns is showing acceptance
and support to the person
§
if you mess up somebody’s pronouns it’s ok, if
they correct you then thank them for the correction, apologise quickly and move
on, do better next time
§
try to gloss over your apology – we shoulnd’t
expect to get told it’s ok. We’re not focusing on our own feelings, we need to
acknowledge that their feelings are more important in this situation
§
if the person stops correcting you on hgetting
their pronouns wrong it means they no longer hope that you’ll get it right, so
you’ve really stuffed it up
§
ensure we’re using inclusive materials – have
items about queer historical fictions, materials about human biology, have book
lists for queer books etc
§
visibly affirming staff – have training for all
staff and educate yourself more
§
ensure to have comprehensive anti-bullying and
anti-discrimination policies that can be referred to so it’s clear what
behaviour and language is and isn’t ok for the entire community to see
§
gender neutral bathrooms should be available –
this could be a family bathroom that’s available for individuals
§
consider having gender neutral bathrooms – make
the signage have a let on one and a toilet plus urinal on the other rather than
mens and ladies signs
§
this is actually a health issue for some trans
people since they don’t eat or drink all day to avoid having to use the wrong
bathroom or get abused for using a bathroom that others think they shouldn’t be
using
§
representation should be in
marketing/promotional materials such as pictures of families advertising
storytime should include queer families too
§
have info ready for queer kids eg queer support
resources that are local -0 might take some digging since queer people are used
to operating on the downlow
§
consider for booklists that some books have
queer characters but may not be considered as ‘queer’ books – this might be
safer for some kids as they’re not obviously ‘queer’ for if they’re not
publicly out
§
ensure to weed out old materials that aren’t
affirming towards the queer community
eg. self help books for parents wanting to affirm queer kids – a 10 year
old book might not longer be relevant on that topic
§
creating queer programs – we could use the space
for training/education and affirmation on queer identities etc, queer clubs,
book clubs, movie screenings, read alouds of queer inclusive books, storytimes
(drag queen, rainbow families etc)
§
however, ALL programs should be queer inclusive
– not just in pride month etc
§
drag queen storytime doesn’t solve not having
gender neutral bathrooms – we should be looking at everything
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QUESTIONS
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if someone tells you they use a pronoun that
you’re not familiar with (neo pronouns), tell them that’s cool, ask how to
spell it and tell them you’ll do your best to get that right since you’ve not
used it before
§
Progress Flag is a great one to signal
inclusivity but maybe look at awareness days for each specific identity but any
of the pride flags are great to have around
§
When speaking to supervisors, council etc and
experiencing pushback, remind them that the library is a public institution so
it is our responsibility to provide services to our whole community by removing
barriers to spaces and making them feel accessible – just remind them that if
you’re not serving the public, then what are you doing? Get them to explain to
you what their concerns are and why they don’t want us to put up rainbow flags,
celebrate pride month, etc. if you have your policy on anti discrimination and
anti bukllying then that can support you as well
§ Queer labels on books – young people are less likely to take books home if they’re queer labelled – youth are more likely to be closeted than adults. We want youth to find queer books but we don’t want people to feel judged – a happy medium is having a really accessible queer book list
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