Greetings to the GSEA

Joseph Dial

from 2008–2011 LGBT Advisory Committee Chair Joseph Dial

It's Not Too Early to Think about Philadelphia, Orlando, and Chicago

Point #6 of the Resolution on Strengthening Teacher Knowledge of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Issues, adopted by the NCTE membership at the 2007 Convention in New York, contains a challenge that will demand focused effort and unflagging commitment. Point #6 calls for the organization to, among other things, publish guidelines and instructional materials for the teaching of LGBT issues.

The advisory committee's part in implementing the resolution will be to facilitate an ongoing conversation at the next three annual conventions in Philadelphia, Orlando, and Chicago concerning the relevance of LGBT identities to the reading and writing lives of authors, students, and teachers.

To be successful, we will need everyone's best thinking. I ask each of you to begin now to build the framework for this ongoing conversation. Former committee chair Paula Ressler has begun this effort with her 2009 conference proposal titled "Implementing the NCTE Resolution on Strengthening Teacher Knowledge of LGBT Issues." This session will challenge each of us to contribute to the conversation. (Paula, along with former Advisory Committee member Becca Chase, is also coeditor of the March 2009 issue of English Journal on "Sexual Orientation and Gender Variance.")

Plan now to join in this lively discussion in Philadelphia. And begin now to outline proposals for follow-up sessions in Orlando in 2010 and Chicago in 2011. Panels of local students, LGBTQA teachers from other disciplines, and educational researchers would be a most welcome addition to the program to provide conferees with a picture of local conditions for individuals with LGBT identities and their friends and allies.

Sessions at future conventions in Orlando and Chicago should address these questions:

  • In teaching "A Christmas Memory," for example, or the poetry of Mary Oliver, do we teach about the relevance of LGBT identities to the reading and writing lives of the authors? Why or why not?
  • Is it safe to acknowledge the relevance of LGBT identity in conversations at the annual convention and also afterwards in the classroom? What makes it so?
  • Are there recognizable linguistic markers of LGBT identities? If so, what are they and what [safety] issues surround them in the classroom and in the larger community?
  • What role do allies play in creating space in the community for the discussion of the relevance of LGBT identities?

Please visit our official webpage maintained for us by NCTE. There you will see the organization's charge to the committee and a list of the committee members. I want to thank each of them for their hard work and contributions.

This committee, with active support and engagement from the membership of the Gay Straight Educators' Alliance, has done the footwork to prepare an agenda for the committee for at least the next three years and probably for some time after that. They prepared the original draft of the 2007 Resolution on Strengthening Teacher Knowledge of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Issues. Now our work begins.

We all have a role now to play in making the convention a safe place for this discussion. I welcome your ideas and your participation. I hope to hear from you.

Joseph Dial, Ph.D.
2008–2011 Chair
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues in Academic Studies Advisory Committee
jdial@post.harvard.edu