17th Annual Northwest Teaching for Social Justice Conference

Officials across the country — from governors to legislators to school superintendents — have marshaled anti-LGBTQ+ laws banning gender-affirming care for transgender youth, censoring teachers from teaching LGBTQ+ literature and history, and constructing an atmosphere of fear and intolerance in schools. In this workshop, participants will meet LGBTQ+ activists, organizations, and allies from across the country and across time who have fought against the legislative wars against the queer community. We will also examine key moments in LGBTQ+ history. 

Using Clint Smith’s poem, “No More Elegies,” participants will discover how to provide poetic pauses, to help students find new ways to look at the world: to see, acknowledge, and take refuge in the moments of connection and celebration. As much as it is a habit to find and interrogate the inequalities and the injustices that we see in the world, it is also a habit to notice and take delight in what brings us joy.