Description & History
After a national anti-LGBTQ+ hate group bullied a young transgender girl in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, her community rallied behind her by hosting a community reading of "I Am Jazz" by transgender advocate Jazz Jennings. Every year, in honor of the Mount Horeb community’s allyship, communities across the country join HRC's Welcoming Schools program for its annual National Day of Reading: A Celebration of Stories Supporting Transgender and Non-Binary Youth.
Register with Welcoming Schools to be entered in a giveaway to receive a highlighted book and access to the Welcoming Schools Organizing Toolkit with resources to host your own reading plus discussion guides for each story. Resources curated by AASL volunteers can be found below and more will be added up until the event.
Partner
Human Rights Campaign Foundation: Welcoming Schools
Professional Learning Resources
Defending Intellectual Freedom: LGBTQ+ Materials in School Libraries (Resource Guide)
Defending Intellectual Freedom: LGBTQ+ Materials in School Libraries uses the AASL Standards framework as scaffolding to help users explore LGBTQ+ materials and needs in their own communities. Use the accompanying infographic and applied framework in the guide to navigate the document more quickly depending on your specific question or need.
Defending Intellectual Freedom: LGBTQ+ Materials in School Libraries (Webinar)
During this webinar, the Defending Intellectual Freedom: LGBTQ+ Materials in School Libraries guide--including its exercises and frameworks and an introductory infographic--is unpacked. Ideas for using the guide as part of a school or district-wide professional development will be explored, as well as ways a similar framework could be used to address other key issues for school librarians.
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ)-Themed Literature for Teens: Are School Libraries Providing Adequate Collections?
In this AASL School Library Research article researchers Sandra Hughes-Hassell, Elizabeth Overberg and Shannon Harris report on their study to determine if young adults have access through school libraries to LGBTQ-themed literature. The research team studied library collections in 125 high schools in one southern U.S. state for the inclusion of LGBTQ-themed fiction, nonfiction and biographies.
“They Kind of Rely on the Library”: School Librarians Serving LGBT Students
In this article from the The Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults, Shannon M. Oltmann examines school librarians’ perspectives on collecting LGBT materials. Oltmann sought to address the following research questions: What are school librarians’ views on collecting LGBT resources? For those who do collect LGBT resources, what are their reasons for doing so? What roles can school librarians play to counter bullying of LGBT students?
Book Lists
There are many great book lists to support our learners through our library collections:
- ALA’s Rainbow Book List
- Anti-Defamation League
- Drag Queen Story Hour
- Human Rights Campaign Foundation
Learner Engagement Resources
2021 Jazz & Friends National Day of School & Community Readings: When Aidan Became a Brother
AASL President Kathy Carroll and other HRC invited guests read when Aiden Becomes a Brother for the 2021 Jazz & Friends national day of reading.
Why Say Gay? K-3 Lessons & Resources
This Welcoming Schools K-3 Lesson Guide includes lessons about using inclusive language with students, picture books paired with lesson plans, and a few other professional resources to aid educators in addressing student questions. Additional lesson plans can be found at the Welcoming Schools landing page for Lessons including this secondary lesson about LGBTQ+ History & Pride.