21st century

Yesterday I gave a presentation to my staff about our province's new initiative toward more complete inclusion for students in the LGBTQ community.  I am our staff "Lead" for this initiative (a title that means nothing) which makes it my responsibility to keep staff educated and updated about our District's work in this realm.

I don't especially love public speaking, particularly presenting to teachers -- who tend to make poor students.  But the staff was receptive, and I appreciated it.  I suspect they sensed my discomfort and felt compelled to be kind.

My favourite part happened during the coffee break when the dance teacher came up to ask me why the new class lists don't show students' sex the way they did back in 1998.  I explained to her that this has become a non-issue in that we no longer divide classes by sex, and we also try not to make assumptions about a students' gender - not to be confused with their sex.  All this was in the presentation, but I don't know that she really understood it.  She seemed unconvinced.

Then she told me that she hated the fact that our large South Asian population seems to favour names that are used for both males and females, preventing her from figuring out sex that way too.  She said she wanted to know why they can't just have normal names like John and Sally and Bob.

While I was still recovering from that, she leaned in close to whisper in my ear and ask me if one of our staff members (who identifies as two-spirited) has both male and female genitalia.  At that point I busted out laughing because I really couldn't take it anymore.

After that she patted my arm and told me I was doing a good job on the presentation and that if I was nervous I could just picture everyone naked.  I wonder if that's why she feels the need to know what kind of genitals everyone has, so she can picture them naked accurately.


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