Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 27:195204, 2006

Copyright National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators

ISSN: 1090-1027 print/ 1745-5642 online
DOI: 10.1080/10901020600675174

Innovations in Early Childhood Teacher Education:

Reflections on Practice

1745-5642
1090-1027
UJEC
Journal
of Early Childhood Teacher Education
Education, Vol. 27, No. 02, March 2006: pp. 00

Choosing to Include Gay Issues in Early

Childhood Teacher Preparation Coursework:
One Professors Journey
Choosing
R.
B. Wolfe
to Include Gay Issues

RANDI B. WOLFE
Northern Illinois University, Dekalb, Illinois, USA
If preservice teachers are to be capably prepared to meet the challenges of classroom
and community diversity, teacher educators have a responsibility to address the full
range of diversity issues in teacher preparation coursework, despite controversial or
political overtones that may exist. Among these issues is that of considering and
responding appropriately to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students
and children of LGBT parents. This article presents a narrative account of the personal and professional journey that led a heterosexual professor at a large, conservative, state university in the Midwest to integrate gay issues into undergraduate and
graduate teacher preparation coursework in early childhood education (birth through
Grade 3). It includes an analysis of students reactions to the issue of gay parents and
a description of methodologies and resource materials useful in teacher preparation
coursework and in early childhood and elementary classrooms, as well as a discussion
of societal trends and the implications of including children being raised in lesbianand gay-headed households under the umbrella of classroom-diversity considerations.

Teacher preparation programs tend to take a depoliticized, neutral stand on most issues
and to marginalizeand thus, trivializeprogressive positions as radical, impractical, or
controversial (Canestrari & Marlowe, 2005; Sears, 1996). This tendency can be seen only
too well in the way that teacher preparation programs tend to approach issues of classroom
diversity, working effectively with a wide variety of parents, and responding appropriately
to the changing nature of family relationships reflected in classrooms today (Delpit,
1995). If new teachers are to be capably prepared to meet the challenges associated with
classroom and community diversity, teacher educators have a responsibility to incorporate
such issues in teacher preparation coursework, despite the controversial or political overtones
of such issues (Nieto, 1999). Among these issues is that of considering and responding
Received 31 January 2006; accepted 24 February 2006.
This article is based on workshops presented at the 2004 Conference of the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators in Anaheim and the 2004 National Conference of the
Center for Anti-Oppressive Education in San Francisco.
Address correspondence to Randi B. Wolfe, Northern Illinois University, Department of
Teaching and Learning, DeKalb, IL 60115. E-mail: rwolfe@niu.edu

195

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appropriately to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students and children of
LGBT parents. With respect to preparing teachers in early childhood education, it is the
latter that requires primary consideration.
The reality of children being raised in lesbian and gay male households is becoming
larger and more widespread. It is estimated that gay and lesbian parents are raising 612
million children in the United States (Pellissier, 2000) and that 611% of school-aged
children have a gay or lesbian parent or sibling (Womens Educational Media, 1996).
According to 2000 census data, same-sex couples reported from all but 22 counties
(99.3%) in the United States (U.S. Census Bureau, 2003). And of the 5.5 million unmarried couples living together, about one in nine had partners of the same sex. Of these
594,391 same-sex unmarried couples, 34.3% of female-partner households and 22.3% of
male-partner households reported at least one child under the age of 18 living with them.
Limitations of census reporting methods aside, these statistics represent dramatic
increases since 1990. At that time, same-sex cohabitating unmarried couples reported
from 52% of the counties, the number of same-sex, unmarried partner households was
145,130, and 19.5% of lesbian households and 5% of gay male households reported having children under 18 living with them (Black, Gates, Sanders, & Taylor, 2000).
Societal tensions and disagreements notwithstanding, these trends suggest that if we
intend to prepare preservice teachers to create inclusive classroom communities, children
being raised in lesbian- and gay-headed households must be included under the umbrella of
classroom and family-diversity considerations. While research widely supports the importance
of recognizing and involving parents in childrens education (Henderson & Mapp, 2002),
research has also demonstrated the discomfort or unease felt by teachers and preservice teachers toward gay- and lesbian-parented families (Maney & Cain, 1997; Ryan & Martin, 2000).
The discomfort stems in part from a common misconception that creating a welcoming school
atmosphere for gay students and students with gay parents pertains to sexual issues. In fact,
creating such an atmosphere has nothing to do with sexual issues, but everything to do with
creating an educational environment free of harassment, homophobia, and discrimination
(Lamme & Lamme, 2002). Because teachers who feel uncomfortable around students of gay
or lesbian parents may cause a lasting negative impact on students self-esteem and general
well-being (Maney & Cain, p. 237), teacher educators cannot ignore this aspect of classroom
diversity nor neglect it as an issue within teacher preparation coursework.
In this article I trace my development as a teacher educator in terms of the experiences Ive had including gay issues in early childhood teacher preparation coursework.
Research about this topic is sparse to date, and the information and observations
presented here are anecdotal and not yet supported by hard research data. It is my hope
that others will use these experiences and conclusions as the basis for further study and
analysis.
I present this article as a personal narrative for two reasons. First, in my experience
information about controversial issues can be more readily and less defensively considered if presented personally, rather than in a purely academic or theoretical manner.
Second, to share these ideas through the lens of my personal journey underscores an
important theme: the issue of children being raised by same-sex parents is a human issue
more than it is political. It is about childrenwho cares for them and who commits to
insuring their safety and welfare. Its about familiesthe people and environments that
form the foundation of a childs world. And its about relationshipsnot only gay and
lesbian relationships, but relationships between gay and straight people, relationships
between LGBT parents and their children, and relationships between teachers, students,
and students families.

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How and Why the Journey Began

My journey began in 1998. I was a second year assistant professor in a College of Education at a large, conservative state university in the Midwest. My students were primarily
white, young females from rural areas, small towns, and politically conservative suburbs
of the nearby metropolitan area. In general, my students were largely apolitical; they did
not think much about issues of discrimination, oppression, or inequality. When asked at
the beginning of class to share something new and good in their lives, the most common
responses concerned recent engagements, wedding announcements, or a family members
pregnancy. By and large, these students did not enter early childhood education in order to
challenge the status quo or become educational reformers.
I came to the university as someone committed to teaching from a multicultural perspective and to raising awareness of classroom issues related to diversity, racism, sexism, class oppression, disabilities, immigrants, and so on. I had worked for 15 years in a
variety of contexts with many kinds of families, including Head Start mothers, foster
and adoptive parents, poor families, immigrants, and families of color. Given this backgroundencouraging and empowering my students to think about issues of bias and
mistreatment related to race, gender, culture, and socioeconomic classwas my passion
and my calling.
But prior to 1998, the issue of gay oppression was not one on my list of multicultural issues about which teachers needed insight or awareness. I wasnt unsympathetic
to the issue of gay rights per se; I just didnt see it as particularly significant to early
childhood teacher education. In my mind, the issue of gay oppression in schools had to
do with high school students struggling with sexual identities or homophobic remarks
heard in middle school hallways. Since I was in the business of preparing teachers to
work with children from birth through Grade 3, the issue of gay oppression seemed
irrelevant.
In the fall of 1998, I met and became close friends with a politically active and aware
lesbian who, in the course of our friendship, taught me about gay oppression and the role
of allies in the battle to end the oppression. She began to open my heart and mind to the
issue, and because I cared about her the issue became increasingly important to me. Two
important lessons can be learned from this:
In human rights campaigns of any nature, the involvement and commitment of
allies often begin on the basis of relationships with members of the targeted group.
When we care about someone personally, our desire and ability to fight for whats
right is much greater than when the issue is merely intellectual or theoretical. Once
youre close to a member of the group targeted by a particular form of oppression, be it
racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, gay oppression, and so forth, you see up close the
damage and hardship incurred by the oppression and your determination as an ally is
reinforced.
While relationships may play a critical role in the development of allies, ongoing
commitment to the liberation struggle is ultimately based on a deeper understanding
of the issue and the battle to be waged.
My commitment to raising the issue of gay oppression in the context of teacher preparation programs grew, not only because of my commitment to my friend, but more
because of what happened when I raised the issue and the impact Ive seen as Ive continued to raise the issue over the past 8 years.

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What Happened Next

Understanding that my university position involved instructing preservice teachers, my
friend loaned me a copy of Its ElementaryTalking about Gay Issues in School (Chasnoff &
Cohen, 1996), a film produced by friends of hers at Womens Educational Media. The film
shows what happens when kids in kindergarten through eighth grade discuss lesbian- and
gay-related topics in age-appropriate ways. Shot in six public and private schools, Its Elementary models excellent teaching about family diversity, name-calling, stereotypes,
community building and more (Womens Educational Media, 1996). After viewing the
film and recognizing it as a gem of a teaching tool, I began showing it every semester in an
undergraduate class called Trends and Issues in Early Childhood Education and a graduate class called Analysis of Instruction: Early Childhood Education. Since then, I have
shown Its Elementary to over 400 students.
The issues raised in the discussion following the film are surprisingly predictable, suggesting that the questions and concerns are fairly widespread and not peculiar to a particular
student cohort. In the years that Ive been using it, class discussions after viewing the film
tend to focus on four issues or questions (to which Ill return later in this discussion):
Why would we introduce gay issues to young children? Arent we putting ideas into
their heads?
Were not living in San Francisco or Boston. Children in the Midwest dont think
about or know about such things.
What if, based on religious or other beliefs, we dont approve of the notion of a gay
lifestyle? What if we think homosexuality is a sin?
Its inappropriate to talk about sex with young children.
Pleased with the results when showing Its Elementary, I was delighted a year later
when Womens Educational Media produced another film entitled, Thats a Family! A
Film for Kids about Family Diversity (Chasnoff & Cohen, 2000). In the film children
take viewers on a tour through their lives as they speak candidly about what its like to
grow up in a family with parents of different races or religions, divorced parents, a single
parent, gay or lesbian parents, adoptive parents or grandparents as guardians (Womens
Educational Media, 2006). I began showing Thats a Family! in a graduate class called
Family and School Partnerships for Academic Success and in the undergraduate
Trends and Issues class.
Several things about students reactions to Thats a Family! seem noteworthy. The
film portrays seven different models of nontraditional family structures: single-parent
households, adoption, step-families, mixed-race families, guardianships, children of
divorce, and gay and lesbian families. Yet in the discussion following the film, while students are generally interested in what the children in the film have to say about their various families, the main discussion predictably centers around the segment of the film
focused on gay and lesbian families.
This seems noteworthy because unlike Its Elementary, raising awareness about gay
issues is not the primary focus of Thats a Family! While Its Elementary is aimed at
teachers and intended to be used for staff development and inservice trainings, the target
audience for Thats a Family! is young people. The goal of the film is to help elementary
school-age children see and understand the many different shapes that families take
today (Womens Educational Media, 2006). That said, why is it that when preservice
teachers view the film and the wide range of family structures presented, they tend only to
want to talk about the issue of gay families?

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Comparing my students differing reactions to the two films lends insight to the
answer. Its Elementary focuses on classroom attitudes and teaching methods. As such,
viewers watch the film from a professional perspective. Since its not personal per se, they
can be challenged by the film but still assert appropriately polite or politically correct
responses. By contrast, Thats a Family! addresses issues much closer to the heart
family composition and defining legitimate parenthoodso the film is viewed from a
more personal, less professional vantage point.
Watching what happens in class discussions after the films, it seems that preservice
teachers are capable of maintaining a certain degree of objectivity when watching a film
about curriculum and instruction issues. But watching a film about parents and families
strikes a more sensitive chord, so they respond more personally than professionally, even
though the film is presented to them as professionals. If this assessment is accurate, it
raises important questions about how to address teachers personal feelings about gay and
lesbian parents and children being raised by gay men and lesbians, regardless of what their
professional attitudes might be. This is important because, in the final analysis, teachers
behaviors regarding matters such as these will reflect their personal ideologies more than
their professional ethos.

Responding to the Issues Raised

I emphasize four main points in responding to the questions and concerns raised by students in reaction to Its Elementary and Thats a Family!
Children are exposed to the notion of gayness and the content of gay oppression at a
much younger age than we realizeand thats as true in the Midwest as it is on
either coast.
As pointed out in Its Elementary, society bombards children with messages about
homosexuality, gay marriage, and sex from many directions. Children pick up messages
implicitly and explicitly from television talk shows and sitcoms, nightly news programs,
advertisements, billboards, pop culture, G-rated movies, the school playground, and the
family dinner table. And given the global context in which we live, these messages are
absorbed by all children, regardless of the community in which they live, because most
forms of media circulate at least nationally.
Acknowledging gay issues and gay families in the context of building inclusive
classroom communities is different from asking teachers, children, or parents to
accept or agree with homosexuality or gay lifestyle choices.
By acknowledging gay issues in early childhood classrooms, the goal is not to proselytize or convert. The goal is to create educational environments free of harassment,
homophobia, and discrimination. Rather than asking for agreement on the issue of
homosexuality, what were asking is that members of an educational community
teachers, parents, children, and administratorssupport and respect all children in that
community, which requires standing up against oppression and mistreatment in all
forms.
As teachers concerned with issues of diversity and antibias, we need to hold out that
people dont deserve to be mistreated, discriminated against, hurt or killed for their
choices or beliefs, even when those beliefs are different from our own. Jews who dont
believe in Christ dont deserve to be killed for that belief. Adults who marry across racial
lines dont deserve to be discriminated against for doing so. Children of gay men or lesbians

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dont deserve to be ignored or ostracized because of the relationship shared by their parents, and so on.
Where disagreement exists about the appropriateness of the choices or actions of
lesbian or gay parents, that disagreement must be treated as distinct from our
responsibility as teachers to the children in our classrooms.
As teachers we need to separate our feelings and attitudes about the parents of our students from our responsibility and commitment to the students themselves. In effect, to
ignore gay issues and not stand against gay oppression in our classrooms is essentially to
blame the children for the sins of their parents. It is not the children who have made
these choices and it should not be the children who suffer because of them. However inadvertent it might be, to ignore gay families is to invalidate childrens experience in terms of
their sense of family, the adults who love them, the goodness of their love for their parents, and the goodness of their parents love for them. The link between such invalidation
and the harm caused to a childs self-esteem and self-confidence is well documented
(Maney & Cain, 1997).
Including gay issues in the early childhood classroom has nothing to do with talking
about sex. It has to do with talking about relationships, love, and families.
It is part of the fabric of gay oppression to assume that gayness is first and foremost
about sexual relationships. This is a false notion and one that needs to be corrected so that
childrenregardless of whether their parents are gay or straightneither perpetuate this
stereotype nor internalize this misconception.
The truth of this became clear during one discussion with my undergraduate students.
After listening to many comments from classmates in response to Thats a Family!,
Jeanette, an older student and one of the few parents in the cohort, articulated the stereotype about sex in no uncertain terms. Look, she said somewhat defiantly. Its all fine
and good that you sit here and defend things, and speculate and put forth ideas that sound
oh-so-politically-correct and accepting. But lets be honest. Were talking about sex. Can
we just admit that and deal with it? Then she looked to me, as teacher, for a response.
Instead of using my position of authority to respond to or calm Jeanettes challenge, I
turned to the class and asked them, Who here has someone close to them who identifies
as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or queer? It could be a parent, a relative, a friend, an
associate at work, a neighbor . . . . In asking the question, my hope was that three or four
students might be able to share firsthand experiences that would provide a clear and accurate contradiction to Jeanettes assumptions.
(Much to my surprise, 31 of the 35 students raised their hands. This seemed significant in and of itself, because I dont think as many hands would have been raised 10 years
earlier. The shift suggests that relationships between folks identified as GLBTQ and folks
identified as heterosexual are more common these days, and/or that GLBTQ folks arent
as invisible as they were some years ago. Either way, it seems significant that in a class of
Midwestern students mostly from small towns and rural communities, 89% of the students
had someone close to them who identified as GLBTQ. Clearly this issue is neither remote
nor confined to progressive communities like San Francisco, Boston, or New York.)
Addressing the students whose hands were raised, I asked the question, How would
your friends, relatives, or coworkers respond to Jeanette? Would they say that being gay is
about sex? One by one students told personal stories that conveyed the truth about being
gaythat for some being gay represents being part of a community, for some its about
relationships of love and commitment, for some its a political statement, and so on. The

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issue of gay sex was never mentioned. Quite the contrary, student after student spoke with
passion about people they cared about and their right to dignity, respect, and acceptance.
And that is the message we need to convey to preservice teachers, teachers, and young students: that creating educational environments in which the children of lesbian- and gayheaded households are acknowledged and accepted has to do with respect and love; it has
nothing to do with sex.

Developing Methodologies
In order to prepare my students to include gay issues in their early childhood classrooms, I
felt it necessary to develop additional methodologies and resources to augment the contribution made by films like Its Elementary and Thats a Family! These resources can be
divided into three categories:
Guest Speakers
I bring in guest speakers when trying to sensitize students to an issue about which I
cannot speak with personal authority. In essence, I try to put a face on the issue so that
the discussion is reality-based instead of theoretical. I have brought in parents of children
with special needs to talk about the challenges theyve faced in schools trying to advocate
for the needs and the rights of their children. I have brought in foster parents to talk about
their experiences and, in so doing, to assuage stereotypes and inaccurate assumptions
about the motives and challenges faced by foster parents.
In a similar way, I have brought in gay parents to share the stories of how they met
their partners, commitment ceremonies, the process through which they came to be parents, adoption stories, and challenges theyve faced in the schools, in the courts, and in
their families. These guest speakers are always enthusiastically received, and the questions students ask reflect a sincere desire to understand issues beyond the superficial level
of stereotypes and prejudice.
Childrens literature
Because my goal is both to sensitize students and equip them as teachers who can competently approach gay issues in their future classrooms, I want them to be familiar with
available resources at their disposal. To that end, they have an assignment to visit a bookstore and write reports on three books dealing with family diversity. The assignment isnt
limited to gay families, because I want them to understand family diversity in its broadest
sense. But invariably, alongside books about children being raised by single parents, childrens experience with divorce, adopted children, children of color, and so forth, a variety of
books will be read and reported on in class that include gay families in some respect.
Two goals are accomplished through this assignment. First, my students become
familiar with excellent childrens books that can help to insure that young students see
themselves reflected in the classroom curriculum. Second, the issue of gay families is
demystified and humanized as a result of reading these childrens books because, again,
what comes across is that the issue is about families, relationships, and love, as opposed to
sex or lifestyle choices.
Additional resources
Other resources that Ive shared with my students include the newest film by
Womens Educational Media called Lets Get Real (Chasnoff & Cohen, 2003), which
examines a variety of issues that lead to taunting and bullying, including racial differences,

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perceived sexual orientation, learning disabilities, religious differences, sexual harassment

and others (Womens Educational Media, 2006). Ive also introduced a program called
Dont Laugh at Me: Creating a Ridicule-Free Classroom (Roerden, Yarrow, & Lazar
2000), which provides a more progressive and antibias approach to the notion of character curricula. Finally, Ive made available bibliographies of resource books, journal articles, and Web sites that might be of use.

The Importance of Gay Issues in Preparing Future Teachers

Including gay issues in teacher preparation coursework and in early childhood and elementary classrooms is important for several reasons. First, heightening new teachers awareness
and sensitivity to these issues will contribute to ending the oppression aimed at GLBT people and the children of GLBT parents. Second, doing so will enhance teachers abilities to
create an environment in which every child in the classroom feels respected and acknowledged. But raising these issues serves larger and more encompassing purposes as well.
Gay bashing, homophobia, and heterosexism run rampant in schools, and teachers
too often stand by in silence.
According to the Gay-Straight Alliance Network of Northern California, in a survey
of over 2000 students in four San Francisco Bay Area high schools, 53 % of the students
reported frequently hearing homophobic comments at school (1 to 10 times daily), 67%
said that they make such comments themselves, and 48% said that they do not think their
campus is safe for GLBT students (Pellissier, 2000). Of particular note is the additional
finding that 84% of students said they rarely or never heard staff members intervene when
antigay comments were made (Pellissier). Students have reported to me that they have had
teachers who not only allowed antigay comments to go unchallenged, but actually perpetuated the problem by using the word gay in a derisive or derogatory manner (e.g., Oh,
that is SO gay!) or referring to someone as a faggot while teaching or coaching. If we
juxtapose the manner in which teachers respond in the face of antigay behaviors with what
would happen if teachers responded with similar indifference or collusion when racist or
sexist comments were made, the seriousness and hazards of the situation become clear.
Complacency sends problematicif unintentionalmessages to children.
But what about teachers who dont actively perpetuate gay oppression and simply
ignore it? It is not enough not to engage in antigay behaviors. Such complacency sends the
message that adults are oblivious to whats happening and that adults cannot be relied
upon as allies who will act in the face of injustice. In the film Its Elementary (Chasnoff &
Cohen, 1996), a fourth grade teacher asks students whether they ever heard a word that
would make a gay person feel bad or that would be hurtful to a gay person. Reflecting a
discouraging perspective of adults, one student responds, Ive had a lot of experiences at
this school . . . when fag and faggot have been used. Its amazing how teachers dont
notice all the stuff thats going on.
Complacency is problematic in another sense as well. The culture of schools is such
that, when behavior is deemed inappropriate (e.g., carrying cell phones, wearing unacceptable clothing, tardiness), punishment or sanctions are imposed. So when antigay comments and behaviors go uninterrupted, unpunished, or ignored, it sends the message that
such behavior is acceptable. In this way, gay oppression functions as a model for perpetuating all forms of oppression, because if mistreatment is acceptable toward one group, it is
potentially acceptable toward all groups. Standing up against gay oppression is, in one

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203

sense, about gay people. But in another sense, it is about standing up against oppression of
any form and establishing a zero-tolerance policy.
As we reclaim schools as human institutions in which children are nurtured, challenged, and educated, we have a responsibility to train the next generation of teachers to
engage in such reclamation. And that means turning out teachers who will take stands
against oppression and mistreatment. It means developing teachers who embrace and
embody values of courage, respect, integrity, and fairness, thus offering children the models of inspiration, support, and moral leadership that they deserve. If the young children in
our classrooms are to be empowered to tackle the societal challenges of their generation,
they need to see teachers and parents engaged in building a better world, demonstrating by
example that people deserve respect and dignity, and inviting children to join them in the
struggle.
We live in an ever-increasingly diverse society. As the demographics of our communities continue to shift, the associated challenges will only become more widespread
and complex. If our job as teacher educators is to prepare our students to meet those
challenges, training them to respond in competent and thoughtful ways in the face of the
mistreatment or disregard of particular groups of people must be high among our priorities. As we embrace the notion of no child left behind for the promise that it holds, let
us not be afraid to include GLBT students and the children of GLBT parents in that
promise.

References
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Canestrari, A., & Marlowe, B. (2005). From silence to dissent: Fostering critical voice in teachers.
Encounter: Education for Meaning and Social Justice, 18(4), 4146.
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[Videotape]. San Francisco, CA: Womens Educational Media.
Chasnoff, D., & Cohen, H. (Producers). (2000). Thats a family! A film for kids about family diversity [Videotape]. San Francisco, CA: Womens Educational Media.
Chasnoff, D., & Cohen, H. (Producers). (2003). Lets get real [Videotape]. San Francisco, CA:
Womens Educational Media.
Delpit, L. (1995). Other peoples children: Cultural conflict in the classroom. New York, NY: New
Press. Retrieved January 5, 2006.
Henderson, A., & Mapp, K. (2002). A new wave of evidence: The impact of school, family, and
community connections on student achievement. Southwest Educational Development Lab,
Austin, TX. Retrieved from http://www.sedl.org/connections/resources/evidence.pdf.
Lamme, L. L., & Lamme, L. A. (2002). Welcoming children from gay families into our schools.
Educational Leadership, 59, 6569.
Maney, D. W., & Cain, R. E. (1997). Preservice elementary teachers attitudes toward gay and lesbian parents. Journal of School Health, 67, 236241.
Nieto, S. (1999). The light in their eyes: Creating multicultural learning communities. New York,
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Pellissier, H. (2000, October 5). Nobody does it better. Retrieved from www.salon.com/mwt/feature/
2000/10/05/gay_parents/index.html.
Roerden, L. P., Yarrow, P., & Lazar, F. (2000). Dont laugh at me: Creating a ridicule-free classroom. New York, NY: Operation Respect, Inc. and Educators for Social Responsibility.
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Sears, J. T. (1996). Challenges for educators: Lesbian, gay, and bisexual families. In D. R. Walling
(Ed.), Open lives, safe schools (pp.187222). Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa Educational
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ourfilms.htm.