Workshops

Description

• Participants assess their attitudes and experiences regarding the use of “that’s so gay” and other anti-LGBTQ+ slurs. Our own experiences are used to build awareness about the intent versus impact of anti-LGBTQ+ epithets. Games and activities will provide participants with tools to continue the dialogue in their own communities.

Session Format

• The workshop begins with a human continuum activity to assess our own experiences with anti-LGBTQ+ slurs. We then reconvene as a group and engage in a discussion with participants debriefing the results of the activity. A short video is shown unpacking the use of the phrase “that’s so gay” followed by a discussion around the parallel’s of anti-LGBTQ+ slurs and slurs about race, religion, gender and ability. Youth presenters then perform a short skit modeling anti-LGBTQ+ slurs in a school setting. Workshop participants discuss the different lenses we can see this skit through. The skit is performed a second time as participants view it from new perspectives. A final whole group debrief regarding anti-bullying and anti-LGBTQ+ slurs takes place. The concept of intent versus impact of the language we use is emphasized. Handouts and resources regarding anti-bullying, mental health, and being an upstander are dispersed.

​Takeaways

• ​Expressions like “that’s so gay” are used all the time by people who assume they are harmless or meaningless, but often these words have an unintended impact. Participants will draw connections between racial, ethnic, gender, disability and other slurs to anti-LGBTQ+ epithets. Resources to take home including games and activities to provide peer to peer teaching opportunities will be provided as well as information on the relationship between bullying, depression and suicide.

Description

• ​​​Thorough games and activities participants will practice using different personal pronouns. Respecting gender identities by using chosen names and correct pronouns decreases the risk of depression and suicide for transgender and gender non-conforming youth. Participants will leave with the tools to share this inclusive practice in their own groups.

​​Session Format

• This workshop begins with a get to know you game that includes sharing our self-identified names and personal pronouns. Then, as a group, we use an app to explore different gender non-conforming pronouns and practice using them in sentences. Statistics and research on the relationship between respecting someone’s gender identity and reducing depression and suicide are then shared and discussed as a large group. Our final activity has participants working in pairs to ask each other a series of get to know you questions and then introduce their partner to the group. The introduction provided by each partner is done without using the pronouns she or he but instead using exclusively gender non-conforming pronouns. A final reflection in the form of a human continuum activity shares the understanding and comfort level of participants with using and teaching about gender non-conforming pronouns and respecting chosen names.

Takeaways

• Participants will leave with tools to teach teens how and why to respect each other’s chosen names and personal pronouns. The games and activities used in this workshop can be utilized within each participant’s own 4-H groups. Materials shared support familiarity of the practice of using pronouns outside of the male/female binary as well as respecting the chosen names of gender non-conforming people. Workshop attendees will have a deeper understanding of the relationship between creating LGBTQ+ inclusive spaces and reducing depression and suicide amongst transgender and gender non-conforming youth.

Description

• Our workshop contains different activities using virtual resources with various debriefs in between. We work to tie in the “why” of anti-racist action with current health inequities and improving health outcomes for all youth.

Session Format

• Following a short description of Upstander vs Bystander we will create a virtual human continuum to explore comfort levels with scenarios involving racism. After a debrief exploring why participants chose where they stand on the continuum, we create a small pocket guide listing strategies for being an upstander against racism. Our next activity includes splitting into smaller groups in breakout rooms where our teen teachers facilitate a role-playing activity implementing the upstander strategies listed in the pocket guide. A final debrief connects speaking out against racist bullying and harassment with improved health outcomes for youth.

Takeaways

• The workshop strives to increase ally behavior by exploring what it means to be an upstander. Participants will learn strategies for how to speak out against racism and identify skills that help to do so. Youth will take home a pocket guide for future reference on strategies for being an upstander as well as a link to print off more pocket guides for use with their own 4-H groups. Discussions will focus on why it’s important to be an upstander and why we need to not only stand up once but continue to advocate. Conversations will explore increasing empathy and compassion for those experiencing racism. Resources correlating anti-racist action and positive health outcomes will be presented as well as racial health inequities and why it is vital to address racism now. 

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• Climate justice recognizes that those most impacted by climate change are not those most causing it. Participants will explore climate justice vocabulary, play a jeopardy game on climate change, and work in small groups to create microvideos for social media. Dialogue builds understanding of the changing climate in a way that confronts racism, economic inequality, misogyny, and xenophobia. 

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