Professional Development Workshops

We will screen our award winning short " My Daughter, Tyler" then have a workshop on LGBTQ+ acceptance and how schools can support LGBTQ+ who are struggling with family acceptance.

As more and more research comes out about both transgender individuals and neurodivergent individuals, we are seeing that there is a statistically significant overlap between the trans community and the neurodivergent community. This workshop will introduce vocabulary necessary to discuss neurodiversity and neurodivergence, do a deep dive into several different types of neurodivergence including ADHD and autism, and teach best practices for discussing gender and gender identity with neurodivergent individuals. Current research on gender diversity and neurodiversity suggests that all practitioners working with trans folks are probably also working with neurodivergent folks and vice versa, so this workshop is a great introduction to the topic of neurodivergence for anyone serving trans community members.

This workshop emphasizes the rights and obligations under the City's non-discrimination law in the areas of employment, housing, public accommodations, and prohibitions against discriminatory harassment and bias-based profiling by law enforcement.

Also learn the rights of students, faculty, and staff related to the specific protected classes of sexual orientation and gender identity.

The NYC Human Rights Law is one of the strongest in the country. Learn about your rights and how to file a discrimination complaint.

Come to this workshop to learn more about the rights of LGBTQ+ youth to be safe and respected in school! We will discuss topics ranging from rules about what clothes you wear, the use of affirming name and pronouns, access to spaces that are designated "for boys" and "for girls," harassment and bullying, and more! We will also provide some resources in case you or your friends who are part of the LGBTQ+ community are being treated unfairly because of your sexual orientation or gender identity and expression. There will be time to ask us questions or you can come speak with us at Legal Aid's virtual meeting room.

When all students have the opportunity to engage in LGBTQ+ affirming curriculum, students and school culture thrive. In this workshop, Joe Schmidt and Brian Carlin, Senior Social Studies Instructional Specialists from the New York City Department of Education, and Mary Kennedy, Senior Producer from The WNET Group, will introduce free, media-rich resources from Hidden Voices: LGBTQ+ Stories in United States History, a set of curricular materials developed by the NYC DOE and the Understanding LGBTQ+ Identity collection available on PBS LearningMedia. This workshop will showcase a range of resources, including videos, informational text, discussion questions, lesson plans, and teaching tips, all to help educators effectively integrate LGBTQ history and narratives into U.S. History, Social Studies classrooms.

Led by teens in InterseXtions, Brooklyn Museum’s paid LGBTQ+ teen internship in queer art history and community programming, this workshop will provide best practices for being a supportive adult in school for LGBTQ+ students. Based on their own experiences, LGBTQ+ youth will share ways adults can be a resource for students, as well as provide inclusive education, create safer spaces, and incorporate consistent LGBTQ+ advocacy in schools. The Brooklyn Museum is an encyclopedic art museum where great art and courageous conversations are catalysts for a more connected, civic, and empathetic world, and participants will also learn about ways the Brooklyn Museum can be a resource for learning about gender and sexuality through art.

Eric Marcus, creator and host of the Making Gay History podcast, draws on his decades-old audio archive of rare interviews with LGBTQ champions, heroes, and witnesses to history to bring the history of the LGBTQ civil rights movement to life through the voices of the people who lived it. The 60-minute program (45-minute presentation, 15-minute Q&A) includes audio clips from interviews with both the well-known—including trans icon Sylvia Rivera, civil rights champion Bayard Rustin, straight ally Dear Abby—and the long-forgotten—including Lisa Ben, Perry Watkins, and Vito Russo.

Have you ever wondered what you can do to make your school community safer for LGBTQ+ students? Then you have come to the right place. Be a participant in LGBTQ+ 101 at the Summit and receive a series of activities and presentation ideas which you can then make your own and turnkey to your students and staff. My goal is to provide you with a user and learner friendly presentation that will help to provide your students or staff with a better understanding of the issues that face LGBTQ+ students, how to make our schools safer and more inclusive, and to simply teach and discuss some fundamentals that are key to everyone being on the same page.

The DOE seeks to create welcoming spaces that affirm the identities of our students, staff, and communities, and that encourage us to commit to coming together and engaging with each other, while understanding and respecting our differences. Through this comprehensive workshop, participants will learn to identify behaviors that constitute discrimination or unlawful harassment against LGBTQ communities and what to do about them under DOE Regulations and Guidelines. Participants will also receive an education on the complaint investigation process, their reporting responsibilities and the circumstances under which off-school and on premises behavior may be covered by the Chancellor’s Regulations. In addition, the workshop will cover best practices and ways to best support our LGBTQ communities. We seek to empower all participants with the understanding that it is everyone's responsibility to ensure that each member of our vibrant LGBTQ and ally family feels accepted.

This workshop will be led by members of PFLAG NYC — Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People — and will be a basic Professional Development workshop, where we will go over LGBTQ+ terms and concepts, discuss best practices for working with LGBTQ+ youth and their families, and talk through some DOE policy for transgender students. We will also hear from an LGBTQ+ individual about their own lived experiences. This workshop focuses on building communities where every adult who interacts with young people can be a part of a school-wide support system for LGBTQ youth.

In 2016, the National Park Service established Stonewall National Monument, a site to celebrate LGBTQ+ history/culture and to honor the memories of Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, and the countless others who fought for LGBTQ+ rights during the 1969 Stonewall uprising. In this session, staff from National Parks Conservation Association (who led the campaign to establish the Monument) will draw upon the actions of the Stonewall uprising participants to inspire the next generation of LGBTQ+ advocates. In this workshop, participants will learn how to speak up for causes important to them and how to advocate for LGBTQ+ representation.