Civil Rights Lecture

By Laurel Zmolek-Smith

Yesterday, longtime LGBTI* activist and former ACS Psychology teacher (1994-97) Monika Pisankaneva was a guest speaker in our Civil Rights class. The students loved her and we all learned an astonishing amount in 90 minutes.

She talked about the history of the movement in Bulgaria, the current struggle for marriage equality (or civil unions), to get the police to record hate crimes, to include scientific information about gender and sexuality in high school curriculum, as well as to specifically address bullying and harassment of queer students.

She also brought copies of her recently published study, Schools for All?, a report highlighting the level of protection of LGBTI students and schools staff and providing recommendations for more inclusive school policies.

Thanks, Monika, from the bottom of our hearts. Thanks, Garrard Conley and Garth Greenwell, for being out educators at our school in a country where this, according to Monika Pisankaneva’s study, is basically unheard of. Things get better for students because of you all!

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* Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex

 

 

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