5: A Quiet Activism: How My Experience as an LGBT+ Teacher and Leader Shapes My Drive for Change in Schools

“Can you teach about gay people to six and seven year olds?” asks a Year 2 primary teacher. As a consultant in LGBT+ Inclusion, working with schools, I’m often asked questions like this. I would love to say, that the guidance from leaders at both school and government levels is comprehensive enough for an answer to be found simply by turning to a particular page in a specific document. I would love the answer to be an easy ‘yes’. Instead, the question hangs, like a piñata, ready to be batted this way and that, depending on to whom you’re talking. It represents the uncertainty felt by many colleagues in school settings who are, quite simply, unsure exactly what can and can’t be taught. In one way, the question is symptomatic of a society which feels increasingly hostile and intolerant to difference. In another, it is the historic legacy of Section 28 (1988–2003).