Anti-Oppression Resources for Youth Groups

By Jeremie Bateman

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Use GLSEN Materials in your Congregation

Do you recognize the name GLSEN? If you don't you will want to now about the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network. GLSEN is a national organization whose mission is to ensure safe schools for all students, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. They have tons of resources for school-based Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) and LGBT and Ally groups. Did you know that their materials might be useful for your youth group, too? I didn't. That was, until I came across their free and online GSA Jump-Start guides. While they're intended to help high school students start and maintain groups at their schools, a number of them contain activities that you could use right in your congregation! For example, their jumpstart guide on making a student group trans-inclusive contains awesome activities on gender identity, gender expression, transphobia and more that can be done by any group of youth, or groups of youth and adults! Similarly, they have an entire guide on Examining Power, Privilege and Oppression. These activities focus on identity, being an ally, power, privilege and anti-oppression work. They're easily explained, with directions for how to run activities, materials needed and how much time to give them. And if you're ready to venture into the world of youth-adult collaboration, they have a guide for that too! There are many more guides, some more GSA specific than others, but they are definitely worth a look. Let us know what you think!