Indoctrinating Children Through 'Queer' Nature

 

"Within the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, “queering” is a phrase that, as part of reclamation of the term “queer,” has come to mean looking at ideas sideways, eschewing boundaries, disrupting the status quo, and facilitating the rise of something new and beautiful from the ashes of the old. It speaks to taking up space, doing things in ways that feel and are authentic and inclusive, always asking questions, and staying rooted in participatory and practical intersectionality."

"Working within the current backlash against SOGI (sexual orientation and gender identity) in schools, and against 2SLGBTQIA+ rights, it’s essential that we demystify and move SOGI work out of the silos of humanities and physical health and into our day-to-day teaching, inclusive practice, and relationship building. This also means a critical examination of some of the performative allyship and pink-washing that affects activists working for fundamental social change."

"In May 2025, the Vancouver Elementary and Adult Educators’ Society hosted a workshop on drag pedagogy featuring Daniel Gallardo a.k.a. Gaia Lacandona to encourage teachers to take on the work of queering their pedagogy. The workshop invited participants to consider the history and political context of drag, and consider it as a concrete methodology for recognizing and undoing binary thinking, while engaging in glorious celebration of the opportunities, agency, choices, and power in naming and creating oneself."

"Drag pedagogy imagines a world where we each define ourselves and learn to use that lens on the world around us, including on our structures and in our schools."

"Drag pedagogy is the result of the work of queer and trans academics, teachers, and drag practitioners, who have recognized drag as a portal to possibility and the decentring of static, binary, colonial, and imposed categories such as male/female, cis/trans, right/wrong, and inside/outside. It brings concepts of play, invention, creativity, and creation to the forefront, not only for student identity but also to the whole system (or cis-tem) for the purpose of shifting or destroying it."

By Jody Polukoshko (she/her), teacher, Vancouver -- Teacher Magazine

British Columbia Teachers Federation  -- Queering Outdoor Education

Queering Environmental Education
Constance L. Russell, Lakehead University, Tema Sarick, & Jacqueline Kennelly, Canada
Abstract
"We wish to initiate discussion on the possibilities for queering environmen-
tal education. As a verb, “to queer” means more than simply adding gay/les-
bian/bisexual/transgendered content to environmental education. Rather,
queering has, at its heart, the project of problematizing heteronormativity,
essentialized identities, and the heterosexualization of our theories and
practices. In this paper, we provide a brief introduction to queer pedagogy,
point to the unique ways in which environmental education can contribute
to the disruption of heteronormativity and the problematization of identity
and of experience, and describe efforts to queer environmentalism in new
social movements and cultural productions."                                                                    Canadian Journal of Environmental Education

The teachers' union in British Columbia has a vital mission and it passionately feels the need to instruct schoolchildren in the ways of the natural world by viewing the birds and the bees, and of course, the verdant landscapes surrounding us in the splendour of nature through the lens of the Queer society. Thematically emphasizing being gay, trans and the acute enjoyment to be had in the presence of drag queens in the natural world of biological otherness. The BC Teachers' Federation appears fully committed to "queering their pedagogy".

 

And with that mission clearly uppermost in mind when steering children's minds toward the really important issues of life, existence, and nature, Queering Outdoor Education published in their official magazine -- Teacher -- targets the 50,000 public school teachers in the province, to regard foliage, seeds and clouds for example, as useful metaphors for teaching nature while "debunking the universality of heterosexuality in nature".

 

In their responsibility to expose young minds to the grandeur of nature in all her sublime manifestations, teachers are exhorted to "consider the harm of essentializing and naturalizing heteronormativity", and to break away from the harmful tradition of merely viewing nature's landscape and geology as nature's gift to the world. Teaching moments abound -- fertile teaching minds invested in exciting awe and enquiry in their students must be creative and use outdoor excursions to the advantage of freeing youngsters from the traditional constraints of biology's trap of binary sex.

 

 

 

Animal family structures, as an example, addressed in a manner that "silence queer narratives and organization". Outdoor settings in the clean and clear and natural world should be regarded as a venue heaven-sent to abandon "imposed categories" that "male/female" and "right/wrong" social verities cling to. Vancouver teacher Jody Polukoshko, past-president of the Vancouver Elementary and Adult Educators' Society, wrote the article published in Teacher, linking to a 40-page Queering Outdoor Education curriculum prepared by the B.C. Teachers' Federation.

 

Emphasizing that outdoor education offers itself as a vehicle for committing to a "decolonial tool", it is imperative for teachers to make use of the opportunity to break with "cis-heteronormative assumptions", while planning and acting upon the need to firmly commit to "intentionally centering queer identities". "The current backlash against SOGI (sexual orientation and gender identity)", particularly in Alberta where SOGI policies in the public school system have been facing pushback from parents and government.

 

Where school board rules requiring teachers to affirm any gender identity their students choose and to ensure that identity and the wording that accompanies it, is concealed from parents if the child wills it so. This remains firmly in place in British Columbia, but Alberta in 2024  introduced the Education Amendment Act requiring schools to obtain parental consent prior to permitting students under age 16 to select new names and pronouns.

 

Making it all the more imperative in the service of teaching responsibly and sensitively nurturing young minds to the freedoms inherent in SOGI that teachers must be actively engaged and committed to bringing "anti-colonial" narratives to everything children are exposed to, in the learning environment of the school system. 

 

itakdalee/Shutterstock

  

British Columbia’s public school teacher’s union has proposed a solution to those who object to radical sex education curriculum: just make everything queer – including the outdoors. Children are advised to “Identify species in nature that support or create conditions for others to thrive (e.g. nurse logs, pollinators, etc.).” Then, children can be asked to extrapolate from this: “What does it mean to be an ally? How can people use their voice, actions, and presence to support 2SLGBTQIA+ classmates and communities?” Finally: “How can I be like a nurse log or pollinator in my community?”

 It may be tempting to simply mock this stuff, but the truth is that Jody Polukoshko and her allies are actually shaping the curriculum, and thus they are shaping the minds of the next generation – with the stated intent of destroying “Western values.” LGBT activists see parental rights being respected in Alberta and hear complaints from parents about SOGI and their solution is simple: queer everything, so that no matter what they do, we get the minds of the children.

Jonathan Van Maren, LifeSite News 

 

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