Inclusive sexuality education helps every young person feel seen, respected, and valued. This course builds the knowledge, confidence, and practical strategies to create learning environments where LGBTQ+ youth are affirmed, all students see themselves reflected in the curriculum, and every learner has access to medically accurate, inclusive, and age-appropriate sexual health education.
Explore foundational concepts related to sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression while strengthening your understanding of inclusive language, LGBTQ+ terminology, intersectionality, and the impact of bias, stigma, and discrimination on young people’s health and well-being. You’ll examine strategies for recognizing and addressing homophobia, transphobia, and microaggressions, while learning how to evaluate and adapt instructional materials to ensure they are inclusive, affirming, and representative of diverse identities and experiences. Through interactive learning, practical teaching strategies, self-assessments, and real-world classroom examples, you’ll gain tools to facilitate sexuality education with cultural humility, compassion, and respect for the diverse identities, lived experiences, values, and communities of the young people you serve.
Designed in flexible 25–30 minute modules, this self-paced course provides practical tools you can immediately apply to strengthen LGBTQ+ inclusion and affirmation in your teaching practice.
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
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Describe key terminology related to sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.
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Explain that sexual orientation and gender identity are self-defined and cannot be assumed based on appearance, behavior, or other characteristics.
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Define homophobia, transphobia, and other forms of bias, and recognize how they can affect young people’s health, well-being, and learning experiences.
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Describe microaggressions and identify strategies for recognizing and addressing them in educational settings.
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Explain the concept of intersectionality and its importance in delivering inclusive, culturally responsive sexuality education.
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Describe the characteristics of LGBTQ+ inclusive and affirming sexuality education.
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Evaluate sexuality education materials for LGBTQ+ inclusion and identify opportunities to improve representation, language, and instructional practices.
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Recognize strategies for creating learning environments where all students feel seen, respected, affirmed, and supported.