25 Great Lessons about Sexual Orientation $79

INTRODUCTION

ALL ACES
An Introduction to Asexuality
By Lyndsay Mercier, MEd

ALPHABET SOUP
Labels and Identity
By Kelly Jean Gainor, MEd

BEYOND BINARIES
Bisexuality and Spirituality
By Marie Alford-Harkey, MDiv

BISEXUALITY
Cultural and Individual Variations
By Marcus C. Tye, PhD

BI THE WAY:
Learning About Famous Bisexual People
By Bill Taverner, MA, CSE

DATING BISEXUALLY
By Karen Rayne, PhD

EITHER OR?
Learning About Bisexuality
By Tracie Q. Gilbert, MSEd, MEd

EVERYONE GROWS OLDER
By Elizabeth Schroeder, EdD, MSW, Al Vernacchio, MSEd, and Terri Clark, MPH

GENDERBANDS
By Elizabeth Gilbertson, MEd, MS

GETTING BETTER ALL THE TIME
By Bill Taverner, MA, CSE

HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS FOR ALL
By Bill Taverner, MA, CSE and Sue Montfort, MAT, CHES®

LEARNING ABOUT THE B IN LGBT
By Terri Clark, MPH

LGBTQA+ HOLIDAY SURVIVAL GUIDE
By Kelly Gainor, MEd

MUSIC LITERACY, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, AND HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS
By Bill Taverner, MA, CSE

NORMS, EXPECTATIONS, AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
By Raimi Marx, MA, Meghan Guptill, Sarah Trieweiler, MA, and Hailey Alm

ON BECOMING
LGB Identity Development
By Tracie Q. Gilbert, MSEd, MEd

QUEER JEOPARDY
By Tracie Q. Gilbert, MSEd, MEd

SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND TRANSITIONING
By Tim Johnston, Ph.D.

THE AIB MODEL OF (BI)SEXUALITY
By Talia Squires, Peter Baumann, and Ian Lawrence

THE BIG IF
By Peggy Brick, MEd

THE BI-LINE
By Terri Clark, MPH

THE BI-TRI-FLUIDITY OF SEXUALITY
By Catherine J. Massey, PhD

WHAT IT’S REALLY LIKE?
An LGBTQ+ Speaker
By Steve Brown, PsyD and Karen Rayne, PhD

WHO YOU LIKE AND WHO YOU LOVE
What it Means to be LGBTQ+
By Steve Brown, PsyD and Karen Rayne, PhD

WHAT’S YOUR BIQ?
By Terri Clark, MPH

Introduction to 25 Great Lesson Plans about Sexual Orientation

By Terri Clark, MPH, Tracie Q. Gilbert, MSEd, MEd and Karen Rayne, PhD

At The Center for Sex Education, we found that many teachers and educators were researching for resources which better reflected and explained the lives and experiences of their LGBTQ students. 25 Lesson Plans on Sexual Orientation was written to help learners better understand a variety of sexual orientations and to represent their lived experiences.

Executive Director Bill Taverner of The Center for Sex Education noted, “In late 2015, several education- and health-promoting organizations released ‘A Call to Action: LGBTQ Youth Need Inclusive Sex Education,’ identifying the need to address the problem of LGBTQ youth ‘sitting in classrooms where their teachers and textbooks fail to appropriately address their behaviors, identities, and experiences.’¹ This has been an unacceptable state of the field for far too long, and The Center for Sex Education (CSE) welcomed the call to action, which came while we were working on developing this manual, and validated our resolve.” This manual will not be the only response to the ‘Call to Action,’ and it surely won’t be the last word. We hope it is the first of many that will help educate the public about sexual orientation and make all students feel welcome in the classroom.

Included are 25 great lessons are plans which can be easily used and adapted by educators, and cover a broad spectrum of sexual orientations, including asexuality, bisexuality and the evolving fluidity of human sexuality. These lesson plans, prepared within the CSE ethos of providing honest and accurate information to expand knowledge of all identities and sexual orientations and to embrace the variety of sexual identities and orientation.

Foreword to 25 Great Lesson Plans about Sexual Orientation

By Ian Lawrence, Vice President, American Institute of Bisexuality

The American Institute of Bisexuality is pleased to have provided a grant to underwrite 25 Great Lesson Plans about Sexual Orientation. As the world’s first and only endowed foundation dedicated to advancing understanding of bisexuality, we regularly work with sexual researchers, educators, and the general public from around the globe. We are keenly aware of the choppy waters we all must navigate when wading into increasingly polarized conversations about sex and sexuality; thus, we are delighted to support this worthwhile project.

Public acceptance and awareness of sexual diversity has grown rapidly over the past decades and research consistently shows more people identify as LGBT than ever before, starting younger than ever before. Children of all ages now have unprecedented access to information about sex, and it is more important than ever that we provide them with the tools they need in order to grow into happy adults who enjoy a healthy love life.

The current practices for teaching about sexual orientation often shortchange bisexuality or unduly burden the topic with larger sociopolitical discussions. As a result, despite increasing acceptance and understanding of nonheterosexuality in general, bisexuality remains largely misunderstood and stigmatized, even among gays and lesbians. We need a better approach that doesn’t add additional minority stress on a population that is already marginalized. We would like to thank Terri Clark, Tracie Q. Gilbert, Karen Rayne, and Bill Taverner at The Center for Sex Education for taking on this challenge by creating a collection of lessons that does justice to the colorful spectrum that exists beyond gay and straight.

25 Great Lesson Plans about Sexual Orientation is an effort to assist young people and adults in navigating a sometimes dizzying array of messages about sexuality. The manual aims to help people understand sexual orientation in a way that is both relatable and relevant to their lives, that makes things simple to understand even as it allows room for the incredible diversity that is humanity. Our hope is that learners will come away from these lesson plans with a new level of appreciation and respect for the many ways our species bonds and expresses love.

25 Great Lesson Plans about Sexual Orientation is smart and engaging! Drawing from the expertise of several well-established sex educators, each unique activity offers a multi-dimensional lens for approaching the topic of sexual orientation. Asexuality, bisexuality, gender, relationships – no topic is left untouched. Sure to transform the teaching of sexual orientation in the sex ed classroom!
Jayleen Galarza, PhD, LCSW, MEd, CST

This innovative and dynamic book of lesson plans enhances knowledge and skills around sexual orientation and identity. This resource is a “must have” for all sexuality educators.
James C. Wadley, PhD

25 Great Lesson Plans about Sexual Orientation is a fascinating and eclectic set of lessons to trigger in-depth discussion in college classes as well as other adult settings with parents, community, and religious groups. Resource materials, including handouts, can be used to stimulate even large audiences to participate and to challenge thinking, because there continues to be confusion, unhappiness and bias attributed to sexual orientation.
Konstance McCaffree, PhD, NCFR Emeritus