Originally published in TEACH Magazine, 50th Anniversary of the Decriminalization of Homosexuality in Canada Special Issue, 2019
By Ian Duncan
Sure Will & Grace is back on TV, but students are watching several LGBTQ+ characters on Netflix’s Riverdale and binge-watching RuPaul’s Drag Race. It seems many of your students are more comfortable with LGBTQ+ topics than you think.
I’m challenging you to include the LGBTQ+ community in your teaching. Commemorative events, like the 50th Anniversary of the Decriminalization of Homosexuality in Canada, help us all to reflect on the changes and progress of the last half-century. It also shows us what has stayed the same.
Ian Duncan is a husband, father, and a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community. Teaching history since 2003, his classroom focuses on inquiry, critical thinking, and community to engage students’ curiosity about the world in which we live. He enjoys Instagram, is trying to tweet, and has a complicated relationship with anything chocolate.
