Indoctrination in Your State & District

Drag Pedagogy for Educators

Howard County Public Schools, Maryland

Submitted: 2023-03-04

Story:

Howard County Public School System has an official, school funded organization called HCPSS Pride. As part of their Rainbow Conference for 2023 they are advertising a session on Drag Pedagogy in Education and recommending it for educators

"This is a session you won’t want to miss! DRAG PEDAGOGY IN EDUCATION
Drawing from existing research and personal insight, Drag Pedagogy will be presented as a method that can cultivate a classroom where imagination, play, and performance expand our cultural understanding of gender beyond the horizon. Attendees will be given opportunities to share what their current practices are, reflect on expectations of professionalism, and imagine what a supportive environment can look like. Recommended for educators. Rainbow Conference registration opens on March 24th! Stay tuned for more highlights! #lgbtq #rainbowconference #dragpedagogy #hcpss #hcpsspride

Explanation of what "family friendly" actually means from the Drag Pedagogy article
In discussing the work of DQSH within our social circles, we have occasionally encountered critiques that DQSH (drag queen story hour) is sanitizing the risqué nature of drag in order to make it “family friendly.” We do not share this pessimistic view. Queer worldmaking, including political organizing, has long been a project driven by desire. It is, in part, enacted through art forms like fashion, theatre, and drag. We believe that DQSH offers an invitation towards deeper public engagement with queer cultural production, particularly for young children and their families. It may be that DQSH is “family friendly,” in the sense that it is accessible and inviting to families with children, but it is less a sanitizing force than it is a preparatory introduction to alternate modes of kinship. Here, DQSH is “family friendly” in the sense of “family” as an old-school queer code to identify and connect with other queers on the street.

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