Educational Initiatives

Educational Initiatives

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
– Nelson Mandela

First Things First: Self-Education

Some readers of this guide are looking to become better allies, others find themselves here because they want to positively influence their teams, their workplace culture, or perhaps even the profession as a whole.  Regardless of why you are here, your starting point is self-education. It is up to each of us to educate ourselves; it is not the job of those that are oppressed or marginalized to educate those that are not.  By diversifying what we read and what we watch and doing the same for the children in our lives and others that we influence, a pathway for positive change and evolution will invariably begin to emerge. A few of the many resources available to further your gender diversity self-education follow.

• Listen – The Veterinary Kaleidoscope, Queery
• Watch – A New Beginning, Disclosure
• Read – The Heartbreak Bakery by A.R. Capetta, Bitter by Akwaeke Emezi
• Follow – @TransLawCenter, @TrevorProject, @HRC
• Do – Donate and/or volunteer with your local LGBTQ+ community group or a national group such as the Human Rights Campaign or PFLAG

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”
― W.B. Yeats

Providing Education for Others

For those looking to provide education related to gender diversity for others, such as workplace teams or providing education offerings for the veterinary profession, begin with self-education. Review the section above and invest your time and energy into first expanding your own knowledge and awareness before beginning to plan your strategy for extending education to others. When you are ready to create a gender diversity education program for others, keep the following tips in mind.

Extend Invitations

Invite those within your workplace that identify as transgender, non-binary, or gender non-conforming to be part of the planning.

Do not assume that those that identify as transgender, non-binary, or gender non-conforming are comfortable being centered, however extend them an invitation to share their voices as part of educational offerings if they wish.

Leverage Experts

Tap into those with expertise around gender diversity internal to our profession as well as those outside of our profession. As a profession, we are often reluctant to engage with external experts as we fear they will not understand the uniqueness of our profession and so will not be relatable to our target audiences.  Most of the time you will find that their expertise outweighs their lack of understanding about the nuances of our profession and what they have to share will be relevant. Some examples of external experts in gender diversity include Imara Jones, TransEquity, and The Transgender Training Institute.

Focus on Allyship

Focus on allyship as an entry point for your educational offerings because everyone can be an ally and everyone can benefit from an ally. Allyship in its most basic sense is when someone from a non-marginalized group uses their privilege to advocate for a marginalized group or individual. Delve into the role of the ally in creating more inclusive and welcoming spaces for transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming individuals. This will help to create a safe, brave space where learning can ensue.

Utilize Adult Education Fundamentals

The fundamentals of adult education apply as they would to any education offering. Individuals learn uniquely.  Some folks prefer to read information first and then engage in a discussion to deepen their understanding, others prefer to watch someone explain the topic and then read an article to continue their learning.  Be intentional with including a variety of education delivery formats, interaction, and gamification into your educational offerings. Whenever possible involve the learner in the planning of the educational offering and in the teaching itself.

PrideVMC Educational Initiatives Plans

• With the help of the Education & Events working group, PrideVMC evaluates our educational offering priorities on an annual basis.  Via this process we continue to prioritize LGBTQ+ allyship and have added the GIBOR, and GDG implementation as our educational focus areas for 2022.
• Proactive Education: PrideVMC provides education about the GIBOR and GDG implementation at in-person veterinary conference venues (such as VMX) as well as virtual offerings such as our virtual education series ‘PrideVMC Presents’.
• Reactive Education: We field speaking requests as they arise through our speaker request process and attempt to provide speakers and content for as many requests as possible.

Activating Educational Initiatives

• Listen – The Veterinary Kaleidoscope, Queery
• Watch – A New Beginning, Disclosure
• Read – The Heartbreak Bakery by A.R. Capetta, Bitter by Akwaeke Emezi
• Follow – @TransLawCenter, @TrevorProject, @HRC
• Do – Donate and/or volunteer with your local LGBTQ+ community group or a national group such as the Human Rights Campaign or PFLAG

“Change is the end result of all true learning.”
– Leo Buscaglia