Proud Educator Research and Advocacy
In an effort to broaden our understanding of the role of queer educators in schools, and to strengthen our advocacy for radical school reform, we engage in collaborative research projects. These projects are usually spearheaded by one or two Proud Educators and involve scholars from the City University of New York (CUNY) or other academic institutions. Proud Educators’ research is shared via journal articles, workshops and conferences. We welcome research questions from LGBTQ+ practitioners and we appreciate learning of scholarly contributions made by others with similar research agendas.
Proud Educators at the January 20th Queer Voices Rising day of dialogue and workshops, hosted by CUNY Graduate Center.
Members of Proud Educators presented a workshop at the Decolonizing Education Conference in June 2019.
Proud Educator Writing Project
We aim to increase visibility by supporting each other in writing sessions in order to compile our narratives for publications.
Statement on the Murder of O’Shae Sibley
Tuesday August 8th, 2023
O’Shae Sibley, a gay Black man, was attacked while dancing with his friends & filling up his car at a Brooklyn gas station on July 29, 2023. A group of boys & young men insisted he stop & one of them fatally stabbed O’Shae Sibley.
We are deeply disturbed by this tragedy & feel our society failed two young people on July 29th. We fell short of our collective responsibility to protect each other from senseless acts of violence. O’Shae Sibley & his friends rendered themselves vulnerable to deadly violence by simply expressing themselves through dance, an art form Sibley loved. It’s our duty to teach that all are entitled to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” in a truly democratic society, & when expressions of this happiness are punishable by lethal force, our shared responsibility becomes even more urgent.
We also failed the young man who attacked & killed O’Shae Sibley. It is clear he lacked the understanding of self, & of the people & world around him, he needed to engage differently with Sibley & his friends. When our politicians actively ban conversations about gender, race, sexuality, & other parts of peoples’ identities, & actively rewrite history, many of our youth are deprived of safe spaces to have thorough & honest conversations about how their lives are connected.
Proud Educators stands in solidarity with O’Shae Sibley’s family & friends, & we grieve with them as they mourn this tragic loss. While our hearts are heavy, we are determined to keep up our fight! We will continue to support LGBTQIA+ educators in NY & beyond, & will do so in the most intersectional & liberatory way we know how. We invite educators everywhere to join us in the effort to abolish hate crimes against the LGBTQIA+ community by teaching our young people the democratic values of equity, empathy & inclusion.”