Volunteering

Recently I volunteered at a non-profit organization called Gender Diversity. What they do is basically coordinate gatherings for families with LGBTQ+ kids or teenagers, where parents can discuss their experiences while children play with each other and learn about gender diversity.

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Learn more about Gender Diversity here.

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I participated as a facilitator for a group of twenty kids under 12. It was almost uncontrollable.

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For the self-introduction, kids were asked to introduce their names and pronouns. I noticed that about half of them chose either "prefer not to say" or "they/them/theirs".

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In the picture book we showed during the gathering, it taught children about gender spectrum, as well as the important of staying true to themselves. It was touching and somewhat unbelievable to me how different the education  for these children was from the one that I’ve been through. It reminded me of all the stereotypes we implicitly learned when we were kids, and how hurtful it was to almost everyone in the society.

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Even though we talk about respect and diversity all the time, I have never truly experienced the obstacles and difficulties until this day.

 

How should I guide kids to restrooms? (There were three options of restroom at Seattle Children Hospital.) How should I indicate the kid to other volunteers or parents if I didn’t remember their names or pronouns? Boy, girl, brother, sister…… It struck me that we are used to say so many words and phrases that are not inclusive enough. What words should I use instead? I almost accidentally used “girl” instead of “kid” in the beginning of this article unconsciously, even though I clearly remembered their non-binary identity.

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It’s difficult.

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Yet at least now that I’ve experienced, I know where to put in my efforts in the future.

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