Sitting in the Humanities Center on Tuesday afternoon, sophomore Pride Committee head Carter Wagner looked around the room and saw it filled with other students who identify with the LGTBQ+ community.  Wagner, who openly identifies as a gay man, decided to join Scout Bratt from Chicago Women’s Health Center in a meeting during Gender Week for the LGTBQ+ community at Parker.

Bratt, the Outreach and Education Director at Chicago Women’s Health center, frequently has conversations with high school students regarding sexual orientation and gender.  “I direct a program of comprehensive sexual health education,” Bratt said.

During Parker’s Gender Week, Bratt was invited in to lead an open dialogue on Tuesday and Thursday afternoon for students who identify with the LGTBG+ community, giving them an opportunity to opt out of the teacher led workshops in order to be a part of this discussion.  

Wagner frequently attends Parker Pride meetings, and felt as though attending this session, one that was led by an adult with experience in leading such conversations, would open up the dialogue and create an even more fluid discussion. Wagner attended an hour of Bratt’s session on Tuesday, and the full two hours on Thursday.  “Doing it with Scout, who is a professional and expert and really great at facilitating conversation, was awesome,” Wagner said.

During the two sessions that were held, Scout led a dialogue based on the interests of the students in the room instead of focusing on any specific subject.  “Because it was a small group of concentrated kids who all wanted to be there, the conversations were so much better and everyone was able to ask vulnerable questions,” senior Olivia Garg said.

Students who identify as LGTBQ+ were able to optionaly attend one or both of these sessions.  In order to attend, students were able to opt out of their grade wide Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (CAASE) workshop or of the workshops lead by Parker teachers each afternoon.

“The way it was told to us Pride heads is that the CAASE workshops were going to be split into guys and girls, and if you didn’t feel comfortable choosing a section, you could attend any other workshop currently happening,” Wagner said.  “This wasn’t really entirely said to the whole high school at all though.”

The group led by Bratt was an alternative for students who felt as though they would benefit more from a conversation regarding their identity as someone who is LGTBQ+.  “It really turned into a group of students who did not enjoy the heteronormativity of gender week, and the people who maybe went to the male or female group and felt like it did not apply to them enough,” Garg said.  

Garg really appreciates the effort that Parker put into gender week, but sees room for improvements that should be made in the future.  “One thing that really got me was when they said ‘thank you for leaning into discomfort’ because if you are not leaning into discomfort, you are not learning,” Garg said.