Support Services for LGBTQ Youth - SFUSD Student Support Services Department

Voices from our Schools

Susan

School Nurse
Burton High School

Q: In your role as a school nurse what have you done to create a safer climate?

My office is known as a confidential space for kids. I have a “Safe Space” poster up and a “Safe School Lines” poster up. The kids know the Wellness Center is a place where they can talk about their issues. I’ve come to be seen as an advocate for them. I think that’s a very important role.

Q: What’s an activity you’ve done for LGBTQ?

Well probably the most fun activity that we’ve organized and I think the most informative for the students is what we call the Rainbow Café. It is one week during Gay Pride Month, which is April and each day there’s a different topic. We have a room that’s set aside and there are snacks. The GSA has usually chosen a topic and each day at lunch there’s a speaker on a different topic. So Monday might be gays in the military, Tuesday might be gay parents, the next day might be gays and religion, and then it might be legislating civil rights for gays. We usually culminate the week with a Day of Silence. We’ve asked teachers to give extra credit to allow kids to come who wouldn’t normally come. But because they get extra credit, kids who wouldn’t be exposed to this kind of programming will be taught to think about it.

Another fun activity we do at the high school level is we bring the New Conservatory Theater every year to perform The Other Side of the Closet. Students then have an opportunity to hold a discussion afterward. It’s fabulous.

Q: What were some challenges or barriers you’ve encountered?

I think any time you talk about youth relative to sexuality, and sexual behaviors, there are barriers to overcome. Whether they’re personal barriers or family barriers or whether they are barriers within the schools, and the teachers and the administrators. But I don’t think they’re insurmountable. We always manage to either cross over them or get around them.

Q: What inspired you to be a mentor?

I don’t see myself as much a mentor as an advocate. I believe that everybody deserves equal rights. I see this as equality for us all. Some people ask me what a middle-aged straight lady is doing. And it comes back to my belief that everyone’s entitled to an equally safe, equally loving, equally equal environment.