Embracing A Two-Generational Approach to Advocacy

Meet Carter

In this month's blog, we're sitting down with middle schooler Carter (they/them) as they share their advocacy journey to promote gender-inclusive options in their Spanish classes and how this has sparked a route for change throughout the Kansas City Public Schools.

Carter (they/them) is a 6th grader at Lincoln Middle School who is proud of their technical skills, ability to be a team player, and path to reaching their personal goals, including pushing for gender-inclusive language in classrooms in the Kansas City Missouri Public Schools. "I want all of Pride to be implemented in any circumstance into the school curriculum," says Carter.

Through their technology skills and connections,Carter is building a team of people capable of moving beyond awareness and public visibility to make a positive impact and to provide gender-inclusive options for Spanish-language classes in the KCPS district.

During Carter's Spanish class, they asked their teacher whether they could use non gendered pronouns in class instead of masculine or feminine. They were informed that was not an option because it wasn't part of the current curriculum. "Basing a language completely on gender creates an unsafe environment for the LGBTQ+ community.,” said Carter. In the hopes of sparking more discussion and inclusion for nonbinary children, they are sharing their thoughts and their journey on our PLTI blog.

In Carter's work to create change, parental support has been invaluable and provided a safe space.

"When I was going through PLTI, that would lead to a lot of conversations we had at home and the kids knew about what I was learning at PLTI," said Katy (she/her), Carter's mother and PLTIKC cohort 2 graduate. "With this particular situation, it's just been a matter of getting out of Carter's way." Katy connected with Tricia McGhee (she/they), PLTIKC cohort 4 graduate and lead community organizer and parent advocate with Revolución Educativa, who is fluent in English and Spanish and equally passionate about LBGTQ+ inclusion. Soon after, Katy connected Carter to Tricia to help Carter navigate their school system to support Gender Inclusivity in Spanish. Tricia echoed Katy's sentiments when working with youth to create change. "What parents and caregivers and advocates can do is stand in the space between how things are now and how they should be. So students are leading us to where we should go."

Tricia was already aware of gender-inclusive pronouns in Spanish and during her research, she discovered that the Real Academia Española (RAE), or Spanish Royal Academy, has recently added gender-neutral pronouns in the Spanish-language dictionary and though they are not commonly used, they are an option. After including Carter in the process and getting their permission, Tricia used her research knowledge and connections as a KCPS parent to coordinate a meeting with KCPS World Languages Coordinator to ensure they followed the current school policies against illegal harassment. Current district policy wording includes the following as a behavior that could constitute illegal harassment:

Intentional or persistent refusal to respect a student’s or employee’s gender identity (for example, intentionally referring to a student or employee by a name or pronoun that does not correspond to the student’s or employee’s gender identity).

"Carter was okay with us moving forward with the long-term substitutes at the time and then the World Languages coordinator because what my concern was is if Carter was experiencing this at one school, that other students were experiencing this across the district," said Tricia. "So we really needed to make sure that a leader that was in charge of all of the World Languages teachers would back up this KCPS policy that exists in English and English speaking classes."

Accordingly, Carter's call for gender-inclusive language is echoed by this statement, which demands that KCPS adhere to the same policy in Spanish-language classes as it does in English-language classes.

In the current school policy, pronouns and chosen names are respected, which Tricia emphasizes should apply to all languages spoken on school grounds. Despite being eager to address this issue, school officials were not able to include gender-inclusive terms in the current Spanish curriculum since it was not created on-site at the district level. It is Tricia and Carter's plan to revisit the 2024 Spanish curriculum in order to see how it deals with gender inclusion. "The only way that we'll have long-term sustainable change is if they're using a curriculum that teaches teachers how to use gender-inclusive pronouns. So a Spanish teacher should be able to leave any school, bring in a new Spanish teacher and it's already written down in the curriculum; otherwise, you're dependent on that one person understanding how to use it."

In addition to non-binary additions to the curriculum, Carter hopes that non-gender restrooms will become more accessible and teachers will respect students' pronouns. They also expressed appreciation for certain students and staff who have intentionally respected their pronouns, including Mr. Barnes, Ms. Zirkel, and their best friend Samson.

Carter is still collecting data from students to support their efforts, including a survey that shared feedback about the school’s culture. Until changes are made to promote inclusivity across languages at the school, these are the words that Carter offers to encourage those with a similar experience. "My message to others like me is to decide what you want to do with your pride. You can hide it or you can share it. I am in no condition to pick for you. I wish good luck to others like me and hope that society grows in their support for our community as soon as possible.”