Celebrating Pride in the Classroom
Guillermo Alex Gamboa Hidalgo is an alumni of the 2019 Youth Ambassador Program with Bolivia and Peru where he served as a program mentor. He is from Chiclayo, Peru and currently works as an English teacher at the boarding school Coar Lambayeque. The FIUTS team is excited to feature his reflections and work with the LGBTQ community for Pride Month 2020.
Guillermo Alex Gamboa Hidalgo, program mentor of the 2019 Youth Ambassador Program with Bolivia and Peru.
Last year I was given the opportunity to travel to the United States as a mentor with the Youth Ambassador Program with Bolivia and Peru; but it was not only me. We were twenty-four teenagers and four adult mentors from Peru and Bolivia. After having been to different states, we finally arrived in Seattle and were warmly welcomed by wonderful FIUTS staff who made us feel like home from the very beginning.
On 19th October, my colleague and friend Gabriela Orozco Nande, the adult mentor from Bolivia, and I were invited to attend the Northwest Conference on Teaching Social Justice with Annie Lewis, a member of the precious FIUTS staff. We were really excited about it. Once we got there, we had to register to attend three workshops, but there was one which really caught my attention, it was about incorporating a gender-inclusive biology curriculum in the classroom.
Left to right: conference guest speaker, Alex Gamboa (adult mentor from Peru), Gabriela Orozco (adult mentor from Bolivia), and Annie Lewis (FIUTS Staff). Photo taken at the Northwest Conference for Teaching Social Justice in October, 2019.
To be honest, that workshop completely changed my life in every single way as it was not only about the content itself, but far beyond. The way you, as a teacher, can share this topic or any other in relation to empowering the LGBTQ community with such strong sources and resources is powerful, remarkable, and meaningful for your students.
Alex standing near the rainbow crosswalks in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, WA.
Afterwards, I came back to Peru and I could not wait to start working on my classes addressing what I learned in the USA. It is completely relevant and crucial to talk about gender-inclusivity and LGBTQ rights since discrimination for sexual orientation not only exists, but kills innocent people in my country and all around the world.
Perhaps, you are wondering why I decided to take action and use my role as a teacher to affect social change. Well, I ask you to respond to these questions first: Do you really need to belong to the LGBTQ community or have a gay friend to defend minorities´ rights? If you knew how to save a life, would you do it? I reckon the answers are clear - I personally believe that inclusive teaching initiatives are just the beginning of something much bigger.
A snapshot of an “All Families Welcome” poster on the bulletin board at Pike Market Child Care and Preschool.
Just to quote one of favorite sayings: “Actions speak louder than words;” thus, if you can do good for others or save lives, just do it. Be empathetic and kind. It is free!
To conclude, all of who I am now is because of my students since they are my source of inspiration and the reason I try to improve myself every single day. I expect to have a long life to continue working on equality for everybody and become an inspiration to others as well.
Finally, I would like to thank Lewis Maday-Travis for presenting such an inspirational workshop on gender-inclusive biology at the Northwest Conference on Teaching Social Justice.
Happy Pride Month!
The Youth Ambassador Program with Bolivia and Peru is a program of the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. government, administered by FIUTS (Foundation for International Understanding Through Students) through a partnership with World Learning.
Guest posts on the FIUTS blog represent the experiences and views of individual writers. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FIUTS or any organizations or institutions affiliated with our programs.