Give your students a chance to understand and celebrate diversity with these five LGBTQ poems for the classroom. They make the perfect addition to any secondary ELA curriculum!
*Please note: I identify as Queer and will often interchange terms like LGBTQ, LGBTQIA+, Queer, etc.
Published in 2018
Recommended grade level(s):
✨9th-12th
Brief summary:
✨ Chen Chen writes of the uncomfortable homophobia his parents covertly and overtly display at a family dinner with his partner.
Devices to pair:
✨ Allusion to Home Alone
✨ Enjambment
✨ Tone
Published in 2017
Recommended grade level(s):
✨8th-10th
Brief summary:
✨ Ladin writes a poem of encouragement for young folks to unapologetically embrace their identity.
What to teach:
✨ Irony
✨ Metaphor
✨ Coming-of-age & identity themes
Published in 1978
Recommended grade level(s):
✨9th-12th
Brief summary:
✨ Lorde explores what it means to navigate an intersectional, marginalized identity in society.
What to teach:
✨ Anaphora
✨ Term: intersectionality
✨ Text-to-self reflections
Published in 2009
Recommended grade level(s):
✨7th-10th
Brief summary:
✨ A Queer mortician prepares the deceased body of the homophobic person who murdered Harvey Milk.
What to teach:
✨ Situational irony
✨ Allusion
✨ Text-to-world connections
Published in 2020
Recommended grade level(s):
✨6th-8th
Brief summary:
✨ In an extended metaphor for discovering one’s identity, Baez Bendorf writes about following an instinct.
What to teach:
✨ Alliteration
✨ Imagery
✨ Extended metaphor
Final thoughts
If you are looking for resources other than LGBTQ poems for the classroom, check out some of these helpful suggestions:
✨ Making an inclusive space of your classroom
✨ 7 LGBTQ+ YA books
✨ LGBTQ+ short texts
✨ LGBTQ+ middle-grade novels
✨ Teaching LGBTQ+ rights
If you are looking to better understand how to support LGBTQIA+ students, check out these educational resources:
✨ GLSEN: These queer and trans students of color use poetry to put #kindness in action
✨ 2023 Trevor Project National Survey on Mental Health of LGBTQ Young People
✨ The Relationship Between Caring Teachers and the Mental Health of LGBTQ Students
