Our Birthday Non-Update: A Conversation with SZP Co-Creators Meg & Sam
Why we’re not releasing a bunch of new stuff this summer like we have for the past several years.
Why we’re not releasing a bunch of new stuff this summer like we have for the past several years.
We didn’t want to get in our own way, and we decided to focus on creating a(nother) free online resource and supporting from afar instead of flying everywhere.
There are so many more marginalized/diverse gender and sexuality identities beyond LGBTQ. Which is why you might see longer acronyms used. Rather than continue to add letters (and make an unwieldy thing) the + is often added to the end of an acronym to indicate this expansive list of gender/sexuality identities.
A handy lil e-book that demystifies LGBTQ+ terminology
A step-by-step, activity-by-activity walkthrough to plan, prepare, and run a two-day train-the-trainer retreat.
Few different ways. (1) Reach out to universities/colleges in your local area to see if they offer Safe Zone training. They may also call it ally training, safer spaces training, or a myriad of other names. When you reach out describe what you’re looking for, i.e. “a foundational LGBTQ+ inclusion workshop” rather than a specific… Read more »
It’s awesome that you want folks who visit your website to know that you’re LGBTQ+ friendly. However, to us, Safe Zone stickers imply that you went through some sort of training (which is why ours say “Safe Zone Trained”). Many folks want to put Safe Zone trained stickers on their website so they can visually… Read more »
Yes! We have a Spanish translation of our Foundational curriculum. We will be releasing it on the site soon but in the meantime, if you want to join our group of beta testers please send us a request at [email protected] and we’ll send you a copy!
Yep! It’s important for us that our courses are offered in the spirit of the gift, and that you’re grateful with what you’ve received. If you’re not, we want to make it right. If you enroll in a course and aren’t satisfied, simply fill out this form to request a full or partial refund. We’ll process… Read more »
🙂 If you want to pay for the course, but can’t (or don’t want to) pay the standard tuition, we have a few options for you: You can sign up for the course under the “full scholarship” option and make a donation of whatever amount you chose using this link. You can sign up… Read more »
Nope! Once you register you’ve got “lifetime access” which means you can access the course indefinitely (as long as the Safe Zone Project, and our online courses, exist). Bonus: whenever we improve/update/add to the course, your materials will be automatically updated and added to.
Right on this website. You can complete the course and never leave this website or need to download anything. There are options to add some materials to your Google Drive, or to print them if you prefer, but that’s all optional and you can do everything right here.
Immediately! As soon as you enroll in the course, you’ll be able to jump right in. All the course material is all right there at your disposal for you to work through at any speed you like.
Few things on this one. If you ask someone “how do you identify?” they may not really understand what you’re asking so it’s important first to clarify (for yourself) what do you mean and then why are you asking that question? If you’re asking someone “do you identify as a man or a woman” so… Read more »
Nope! It’s easy to get this confused, particularly because T is included in the LGBTQ+ acronym (T standing for “Transgender”). The key is to remember that transgender is referring to someone’s gender identity and not their sexuality orientation. Transgender people can be gay, straight, pansexual, queer, asexual, or any other sexual orientation (just like cisgender… Read more »
Anyway that you’d like! Honestly we don’t mind, feel free to just cite the website name, cite our names, don’t cite us at all, whatever works best for you.
Email us! Seriously. We create everything on this website so that people have better resources, and if you’re looking for a resource likely someone else is too! So let us know what you need, we’d love to hear from you.
Nope! Much of the content and structure of these activities exists in what we think of as “the commons,” or the collective knowledge and wisdom of educators who have been doing gender and sexuality education/activism for a long time. Most of the activities exist out there already in multiple iterations and variations, and we (Meg… Read more »
A 101 activity is one where the participants/learners do not need any prior knowledge in order for the activity to go well and for them to learn/get something out of the activity. However, those with prior knowledge will still likely benefit! On the other hand, a 201 activity requires some prior familiarity with the topic… Read more »
Set your training up for success by beginning with shared group expectations.
Moving from one general internship to two: Seasonal Interns & Project Interns
Absolutely! If you have a specific project that you’d like to do for The Safe Zone Project, email us at [email protected] — we’d love to hear about it and if it’s a good fit, support you in doing it!
Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis. When someone applies for a project we review their application and get back to them about next steps. We do our best to get back to folks within 2 weeks of submitting their application.
Intentionally. All applications are reviewed personally by Meg & Sam. Beyond meeting the minimum requirements for that specific project, we consider an intern’s passion for the project, ability to commit to the project, and ensure we’d be a good match to supporting them in completing the project.
Jess is from East Tennessee and would love to facilitate a Safe Zone training for Seth MacFarlane
The SZP team is looking to bring on a spring intern!
The Safe Zone Project is volunteer-run labor of love by Meg and Sam. We do the content creation, website design, coding, graphic design, writing, and communications (and other things we forgot to list here) all on a volunteer basis. Funds to support the operations and content on the site come from gifts and donations (from… Read more »
On the internet! Really though, we don’t have a physical headquarters. Meg lives in Seattle, WA and Sam lives in Austin, TX the vast majority of the work happens through using online communication and collaboration tools (here’s to you Google Drive).
Awesome! It often takes just one dedicated person to start offering these trainings to a whole new population. We are currently developing an online program for individuals who want to become Safe Zone trainers (like yourself) called Starlab (sign up here to get on the list for future cohorts!) Also, know that there is no formal barrier… Read more »
Nope! Not just for universities. While Safe Zone programs are concentrated in higher education (and often at four-year universities in particular), there are organizations in all different fields who have and are starting Safe Zone programs. There are Safe Zone programs and folks conducting Safe Zone workshops in: Hospitals & medical schools Small local non-profits… Read more »
It’s birthday #3 and we’ve got a new 3.0 curriculum to match!
Creating an opportunity for people to ask the questions they’re afraid to ask — with less risk.
Meet the newest member of the Safe Zone Project toolbox – Unlocking the Magic of Facilitation
Activity for participants to reflect on their early lessons and impressions of trans* people and identity.
The world keeps changing and so do the words that we use to describe it.
This year we got to do a lot of awesome things, w/ some awesome people. Here’s to another great year!
We think the SZP is neat. And we want to bring you another awesome free resource website, but we need your help! That’s why we’ve launched our kickstarter today!
We thought our ready-to-rock curriculum was a solid start. This is even better.
An activity that will provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on their first understandings and assumptions of LGBTQ individuals.
How to get feedback from your participants! Guaranteed.
This activity helps participant investigate privilege by inviting them to identify what privileges they find personally important.
To make the biggest impact it’s important to stick the ending.
The best way to get better.
How a style of question asking and digging in for more information can bring your workshop to new heights
The HOWs and WHYs of something that is simply a MUST if you want to continuously improve as a facilitator
How facilitation and social justice are like peanut butter and educational jelly
Some things you do (not) need to know before you start your journey as an all-star social justice facilitator
There are lots of different moments where we get thrown off our metaphoric game. Let’s prepare for those moments before they happen. Together.
Being a social justice educator – you often only get one shot to make an impact – help us make the most of those opportunities and get published on this site and save the world with us!
Meg and Sam help you get acquainted with their brand new labor of love, The Safe Zone Project
Gender/sexuality workshop connoisseur, the queertastic founder of Pride for All talks about one of her dream projects. This one.
A lecture to help participants become more aware of and sensitive to asexuality.
An opportunity for participants to work through how they would handle particular situations regarding gender, sexuality and LGBTQ issues.
This activity creates the opportunity to for participants to ask what they are most interested in with anonymity.
An activity that provokes reflection on the different aspects of your life that would be altered if you identified with a different sexuality or gender identity.
This activity focuses on what are our salient identities in particular circumstances. How do our different identities intersect, interact, and affect our daily lives.
This tiny activity demonstrates how changing your perspective can make something look completely different!
Getting started with your curriculum is as easy as 1, 2, 3.
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