Download Safe Zone Curriculum
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Your Stereotypical Life Story
Highlighting the pervasiveness of stereotypes, as well as their inability to accurately tell individuals’ stories
Influences & Inspirations
Want to know where we got some our inspirations and influences for the activities and curriculum we share on this website? We would love to share that with you – and that is what this page is all about. We say some of our inspirations and influences because we have been learning and unlearning things… Read more »
Uncopyright
Everything on this site, unless otherwise noted, including the activities, curriculum, articles, and blog posts are uncopyrighted. What this means: we wish everything we’ve created here to be part of the public domain, there is no need to ask permission to use any of it – it is yours to do as you please. While… Read more »
First Impressions of LGBTQ People
An activity that will provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on their first understandings and assumptions of LGBTQ individuals.
Participant Feedback
How to get feedback from your participants! Guaranteed.
Privilege for Sale
This activity helps participant investigate privilege by inviting them to identify what privileges they find personally important.
Wrap Up & Feedback
To make the biggest impact it’s important to stick the ending.
Vocabulary Extravaganza
An activity to get to know common (and some less common) LGBTQ related vocabulary!
Self-Feedback
The best way to get better.
Resources
A massive list of articles, websites, videos, and tools to keep (or start) learning about LGBTQ+ people, identities, and experiences
Happy Birthday to Us: Two Big Announcements for You
You’re probably thinking “Oh no! I didn’t get The Safe Zone Project a present.” Awkward. We know. But we were prepared.
11 Invaluable Lessons on the Path to Becoming an All-Star Social Justice Educator
If you’re looking for a few ways to up your facilitation game, look no further.
Mastering the “Yes, And…” Rule
How to redirect a someone in a social justice conversation without shutting them down
How to Read a Group
The importance of responding to the group’s needs, checking in with individual members, and how to pick up what they’re putting down
Compassionate Curiosity
How a style of question asking and digging in for more information can bring your workshop to new heights
Letters to Self: The Importance of Reflective Feedback
The HOWs and WHYs of something that is simply a MUST if you want to continuously improve as a facilitator
Speaking for a Group Identity: A How-Not-To
Responding to the request to speak on behalf of all [blank] people
Finding Your Style: You Gotta Werk at Your Work
The importance of putting your personal spin on any curriculum you facilitate
Facilitation is the Name of the Game
How facilitation and social justice are like peanut butter and educational jelly
You Don’t Have to Know it All: Getting Started and Diving In
Some things you do (not) need to know before you start your journey as an all-star social justice facilitator
Marked vs. Unmarked Identities with Deborah Tannen
Exploring the concept of identity from an important perspective: when it matters more, and when it goes unnoticed
Navigating Triggers with Kathy Obear
There are lots of different moments where we get thrown off our metaphoric game. Let’s prepare for those moments before they happen. Together.
Play with us! Expiring soon!
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!
Responding to Buzzfeed: “Everything You Wanted to Know About Transgender People”
A few suggestions for small improvements and additions (but an overall major thumbs up!) to a great Buzzfeed article about trans* people.
All-Star Facilitator Series
The All-Star Facilitator Series is a series (go figure!) of lessons, exercises, and articles designed to help you take your LGBTQ awareness and social justice training facilitation to the next level. We have rolled out our initial batch of activities and articles and would love for you to explore! Sign up below for exclusive access… Read more »
Contact
Want to get in touch? We’re a two human (plus two puppy) tiny team, so we appreciate your patience as we get back to you. Click here to draft an Email Or email [email protected] to reach the team.
We are LIVE! Welcome to the Safe Zone Project!
Meg and Sam help you get acquainted with their brand new labor of love, The Safe Zone Project
Coming Out Story
An experiment in empathizing with a hypothetical person’s experiences, struggles, and setbacks with the lifelong process that is coming out.
This is Meg Bolger, Safe Zone Project Co-Creator
Gender/sexuality workshop connoisseur, the queertastic founder of Pride for All talks about one of her dream projects. This one.
Meet Sam Killermann, Safe Zone Project Co-Creator
Between It’s Pronounced Metrosexual, Gamers Against Bigotry, and A Guide to Gender, Sam has his hand in a lot of pots. Here he explains why he added this one to the stovetop.
Safe Zone Blog
Featuring announcements from Meg & Sam, updates to the LGBTQ+ curriculum, facilitator tips & tricks, introductions to gender & sexuality concepts, and more
Genderbread Person
Using the Genderbread Person as a guide, the activity leads participants to understand the important difference between gender, sex, and sexual orientation.
Ace Inclusivity
A lecture to help participants become more aware of and sensitive to asexuality.
Activity Classification Guide
How we organize activities on this site and in our curriculum
Training Resources
Curriculum and activities are the big things that you need to run a great workshop. And there are a few other tools we think that are essential in any training. Below you can download these additional workshop resources! They are also always included in our the facilitator guides for all our curricula. Facilitator Self-Feedback Form… Read more »
Get Involved
Become an Intern We have three internship terms throughout the year (Fall, Spring, and Summer) and room for one intern during each term. Read all about it on the team page. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Looking for other ways to get involved with the Safe Zone Project? We’d love to have you!… Read more »
Services
The Safe Zone Project team (Meg & Sam) are no longer offering in-person trainings or train-the-trainer visits. We are incredibly passionate about ensuring that people who want to host a training or start a safe zone program in their community or get the support they need to do so. Instead of offering in-person train-the-trainer… Read more »
Frequently Answered Questions
Have questions about the website? About our thoughts on Safe Zone workshops? About the words we use on this site? You, m’friend, have come to right right place.
About
The Safe Zone Project (SZP) is a free online resource providing curricula, activities, and other resources for educators facilitating Safe Zone trainings (sexuality, gender, and LGBTQ+ education sessions), and learners who are hoping to explore these concepts on their own. Co-created by Meg Bolger and Sam Killermann in 2013, the SZP has become the go-to resource… Read more »
Scenarios
An opportunity for participants to work through how they would handle particular situations regarding gender, sexuality and LGBTQ issues.
Anonymous Q&A
This activity creates the opportunity to for participants to ask what they are most interested in with anonymity.
Identity Time
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.
Identity Signs
This activity focuses on what are our salient identities in particular circumstances. How do our different identities intersect, interact, and affect our daily lives.
Introductions
An essential component to any workshop, intros are when participants learn a little bit about you, and you a little bit about them.
Philosophies of Safe Zone Workshops
Safe Zone Workshops are wonderfully unique opportunities for people to talk, learn, and ask questions about sexuality and gender in a non-judgemental, safe, educational environment. These are essential elements to any successful Safe Zone: a safe space free of judgements where people can honestly communicate with each other, educate one another, and ask any and all… Read more »
About Meg & Sam
Ever wonder what happens when those kids who are just a little too into the whole education, workshopy, social justice stuff grow up? Hey there! Pleased to meet you. We are Meg Bolger and Sam Killermann – professional, enthusiastic, and head-and-heart dedicated social justice educators. We are the co-creators of The Safe Zone Project and we are so… Read more »
The Safe Zone Project
Ground Rules
We believe that in a short workshop – like a Safe Zone (yes… we believe 3 hours is short)- it is not the wisest use of time to have participants create ground rules themselves. Sam and Meg simply lay these out after introductions and prior to any activities happening. Feel free to modify these so that… Read more »
How to Use This Site
This site is a powerful resource that was created just for you. Let us help you to put it to use. This site provides a Foundational Safe Zone workshop curriculum to help you facilitate a meaningful, effective, enjoyable training a library of activities to help you expand designed to help expand understanding of gender and sexuality issues… Read more »
Changing Perspective
This tiny activity demonstrates how changing your perspective can make something look completely different!
All Activities
The Safe Zone Project collection of activities for teaching and facilitating discussions on LGBTQ identities, allyship, and gender and sexuality.