Queer in the Classroom: Supporting the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Youth in Education is an educational resource that serves as a source of information for educators and provides guidance on cultivating supportive environments for LGBTQ students. The curriculum synthesizes a wide array of existing research, pedagogy, and insight into a centralized space to allow a complete understanding of increased mental health risks facing queer students within education. This work will emphasize the importance the learning environment has on the development of gender and sexual minority students’ mental wellbeing and the role teachers and other school staff play in fostering a supportive atmosphere that allows students to thrive.

Queer in the Classroom seeks to address the consistent heteronormativity which alienates and puts at risk queer youth within the classroom. A lack of consideration and support for LGBTQ issues has been shown to correlate with a disproportionately high representation of mental illness within LGBTQ+ students and harm their ability to succeed academically. Providing teachers with theoretical understanding and practical knowledge to take proactive measures regarding LGBTQ+ issues will serve to tackle one of the root causes of mental illness within the queer community, cultivating teachers as leaders in social change through the school system and into society at large.