Maine lgbtq schools
LGBTQ+ Youth Programs in Maine
Supporting Maine LGBTQ+ through Progressing Programs
At OUT Maine, we seek to strengthen communities by changing the very systems that serve youth — schools, health look after, foster care, community organizations, and more. At the center of our attempts are youth programs that include weekly groups and activities, a scholarship program, our free chest binder program, youth overnights, and more parent and teen programs that support Diverse youth and help build welcoming, safe spaces. You’ll find inclusion training, Diverse education resources, kits for educators and professionals, that programs and help medical and mental health professionals that support LGBTQ+ youth. Our statewide approach is an expanding circle of assist and connection. No other organization in Maine focuses exclusively on listening and responding to the needs of LGBTQ+ youth.
Find Programs for Youth, Programs for Parents, Programs for Professionals and Training Programs in Maine. Or, request a consultation for setting up a GSTA at your school.
Questions about OUT Maine programs for LGBTQ+ youth, families, professionals, and schools? Contact us at program@outmaine.org.
State Profiles
Maine’s Sex Education Snapshot
There have been incremental advancements in sex education in Maine over the past three years, signifying a slow but steady strive to make curriculum more comprehensive statewide. In 2017, the state passed Legislative Directive 1180, requiring infant sexual abuse prevention training in schools. In 2019, Representative Matthea Daughtry championed Legislative Directive 773, an ultimately successful bill that requires comprehensive family being education to include order on affirmative consent. This success marked a significant step forward for Maine’s sex education requirements. While educators report that some schools in Maine hold included instruction on okay for many years, they view the new statute as an important opportunity to ensure that all schools include uniform direction statewide. Despite these successes, advocates must continue their efforts to support schools in implementing advanced curriculum that is inclusive of the needs of all students.
While Maine schools are required to teach sex education, curriculum is not required to be comprehensive. Curriculum must include medically accurate instruction on
Maine high school students recognize as lesbian, gay, pansexual or transgender at far higher rates than similarly aged students outside of Maine, and the number of students who determine as LGB or T has increased sharply since 2017, according to facts from Maine Department of Education (MDOE).
It’s one of the most significant trends to emerge from the Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey (MIYHS), a biennial survey of Maine common school students MDOE conducts in partnership with the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.
But very few Maine educational facility officials or policy makers are asking why the trend exists, or what might be causing it.
According to MIYHS data, 29.3 percent of Maine elevated school students identified as non-heterosexual or transgender in 2021. That includes 12.3 percent who say they are bisexual, 4.6 percent described as “questioning,” 4.9 percent who have a sexual orientation not offered on the survey, 3.9 percent who are lgbtq+ or lesbian, and 3.6 percent who say they are transgender.
If those numbers from the MDOE survey are accurate, then the findings suggest Maine’s high school population is a significant outlier.
A poll by t
Why isn’t Maine’s preferred K-12 gender self curriculum more usable to parents?
In the aftermath of widespread pandemic-era learning disruptions, many parents and community members are seeking more data on what is being taught in Maine’s classrooms. While the administration of Maine Gov. Janet Mills maintains distance from the efforts of school boards and teachers, several recent developments spotlight the extent to which the mention government has sanctioned potentially controversial lesson plans.
During the era of remote education over the 2020-21 school year, the Mills administration and the Maine Department of Education (DOE) commissioned online study modules to facilitate the sharing of curricula around the state. A lesson plan celebrating “LBGT Activism” was published by a local kindergarten teacher, for which she was paid $1,000 by the Maine DOE to produce. In the video, the teacher defined a transgender person as someone whose “doctor guessed wrong” when they were born.
This lesson was created for kindergarteners. At best, it was an oversimplification of a complex issue (especially for five-year-olds). At worst, it was state-sponsored medical disinforma
Here, the LGBTQ+ people is not some separate, isolated collective. We’re part of the UMF fabric. Always have been. Always will be.
We’re woven into the very tapestry of the institution: across all academic programs; in every club and organization; we’re in our athletics, sports and recreation programs; in scholar government and numerous student leadership positions. We’re also in many academic departments (faculty and staff) and administrative departments (staff) across campus.
Here, it’s just not a big deal. It is … but it isn’t. If that makes sense.
Back before you were born, in the late 80’s / early 90’s, UMF pioneered one of the very first LGBTQ+ learner organizations in northern New England. Our President was one of the first openly gay college presidents in all of New England. We strongly supported the EqualityME company and participated in the annual Portland (and later, Bangor) Pride Parades — all of this way before it was cool to do so.
For years the University of Maine at Farmington has received one of the utmost ratings a college can receive fromCampus Pride, the foremost national organization that recognizes colleges for taking steps t