GSA Invitation

This is the text to be sent to teachers, organizers of GSA orgs in theirs schools, inviting them to invite us to come.

POSSIBLE GRAPHIC: Elderberries logo - hi-rez.

Inviting LGBTQ Elders To Talk At Your School is easy!

Elderberries is a group of gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, and two-spirited Nova Scotians aged fifty-plus, along with family members, friends, and supporters.

POSSIBLE GRAPHIC: link to photo of 1981 request xxxxx Note to Dan : as Elderberries, I think we should not claim to be continuous with GAE/GALA, either in the paragraph about the Speakers' Bureau or in the suggested graphic. Does Anita perhaps have a photo of an actual Elderberries speaking engagement? xxxxx

From our founding we have maintained a Speakers' Bureau which is available to talk to schools or community groups about LGBT life in general, and about our experiences living and coming out as LGBT persons in the less open-minded society of thirty to sixty years ago.

Our presentations are free of charge, and travel costs are covered by a [SPONSORING ORGANIZATION - PRIDE OR ELDERBERRIES]. The speakers will gratefully welcome offers of coffee and tea!

How Do I Get Some LGBTQ Elders To Speak at My School?

POSSIBLE GRAPHIC: link to 2016 photo of us at a school

First, pick a time when you’d like us there, preferably providing at least two weeks' notice. It’s much easier for you to pick a date and check with us, rather than asking when we’re available. We are mostly retired, so our hours tend to be flexible. Email your suggested date and time to AtlanticCanadaElderberries@gmail.com and we’ll try to get back to you promptly.

We can work within a one-hour time slot if necessary, but 1.5 hours or two hours works much better.

If you need to know exactly who is going to speak, we can tell you a few days in advance.

A couple of days before, invite your students to submit questions. We much prefer to get the questions on recipe/index cards, which lets your students ask them more or less anonymously.

Don’t worry about offending us: we were over getting offended before they were born. Please be aware that in discussing the past, our speakers may use terms that are now considered hurtful or offensive.

You don’t have to send the questions to us ahead of time, but do let us know in advance if there is a specific topic you’d like us to address.

What happens?

Our Speakers' Bureau team is usually a group of two to four. You can introduce the group (we will supply a text if you want), give us the cards with the questions, and hand things over to us.

We’ll introduce ourselves individually, sort the deck of questions, and use about 3/4 of the time answering them. After that we’ll open the floor - that is, ask the students for questions, either fresh or followup.

Then there are thanks all round and we head home.

If you plan to have the students evaluate the session, we would be glad to hear of any feedback you get.