Earliest Beliefs: What Shapes Our Perceptions of LGBT People?

A GLSEN Lunchbox Resource
Jan 13, 2003

Our ideas about people who are different from us come from many places, such as family, religion, school, peers, and the media. Where did your beliefs about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people originate? Work with a partner or small group to answer the questions below regarding your earliest beliefs about LGBT people.

1. Think back to your childhood. What were some of the first things you ever learned about LGBT people (positive, negative, or neutral)?

2. Who taught you the first things you learned about LGBT people?

3. How were the ideas transmitted?

Food for Thought:

-Which of your early beliefs were formed from direct experience and which were formed from stereotypes or indirect information?

-Which of those early ideas do you still believe and/or act upon?

-How might your early beliefs impact both yourself and others?

-Which of those ideas do you need to work on changing?



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