school challenges, bullying, GSA, advocacy, lesbian parents, queer parents, Punjabi culture, Sikh, Indigenous culture, gender fluidity
Tara: Yah, and tell us a little bit about their school experience. Have they enjoyed school? Has it been a good experience for them?
Mita: It’s been an interesting experience. Um, they go through phases where they really really really love school and love everything about school and then they have their challenges where school is not quite working the way that they want it to work for them. Um, where they would like something a little bit more like this, or more like this and the usual frustrations.
Tara: Right, right.
Nicole: Some bullying.
Tara: There has been some bullying, yah?
Mita: Nikka, the elder, she’s a part of- she’s the head of her school’s GSA.
Tara: Yah.
Mita: She really really really has a problem with anybody bullying anybody, hates seeing it, so she takes a proactive stance and said the school needs one, and went ahead and started setting it up. And we help. We give guidance. We say “this is how you do it if you want to, this is how other are dealing with it”. Um, we have friends who have kids the same age, lesbian parents or queer parents and... So the girls have always experienced everything. They’ve experienced Punjabi culture. My parents are traditional Punjabi Sikh and they’ve experienced--
Nicole: Native stuff.
Mita: native stuff, and it’s like they’re somewhere with an understanding of different cultures and different ways of moving in the world depending on who they’re with and how to adapt.
Tara: What a gift. What a gift. So, um, what kinds of things do they do in the GSA? What kinds of things do they tell you—talk to you about?
Mita: Right now their biggest thing that they’re really really really excited about exploring is gender fluidity.