A panel discussion that offered AFS community members a deeper understanding of questions students may be considering about gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation and available resources drew a crowd of about 40 parents to the Faulkner Library on February 6.

The All Voices Family Alliance sponsored the program that featured four panelists, who offered insights about gender fluidity as they answered questions presented by Upper School History Teacher Drew Benfer, who served as moderator. The program was titled “Breaking the Binary: Gender Reality vs. Traditional Norms.”

One of the panelists, Michael Roach, a former AFS faculty member who is now doing research on gender identity as a graduate student, spoke about the need to validate the existence of a multitude of genders.

Another panelist, Libby Parker, who runs the PRIDE Clinic for Einstein Healthcare Network’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, has made a point of using the self-descriptive pronouns “they” and “them.” The panelist described feeling eviscerated and invisible after a magazine ignored those choices when publishing an article about Libby.

Another highlight of the discussion came near the beginning of the program when a parent offered that a child’s gender exploration was very much a journey for a parent, too.

The AFS All Voices Family Alliance plans three big events a year. Up next will be “Many Voices Day: Grown Up Edition” on May 12.