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Website Critique

Topic:  Sexual Orientation

Organization:  Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays

Website:  http://www.pflag.org

This U.S.-based organization consists of parents, families, friends, and supporters of lesbians, gays,  bisexuals, and transgendered people. 

The well-organized and comprehensive website has different sections: 

A Support section, which has information on advocacy and support for lesbians, gays,  bisexuals, and transgendered people and their supporters.  An excellent “Frequently Asked Questions” page dispels some myths about homosexuality and provides useful information and statistics.

An Advocacy section has current information on legislation, government and institutional policy, and activism.  There is also a section on how to start a local PFLAG chapter.

The section most pertinent to us as educators is the Education section, which has plenty of resources and material.  The most useful is the Schools and Youth section, which lists ways that homosexual youth are at risk in schools and ways to combat homophobia in schools.  On this page there is a link to a downloadable and printable brochure, “From Our House to the Schoolhouse:  A Brochure for Educators.”  This is a very useful pamphlet that discusses homophobia, how to combat it, and lists additional resources.  Another good resource pamphlet is “Tips for professionals who work with GLBTQ youth…” which has twelve tips to help teachers work effectively and respectfully with youth.

Positive comments: The design of this website is excellent, with easily navigable menus and links.  The variety and amount of useful information is high.

Criticisms:  This web page has excellent content for older youth and adults, but is not very “kid-friendly”.  Elementary-age students may not be interested in it enough to spend much time reading it.  There is a Canadian version of this website which has some of the same resources, and lists local PFLAG chapters, but the information is not as comprehensive as the US-based site.  The image-heavy pages on the US site may take a long time to load on some older computers or on machines with dialup connections.

Overall, I would rate this website as excellent.