Fremont Parents Nursery School Fundraiser: Gender and Play for Children ages 2-12

Fremont Parents Nursery School is hosting a Zoom Parent Education Fundraiser on April 24th with Joshua Jernigan. The topic is Gender and Play for children ages 2-12. Please join us!!! Please share with your Parents and Teachers!

Purchase tickets here

About Joshua:

Joshua Jernigan is a Kentucky-born LGBTQ+ rights advocate and educator. He currently lives near Charlotte, NC with his husband of 13 years and their 7-year-old daughter. Joshua’s first forays into activism began with his work in an online support group as a teen in the late 90s, prior to being open about his own identity. In this role, he worked to help prevent and mitigate mental health crises through an online community. Joshua began his professional career as an early childhood educator and has allowed his passions for educating and advocating for queer rights to guide him. While growing up in the Southeast, Joshua has seen the desperate need for activism to support the LGBTQ+ community, especially among young children.

In 2018, Joshua founded a non-profit organization called Gender Education Network, dedicated to building safe communities for transgender children 12 and under. Since 2018, his organization has reached out to more than 200 parents of transgender youth from every state in the country and 6 foreign countries. Locally, the group's monthly meet-ups have helped over 50 families to make connections and learn that their transgender children are not alone and that they are supported.

In addition to the direct services offered to families with transgender children, GEN also provides outreach to the broader community through educational opportunities for community members and Drag Story Hour. Their Drag Story Hour programs have gained national acclaim as a prime example of promoting literacy through diverse representation in literature. Joshua is also a board member of the national chapter of Drag Story Hour and is a pre-eminent member of their curriculum and book reviewing team.

This year, Joshua also helped organize and run the first pride event in his home region of Union County. This event drew a great deal of controversy as the county is largely conservative. Despite the controversy, the event went spectacularly and many members of the community came out to celebrate their identities in a home they never dreamed would accept them for who they are. Joshua is also a homeschool advocate who fights for accurate historical representations and inclusive histories that highlight the whole of a person.

For several years, he has turned this passion into a series of online classes for students of all ages, focused on LGBTQ+ historical figures and the history of the

LGBTQ+ rights movement in the U.S. He also has given a series of online lectures to 3000+ homeschooling parents on the importance of inclusive histories and the best ways to be a good ally to the LGBTQ+ community. Lastly, Joshua has published a children's picture book that celebrates and affirms all transgender kids with compassionate and gentle dialogue to inspire honest conversations and positive change.