Still In The Closet

[The Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) organization at my high school, which meets twice per month, generated a list of concerns that they shared with school administration. The focus was specifically about gender identity, the lack of support from school staff, and the daily scrutiny they face as a result of their sexual orientation and gender identity. Through collaboration with my colleagues it was evident that there had been an increase in teacher and student referrals surrounding gender identity. The feedback from GSA clearly identified that as a school we are not meeting the needs of our LGBT students and those struggling with sexual orientation. Members of the GSA clearly feel that teachers ignore negative comments like “gay” and “faggot” when they hear them in class, that teachers may not clearly understand gender neutral language, and that our Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) students do not feel safe and protected in school. Students needed support advocating for their right to use a restroom, correct pronoun, etc., requiring district, community, parent, and colleague

A troubling issue for schools now is how to deal with the issue of homosexuality. The struggle for gay rights often causes heated opposition, particularly on moral grounds from members of religious groups. (Essex, 2005, p. 43) Schools have an obligation to maintain a peaceful environment free of significant disruption, while supporting students' rights of free speech. Schools should ". . . create an environment that is characterized by respect for individual views and divergent forms of expression within reasonable limits. The challenge seems to involve achieving a reasonable balance between an orderly educational environment and respect for the free speech rights of students. Precisely, where do they draw the line?" (Essex, 2005, p. 44)

Martha Irvine, a graduate of the University of Michigan published an article titled Queer Evolution which talked about how the word “Queer” itself has evolved into the mainstream. Originally the word’s definition was to describe something as odd or weird. Society utilized the word “Queer” as an insult to the LGBTQ community. As more sexual orientations are being discovered, “Queer” became a more accepted word in the gay community in order to make things simpler. Irvine’s essay showed that whatever word we use, can affect a person depending on the intention, and the tone of how it’s being said. Irvine’s essay is very similar to Deborah Tannen’s essay You’re Wearing That which talks about the relationship between mother and daughter and how words have established expectations for women based on their appearance and behavior. Another essay that well connects with Tannen and Irvine’s articles is a section from a book written by Michael Kimmel titled Bros Before Hos’’: The Guy Code. Kimmel talks about “The Guy Code”, rules that a man should always follow in order to be considered a real man. Words are the reason why these standards have been established for all genders and sexualities. The relationships between parents and children would be better if words were replaced, which would abolish the expectations that society has for men and women.

In the article, What Do We Say When We Hear ‘Faggot’? by Lenore Gordon, it talks about what teachers can do if students are using derogatory language that suggest that a student might be gay. This article confirms my theory that education is the key when it comes to changing what people think, “name-calling is so common among children, and because it embodies the bigotry learned from adults, it is a good place for educators to begin” (Gordon, 1995, p. 87). This article was written in 1995, but I feel like times are changing and children are learning at a younger age that words like faggot and dyke are not okay things to say. However, that does not mean that it still does not happen. It is our jobs as teachers to education our students and

As a lesbian, there are a few slurs that can trigger a spark of dread in me on instinct. The word faggot is one of the first to come to mind. On occasion a group of teasing friends will use such words as a playful insult among one another--and it feels like I am the only person hearing them yell ‘fire’ in a building full of uncaring people. These words burn into my subconscious like a bundle of sticks being thrown into smoldering embers; the hairs on the back of my neck rise, my hands clench into tight fists, and my eyes dart about fearfully for the perpetrator. It is an ugly word--a crude, cruel word in both sound and meaning. It weighs heavily on the tongue like a condemnation, as it remains to be for gay people today. Therefore, due to the word’s implied hatefulness, our culture needs to shift from using faggot as a playful insult, to leaving it behind as we attempt to become a more diverse and accepting world.

As children we are taught to love and accept other, however, this is not always the case. More often than not we never taught to love those different from us, instead we go on through life only loving those who are similar to us, our unintentional intolerance remaining uncorrected. Growing up without that nurturing hand teaching us to live in a world that is far more diverse than it has ever been, leaves us as intolerant and uneducated adults, whether it is, or is not, by our own doing. In American society, time and time again, the failure to practice what is preached in our so-called values has been our only success. From the segregation of African-Americans to the oppression of Women, and now the fearful and sometimes violent discrimination against LGBTQ oriented individuals is the nation’s most recent atrocity. By standardizing the image of what love and the human identity is to a typical heterosexual individual, society is limiting the diversity of the nation and degrading the lives of so many valuable people. What’s more is the fact that this intolerance that is permeating all levels of society is almost centralized in the most significant aspect of any society: its schools. Schools everywhere are ignoring the high concentration of LGBTQ discrimination by their students and even faculty. It is extremely hard to believe that this kind of behavior is tolerated in schools, not to mention the fact of its being taught in churches all across the nation. With

Our society has been judging gays and lesbians for a long time now. They are all innocent , but some people believe it is a crime to date the same gender. Our society has been judging them for over 29 years. They started judging them in 1988 when a policeman decided to kill a 30 year old gay man for no reason.People are judged if they are not straight and I believe that they shouldn't judge them. The reason why i choose not to judge them is because they are just innocent human beings.

Parents are hard folks to please. Ask anyone and they will say just that. Whatever a child does, they receive some sort of comment or criticism from their folks. While some parents are mean and criticize their children with the intention of hurting them, most parents criticize their children because they care and love their child. It boils down to the language parents’ use with their kin, and the actions behind their language. In Martha Irvine’s essay Queer Evolution: Word Goes Mainstream, she explains the evolution of the word queer and how the word has changed over time from a negative to a word that is seen as more tolerated. Irvine’s ideas are echoed in Deborah Tannen’s You’re Wearing That, and Michael Kimmel’s Bros Before Hos in that words parents use with their children might be harmful without the children understanding the actions behind the words. Irvine explains in her essay that words and the ideas behind the words is suspect to change over time. Tannen and Kimmel point out in their essay’s that this is the case when children interpret their parent’s comments as negative instead of positive.

The generation that we live in today are so quick to make judgements about each other, that we forget how to have normal interactions without being fake or talking poorly about someone. Solely, based on a judgement that we make without even getting to know the person. In the first 3 seconds of an interaction with someone we decide whether we’ll want to talk to someone, or even become friends with them. Which is extensively shown in the picture I have selected with Tim Tebow and his views on religion. As well in the Jason Collins nationally publicized gay outcoming in 2013. These are just two prime examples of how judgmental we have become as a national. We judge each other entirely on our personal views, beliefs, and morality we each express

They treat others different just because they don’t have the same skin tone or because they don’t have the same things as us. If that’s true , is the United States really united ? This country was made for our freedom. Not for others to get made fun of for having the freedom to wear different clothes. It is getting better though. A survey in Chicago schools have shown that kids are getting more comfortable having a gay teacher. Since the beginning of the survey in 1972 the percentage of kids who were comfortable with a gay teacher changed from 52% to 85% in 2012. (via.http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica) If we keep get raising these numbers there will be no prejudice in

Many students may feel hesitant to speak out against anti-gay slurs out of fear of being persecuted themselves. In the U.K. a series of surveys commissioned by Stonewall reported that as many as 93 percent of young gay, lesbian and bisexual people who are ‘‘out’’ at school suffer verbal abuse (Thurlow, 2001). It is evident that it is not a coincidence the LGBTQ youth face the most harassment of any minority at school.

There are individuals that live in fear of showing their true identity to the world because they simply fear that society won’t accept them for having a different sexual orientation. Society advocates that individuals should be able to be proud of who they are, but yet they judge homosexuals for being different. People are taught not to judge others based on their race or religion, so why do they still discriminate against homosexuals? The homosexual subculture is not accepted by society, looked down upon, and misjudged; however, they are human beings and deserve to be treated equally.

Being queer isn't an insult! Many people of the LGBTQ ( lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) community feel attacked by people who are homophobic towards them. People should be informed about the LGBTQ community, and how they are not bad people for being queer. Mainly because there is a big stigma associated with being part of the LGBTQ community.

Who are we as humans to judge the views of others? The world has a population of about seven billion people and the numbers keep rising daily. In the United States alone, there is a population of about three hundred and twenty three million people with that number rising daily as well. With this many people in our country, there is many that are of different ethnic groups than we are. Most people don’t have the same beliefs as far as religion, sexual orientation, social economics, and politics. This being said, there are more than enough people in the United States that judge other people by their beliefs. We as a country need to take a step back and reevaluated ourselves as a whole in order to help this country prosper. Just because someone looks different than you, or believes differently than you doesn’t mean that they aren’t a part of our society, and it doesn’t give a person the right to judge and belittle them.

Our culture emphasizes a mentality that encourages dominance and aggression. Extreme bullying, often using sexual slurs such as "gay, fag, slut and whore," is becoming a common experience for students of all ages, and in particular, for children aged 11-13.