Safe Spaces

Just by the name of this article, I knew it wasn't going to be a positive one, rather sharing horrible stories of experiences. So I read other people's blogs before I started reading, and I was even more shocked than the actual article. Many people wrote that they had no interaction with LGBT communities, or even knew anything about it. They wrote that they're schools didn't address it or notice it, which is just awful to me. This is a topic near and dear to my heart. My close family members are drag queens, gay men who dress as women. (Some of them are really attractive men and then they transform into beautiful women. It's amazing.) So I've been around them, in both forms, my whole life and it is nothing different from everyone else. About five of my neighbors are lesbians, all with one or two children. They are definitely my favorite neighbors, not because they are lesbians, but because all my other neighbors are a lot weirder than a different sexual orientation. I was in a school that accepted these students and it was great when those kids felt they could be who they are. Not that we spoke of LGBT or focused on it in school, because we didn't have too. They were accepted and treated just like everyone else. I've never known a Transgender until about three years ago. I volunteer for Special Olympics and a male joined the swim team. We became really great friends and always talked. I later found out that he was born a female, but felt that it wasn't who he really was. It went through everything and now he is simply happy. How are you going to discriminate against someone who is happy? 

I really liked Marley's approach, the teacher who helps educators in classrooms k-12, she address the questions and isn't afraid to see the response of others. She speaks of own experiences in her classroom and also gives out articles, which I think is such a great idea to get people more aware. Don't treat this like an elephant in the room. Don't tiptoe around the differences like it isn't there. In high school, I took a psychology class and one of the topics we learned about was a shortened version of LGBT. There was a student in the class who was a lesbian, and another who was gay, and the teach asked both of them too share experiences and explain to the rest of the class what it means. It was really eye-opening to the rest of the class. If a teacher is just dismissing it, the student will feel out of place and the teacher just shouldn't be a teacher. (Sorry, harsh I know) But truthfully, as a teacher, you are expected to educate students in all you know, and I believe that it goes just beyond the 4 basic Subjects. We are supposed to teach them about life, world, and everything in between. So if we aren't going to address the reality of the world, what are we really teaching students? That is one of the realities of the world. 

I also loved Patrick's approach into telling the students not to use the word "gay" like they were. He handled that situation like a real teacher would. If I was in that situation, I would have done the same exact thing. Gay is not a word to call something or someone stupid, and it is certainly not an insult. On the other hand, Marcus' teacher did not handle the situation correctly. Sending a student to the principals because he used the word Gay in the correct way? I don't understand how a teacher can feel that is a right thing to do. I was upset just reading that.  "Individual acts can palliate, but cannot end these problems."-McIntosh. These are individual acts that can absolutely end these problems in not accepting humans. 

This article I feels relate to the first text we read this year. Johnson described the issues that occurred in the schools and what they truly meant. This is one of the situations that are now more prominent in schools and how we have to embrace it, rather than ignore it. I also relate this to the text, Power, Privilege and Differences, where Kozol says that we don't use the word "privilege" because we don't like to accept it. "Transgender," "bi," "gay," are all words that people are afraid to use for no reason. It doesn't make any sense to me. This also relates to SCWAAMP. The S stands for straightness, which is something that America accepts as the correct view in our society, which is wrong. Things are changing everyday. Everyone who is anything besides straight is a PERSON. They are a human beings in this world; no difference between me and you. We need to start accepting and doing something about it. 

P.S. I didn't know where to put this into my article, but this is a really cool website, GLSEN: Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network. I found an interesting article they wrote about research based on LGBT in middle school. I wrote too much already, but I hope someone brings up Teen Suicides because of these reasons!!! 

Topic Point: I could go on forever about this topic, so sorry for being so straight forward! But how would you handle a situation as a teacher if something came up in your classroom one day? Also, I know it's a difficult question. But why are so many people not welcoming to LGBT's? Are they afraid of differences?