CAN Schools Get It Right?
(Hi everyone! Lurker here, usually under a different account, though)
Do you think it's possible for schools to be able to handle LGBT issues well? Tolerance, acceptance, responding to homophobia, ect.? We have a tendency to focus on the negative - humans in general are neurologically hardwired to do that - but that means we tend to lose sight of the positive. A not-so-recent assault on myself and a recent-recount of said assault has got me thinking about it.
Last week, my chapter of Human Rights Watch: Student Task Force hosted a Children's Rights Camp at our school. We had multiple tents concerning different rights of children, and as Vice-President of my school's Gay-Straight Alliance, I was put in charge of the LGBT Rights tent. We gave short presentations throughout the day concerning LGBT issues, including violence and discrimination against teens.
Our school is incredibly liberal, known for a high number of democrats, liberal policies, laid-back attitude, everything. The people here are incredibly tolerant and accepting of multiple races, religions, nationalities, ethnic groups - and sexuality. We're not completely free from homophobia, which most people knew. What most people didn't know was that we are also not completely free from homophobic violence - or, they didn't know until I told them otherwise.
As part of our presentation, one of the other kids would say, "1 in 5 LGBT teens report being assaulted at school..." And I would finish that off with saying, "And I would know because I'm one of them." That alone freaked out a lot of people. Even more people were surprised as I related my story of being jumped by two boys - who in all likelihood didn't even go to the school - two years ago. I haven't really thought about it much since then, but I'm certainly thinking about it now.
It wasn't a "bad" fight for me. The fight itself was short and light - I've gotten into longer and worse fights with friends over stupider things - and the injuries weren't bad - I went on to do a dance recital that night, in fact, and I was just fine. The biggest shock was that two guys who I didn't even know, and who had absolutely no connection to me whatsoever, would actually attack me - just for being bisexual. (Like I said, I've been in fights before - but with people I knew, for reasons I fully understood).
One of the big things was that I never reported it to anyone - it was almost a year before I even told anyone about it at a later GSA meeting (back before I was VP). I was the only one who'd ever been directly assaulted at school (probably inappropriate, but I made a lot of jokes that it was to make up for the fact I was the one with the most accepting parents of my sexuality in the group/GSA, a lot more than the parents of those around me). In hindsight, though, I probably should have.
I was scared, and it wasn't even because of my school itself. Overall, I'd become used to all the horror stories of schools' responses to homophobia and LGBT students. Because it had been a small fight, almost negligible to me, I decided to not bother, because I didn't want to risk running into a hostile administration. Then I forgot about it all together.
The fight itself was still minor, but the assault was not, and now I regret not reporting it - especially since I know my school a little better, and am 95% confident they would have handled it respectfully and sincerely. But the stories of other schools overrode my own understanding and reality of my own school.
Maybe we also need to start thinking about the good things going for LGBT youth in America and around the world.
So have at it - what are some positive stories in your area or that you know of? Especially in relation to places of education and LGBTQ students? How have schools handled LGBT issues well? How have schools learned from past mistakes? Or from other schools' mistakes? Are there any cases where there was never "an issue" in the first place, and from the moment they were first confronted with the reality of it schools had positive responses to LGBT students in their schools?
Anything that made you smile, or at least hopeful and positive, basically. I didn't report my own assault because the constant negativity from other schools reported the reality of my own school, and I regret not doing so now. Let's generate some positivity to get students going - and make them just that little bit less afraid. :)
Do you think it's possible for schools to be able to handle LGBT issues well? Tolerance, acceptance, responding to homophobia, ect.? We have a tendency to focus on the negative - humans in general are neurologically hardwired to do that - but that means we tend to lose sight of the positive. A not-so-recent assault on myself and a recent-recount of said assault has got me thinking about it.
Last week, my chapter of Human Rights Watch: Student Task Force hosted a Children's Rights Camp at our school. We had multiple tents concerning different rights of children, and as Vice-President of my school's Gay-Straight Alliance, I was put in charge of the LGBT Rights tent. We gave short presentations throughout the day concerning LGBT issues, including violence and discrimination against teens.
Our school is incredibly liberal, known for a high number of democrats, liberal policies, laid-back attitude, everything. The people here are incredibly tolerant and accepting of multiple races, religions, nationalities, ethnic groups - and sexuality. We're not completely free from homophobia, which most people knew. What most people didn't know was that we are also not completely free from homophobic violence - or, they didn't know until I told them otherwise.
As part of our presentation, one of the other kids would say, "1 in 5 LGBT teens report being assaulted at school..." And I would finish that off with saying, "And I would know because I'm one of them." That alone freaked out a lot of people. Even more people were surprised as I related my story of being jumped by two boys - who in all likelihood didn't even go to the school - two years ago. I haven't really thought about it much since then, but I'm certainly thinking about it now.
It wasn't a "bad" fight for me. The fight itself was short and light - I've gotten into longer and worse fights with friends over stupider things - and the injuries weren't bad - I went on to do a dance recital that night, in fact, and I was just fine. The biggest shock was that two guys who I didn't even know, and who had absolutely no connection to me whatsoever, would actually attack me - just for being bisexual. (Like I said, I've been in fights before - but with people I knew, for reasons I fully understood).
One of the big things was that I never reported it to anyone - it was almost a year before I even told anyone about it at a later GSA meeting (back before I was VP). I was the only one who'd ever been directly assaulted at school (probably inappropriate, but I made a lot of jokes that it was to make up for the fact I was the one with the most accepting parents of my sexuality in the group/GSA, a lot more than the parents of those around me). In hindsight, though, I probably should have.
I was scared, and it wasn't even because of my school itself. Overall, I'd become used to all the horror stories of schools' responses to homophobia and LGBT students. Because it had been a small fight, almost negligible to me, I decided to not bother, because I didn't want to risk running into a hostile administration. Then I forgot about it all together.
The fight itself was still minor, but the assault was not, and now I regret not reporting it - especially since I know my school a little better, and am 95% confident they would have handled it respectfully and sincerely. But the stories of other schools overrode my own understanding and reality of my own school.
Maybe we also need to start thinking about the good things going for LGBT youth in America and around the world.
So have at it - what are some positive stories in your area or that you know of? Especially in relation to places of education and LGBTQ students? How have schools handled LGBT issues well? How have schools learned from past mistakes? Or from other schools' mistakes? Are there any cases where there was never "an issue" in the first place, and from the moment they were first confronted with the reality of it schools had positive responses to LGBT students in their schools?
Anything that made you smile, or at least hopeful and positive, basically. I didn't report my own assault because the constant negativity from other schools reported the reality of my own school, and I regret not doing so now. Let's generate some positivity to get students going - and make them just that little bit less afraid. :)