It Goes Without Saying....LGBT Reflection

This weeks reading "Speaking the Unspeakable" reminded me a lot of S.C.W.A.M.P. The privilege we have without even realizing it, the way we favor one identity more than the other. Why we feel the need to hide the fact that Love is Love is beyond me. It reminded me of my privilege as a heterosexual and how I never have to be concerned about being judged on my orientation. How I can talk about my partner freely without discrimination and how as I look into the future at our wedding I know I wont face scrutiny. These are things people who have different sexual orientations cannot say. It reminded me of the meeting we had at work the other day that lead to this post by my boss...

‪#‎NationalComingOutDay‬! Hopefully one day there'll be no need for this & we'll all just realise ‪#‎LoveIsLove‬

— feeling pride at RI Council of Resource Providers for Children, Youth & Families (RICORP).

 

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My co worker who we all love dearly also happens to be a Lesbian. We never really addressed it though because no one in our office really thought about it I geuss non of us thought of her as different. However, the other day she help an hour workshop on LGBT education and how we can help our youth and all the kids we work with, She educated us on how to be part of the solution.

The Riddle Scale: Attitudes Towards LGBT People

 

The statements reflect the following attitudes:

 

Repulsion: LGBT people are strange, sick, crazy and perverse.

 

Pity: LGBT people are born that way and, therefore, should be pitied.

 

Tolerance: Same-sex attractions and gender non-conforming behaviors are just a phase of development that most people outgrow.

 

Acceptance: One needs to make accommodations for LGBT people’s difference; although they are not as valued as heterosexual, gender-conforming people.

 

Support: The rights of LGBT people should be protected and safeguarded.

 

Admiration: Being a LGBT person in our society takes strength.

 

Appreciation: There is value in diversity. Homophobic attitudes should be confronted.

 

Nurturance: LGBT people are an vital part of society.

 

She talked about her own experience and brought great awareness to the issue. It was on this day that we decided to make out building an official safe space and ordered a safe space kit with banners and everything to put around the building.

 

http://internationalspectrum.umich.edu/life/definitions < great resource

 

It reminded me of Delpit "The silenced Dialogue"  Sexual orientation is the silenced dialogue.

 

From the reading there was a few things that stood out to me. Things I believe whole heartedly but as a Heterosexual do not have to think about this reading brought those issued to light for me,

 

"As Epstein and Johnson (1998) have highlighted, ‘out’ gay and lesbian teachers are threatened with the loss of their credibility, homophobia, adverse media reactions, a loss of privacy, and even (in the past at least) the loss of their jobs. As discussed earlier, teachers’ personal sexual lives are not seen as an appropriate subject in classroom spaces (Epstein and Johnson 1998), despite the fact that heterosexual teachers are implicitly and explicitly ‘out’."

In some of the schools that I visited I was warned about the use of ‘more public’ spaces in the school, such as the playground; about the ways in which both pupils and their parents would become agitated and aggressive towards members of staff. It is also no wonder that some teachers endeavoured to keep their discussions of (homo)sexuality bound to these ‘safe’ spaces, for, as Skeggs (1999) suggests, fear is as significant a factor in people’s use of space as violence itself. Within schools, teachers are often expected to take responsibility for their own safety, and so if visibility (being recognised as LGBT or an ally) is a central means for instigated attack, then invisibility would appear to be the safest option. Indeed, a number of authors have commented on the need for ‘safe’ spaces for LGBT people. Hubbard, in particular, contends that, given the fear of homophobic abuse, the metaphor of the private space of the closet appears to be an ‘appropriate description of the schizophrenic spatial lives that many gays ‘‘not out’’ in public space lead’ (Hubbard 2001, 56).
 Both reminded me of S.C.W.A.M.P both boggle my mind.

 

'I can't seem to understand how someone decided it hiding it, not talking about it, and disregarding all together was the logical thing to do. Welcome to the world of bullying created by an immense lack of education on subjects such as sexual orientation, mental and physical disabilities, Privilege, Culture, and well everything else that REALLY MATTERS