Jeff for America

A while back, I put together a list of micro reforms to implement by the end of this school year. Slow to start, I have been making some headway lately. I’ve written about homophobia at my school a few times here and there, but beyond the “no g- word in class” rule (which has been really effective), I haven’t taken steps to do anything about it on a large-scale. But I felt an increased sense of urgency when I started seeing administrators and teachers fall into the same habits as the kids. In its most frequent form, homophobia is used to change a student’s behavior (ie: “stop playing around in the hallway – people are gonna think you’re gay for each other.”) Shocking at first, it became all too familiar of a sight.

In order to best stem the issue, I needed to start at the top. As models of behavior, our teachers need to have positive mindsets that don’t exclude or denigrate. In addition, they need the tools to work with and support LGBT students or those with gender identity issues. We’ve got a 4th grader who wants to be a girl and several middle school boys and girls peeking out of the closet. It’s not an isolated problem – and I’m afraid no one has any idea of how to work with their students to create a safe and supportive classroom for these students.

I couldn’t do any of this myself, so I started looking for an outside organization that could start a constructive dialogue at my school. After a bit of research, I found the Bryson Institute. Part of the Attic Youth Center in Philadelphia, it was started after the murder of Matthew Shepard and works to educate people about LGBT issues in schools. Then I wrote a proposal and submitted it to my administration for approval and scheduling. That was in December.

And over the last three months, I’ve hounded and reminded and inquired what seems like 100 times. It was getting incessant, but I couldn’t go another year without these problems being addressed. I don’t think the word gay has ever been uttered in my school without a negative connotation. It was about time we learned how to use the word to identify and explain rather than incite fear and shame.

After a lot of talking, it happened. Last Friday, at our all-day staff development, we spent a little over an hour discussing LGBT and gender concerns with an amazing facilitator from the Bryson Institute. We defined terms, talked about religion, and explored how our LGBT students might feel in an unsafe classroom. It was an hour well spent and I think most of our staff left with a better understanding of where I’ve been coming from all this time. And thankfully, I’m not alone. There’s a growing mass of people at my school that are already using positive language and are open to thinking about how to support these students. This workshop just finally brought us all together in one room to talk about a taboo issue that some of us just ignore or dismiss.

And for probably the first time, I didn’t cringe at the sound of the word “gay” in my school. I didn’t have to turn my head to deflect my disgust or reprimand a kid for their language. I got to just sit and listen and learn. It was a proud moment. And I love the feeling of checking off a to do list.

Next, sex.

- Jeff