As part of the Chicago Public Schools' "Renaissance 2010" initiative, the High School for Social Justice submitted a proposal to the Office of New Schools for a new gay-inclusive Pride Campus, which would provide college prep education for Chicago students.
Chicago Public Schools held a "community forum" at the gay community center last week, giving a little, but not much, information about the proposal, but emphasizing that the school was not just for gay students but for all students-but for gay (GLBT) students too.
The proposal is rooted in the deplorable fact that many gay students do not feel safe at their present high schools. They are harassed and intimidated by some of the other students and they want a learning environment where they feel safe and can concentrate on their studies. It is hard to focus on solid geometry or the Civil War when you are worried about being beaten up between classes or after school. Instead some students just drop out, which benefits no one.
What the experience of gay students reveals is that many schools in the Chicago system do a lousy job of providing a safe learning environment, of keeping their students disciplined, of teaching them tolerance of other students.
In many schools teachers have their hands full trying to keep order in the classroom, much less teach a few facts. Some "students" read comic books in study halls. One former teacher told me that teaching at her school amounted to nothing more than "baby-sitting." And many counselors and administrators are simply uninformed and unsympathetic to gay students. I would no more have gone to a high school counselor for advice than I would have gone over Niagara Falls in a barrel.
Two decades ago the Illinois Gay and Lesbian Task Force at the initiative of its sainted director Al Wardell, himself a Chicago teacher, prepared and mailed to high school counselors a packet of information about gay youth along with a poster they could display that read, "Your counselor has information on gay issues."
Several weeks later Wardell called a large number of counselors to find out what they had done with the information. Only one-third said they had put up the poster. One-third said they had glanced at the material but not put up the poster. And about a third said they had thrown the whole packet away. Have things really gotten much better? I doubt it.
So as a stopgap measure until other Chicago schools learn to do their job adequately, the proposal deserves support, at least once it is unpacked a little more for public (our) inspection. The idea is not new, of course. New York already has Harvey Milk High School, and Chicago's initiative may encourage other cities to take similar measures-once they face up to the fact that they have gay students and need to do something to protect them.
No doubt, too, many closeted gay teachers, and they are numerous, would be delighted to teach at a gay-inclusive school where they do not have to hide their orientation. Openly gay teachers can provide empathetic advice to gay students and serve as important role models for students, many of whom probably know no gay adults and have difficulty separating out issues of sexuality and gender in their lives.
But perhaps providing safety is not quite enough. The schools would do a service to gay students by teaching coping skills. Many of us have learned those with some pain and difficulty during our lifetime and would have been glad to know of them when we were young. And what might really be useful would be voluntary, after-school classes in martial arts-judo, kick-boxing, etc., to help students protect themselves after school when they return to their own neighborhood. Knowledge of such skills would also boost their self-confidence.
And what should other Chicago schools be doing besides off-loading their gay students so they do not have to deal with them? Well, only a small minority of gay students are going to be able to go to the new school. Pity those who remain behind. Schools should help by undertaking serious educational efforts about gays and minority-gendered students. They should require history and social studies units on gays and gay history. They should host gay speakers at assemblies on gay holidays. They could foster Gay/Straight Alliances instead of opposing them. They should beef up security at schools and on school buses. They should require "in-service" programs about gays for teachers, counselors and administrators.
Administrators too? You bet. I know of one suburban principal who referred to an openly gay teacher derisively as "fag boy." Nice teaching environment!
11 Comments for “A Gay-Supportive School?”
posted by Michigan-Matt on
Paul, I’m one of those gay parents who are strongly opposed to the “special education treatment” of gay students… even in large school districts like Chicago, NY, Detroit, LA. It pains me to know of the abuse that occurs –but that ought to motivate reform, not abdication.
The answer is to hold those school administrators and teachers and counselors and school boards accountable for their lack of professionalism in maintaining safe schools, effective learning environments and helping all students prosper. Like with the controversial King-McInerney killing… the administrators, counselors and others responsible for not preventing that incident ought to booted from the profession, held personally liable. Don’t coddle these failures: make an example of them… a vivid example.
Gay teachers who are afraid for their jobs or are harassed need to find a litigator –they have an obligation to all gay teachers to fight abuse and bias in the what ought to be one of the most liberal institutions in America… public schools. There’s no shortage of litigators (whoops, are we now supposed to call them “community organizers”?) willing to take on institutions for the advancement of gay civil rights in the workplace, in the schools.
Don’t take gays out of the classroom. Demand that schools get safe -now. Demand that the bias, intimidation or harassment end -now. Fight for progress -now.
To take gays out of the classroom is to abdicate responsibility for our own future. It’s worse than appeasement –it’s suicide.
posted by tavdy79 on
Michigan_Matt is right: segregation is never the answer to bullying. If anything it’s likely to make things worse – religious segregation in British schools has encouraged the growth of religious extremism, especially amongst Muslims, and the historical consequences of racial segregation in schools are well-known. Isolating any social group all too often leads to resentment on both sides, and that will only make the problems harder to resolve.
Education Boards need to make school administrators more accountable for what goes on in their schools. Perhaps a degree of micromanagement is required – but it seems to me that the micromanagement and annoyance of administrators is preferable to the alienation and isolation of students. Schools aren’t there for their staff’s benefit, after all.
posted by Brian on
I agree with tavdy and this line expresses it perfectly
“Don’t take gays out of the classroom. Demand that schools get safe -now. Demand that the bias, intimidation or harassment end -now. Fight for progress -now. To take gays out of the classroom is to abdicate responsibility for our own future. It’s worse than appeasement –it’s suicide.”
Brilliant. Well said. Give this guy a job.
posted by Caitlyn on
Speaking as a gay high school student, I support this school one hundred percent. I come from a small, middle-class, suburban high school where with an administration who has supported me in organizing events such as the Day of Silence and that has had speakers come in to talk about gay issues. You can’t really get more supportive than that, but I (and my friends who support me) have still been harassed and bullied, and many of the teachers have not been tolerant of our efforts. Every day people use the word “faggot” lightly.
If this is what it’s like in a “good” environment, then I can’t imagine what my counterparts face. I agree that in the long term segregation will never be the answer. But the fact is that tolerance takes much longer to build than a new school. You can’t ask kids to be martyrs for this cause when they’re being beat up and threatened every day. The botton line is to make sure that they’re safe. Once they are, we can focus on the longterm goals.
I say, send the kids to the special school for a year, and teach them how to be themselves (which many aren’t sure how to do – they know they’re gay, but their only idea of what that means is from the distorted media, so they become a little extreme) and how to represent their community. Then they can go back and spread tolerance in the normal schools. Yes, this is a stopgap measure, but it’s a necessary evil to insure that high school students who have legitimate fears for their safety have a safe place to go.
As for martial arts programs after school – as long as they’re cutting teachers (at my school, two last year, plus all the ‘student assistance’ staff), they’re never going to pay for that.
posted by akn on
@Caitlyn:
Thank you for your frank and well-spoken thoughts. It’s refreshing to hear about someone’s concrete experiences, rather than the whirlwind of angry, snide backtalking one usually finds here. I wish I’d had friends like you when I was in high school. I applaud your courage and wish you the best of luck.
posted by SmarterVoice on
“Caitlyn” needs to look up the word astro-turfing because whoever wrote those comments aren’t high school students anywhere in America. Those lines are better suited to a professional writer who serves as a gay advocate.
akn, you just got punked and made into a tool.
posted by Caitlyn on
Good to know that people have so much faith in our public education system. You seem to have such confidence in its ability to turn out good writers like myself.
There are acutally intelligent people in the world, old and young.
And akn, thank you.
posted by ETJB on
I think such ‘alternative’ high school programs can, depending on what is taught, be a good think for certain students.
Most hetersexual school administrators and teachers really do not care about making the school environment a safe and welcoming place for gay youth. They and many parents would really like to believe that “those issues” do not naturally exist in a high school, let alone middle school, setting unless they are a imposed by ‘activist judges’ or ‘liberal lawyers’, MTV or bad parents.
Thus must LGBT youth remain in the closet — out of sincere fear and concern about what being “out” — read honest — will mean for their safety, health, well being and overall social standing.
LGBT Teachers are often in the closet as well, often have no protection from workplace discrimination or harassment and being gay alone does not mean that you have the professional training needed to appropriatly advise and handle, say, a transgender middle school student.
posted by Michigan-Matt on
Caitlyn writes: “Good to know that people have so much faith in our public education system. You seem to have such confidence in its ability to turn out good writers like myself. There are acutally intelligent people in the world, old and young.”
I agree with SmarterVoice, honey. You are far too deep in the advocacy thing to be a high school student even of exceptional quality –unless you’re about 40 yrs old. I think you’re better at being a sockpuppet than a dubiously skilled high school student.
Sockpuppets are easy to detect, Caitlyn -or whomever you are. Whenever they begin with “I’m speaking as a gay high school student”… which is intended to secure instant credibility on an issue like gay schools, it’s a give away. And you came to IGF just to declare the wisdom of separate but equal schools for gays? Yeaaaaah, that’s the ticket.
You really got to do much better, honey. I’m sure ETJB can give you some lessons on sockpuppet artistry if you ask nice.
posted by Caitlyn on
I, unlike you, are going to take you at your word that your name is Matt and you come from Michigan. If you want to disagree with me, you could dispute my point instead of my age. Since there is no way to disprove you without giving out personal information, I will accept that you do not believe me. Hopefully we can agree to disagree and stop name-calling (though sockpuppets are adorable!).
One interesting question this brings up: if highschoolers are all monkeys who can’t think, have intellectual discoruse, or advocate for themselves, why the hell do you guys want to protect us? Seems to me we’re pretty worthelss.
Oh, and for future reference, I prefer not to be called honey or anything similar.
ETJB makes a good point about teachers. Not only do they have to fear discrimination from the administration, but also homophobic student attitudes. I’ve seen kids ridicule teachers and make their classes a living hell just for having an accent.
Say students are discussing a movie (or whatever) and a teacher says, “Oh, me and my husband went to see that over the weekend.” Even if most of the class is accepting, all it takes is one kid to tell their parent, “Mr. So&so was talking about gay stuff in class, it really traumitized me”, and then it’s parent complaints, then legal action, the whole thing. Even if the administration supports the teacher, it would be easier for them to just drop him/her and get rid of the controversy.
posted by Tishiana, Riverside, CA on
Homophobia, like racism, or any other prejudice mentality against a discriminated minority will always remain evident as long as ignorant populations continue to exist. Speaking as a high school student and an advocate for LGBT equality as well as a sister of an openly gay brother, it depresses me that tolerance for gay and lesbian youth is so lacking in the school systems that the LGBT community has to push for a seperate school to provide an encouraging ambiance for LGBT youth. Certainly it is a signifcant accomplishment for the LGBT community in Chicago that the very possibility of opening this sort of institution is even being discussed. Where I come from, this idea would be shut down within an instant, stamped “ABSURD” and sealed in a vault. Although it seems definitely radical that such extreme measures would be made to ensure social justice for young gays and lesbians, isn’t it a contradiction to segregate them from the rest of the youth if achieving equality and acceptance is the main motivation for this proposal? The struggle for identity does not exist only within the minds of LGBT teenagers, in fact, the practice to define oneself is perhaps the most universal progression of the average high school teenager. And I think it’s nessecary that all teenagers, gay, lesbian and straight alike must endure the painful process of coexisting in the presence of each other’s differences in order to sort through the cloudiness of high school absurdity in order to find inner peace and be able to create a genuine identity that they are comfortable with. It’s the whole package experience of a diverse student body that enables teens to recognize people’s differences and forces them to acknowledge that not everyone agrees with their opinions or way of life. The true martyr will resist atrocities such as discrimination and other injustices, will endure persecution while being joyful and hopeful, and serve as examples that people are capable of understanding and empathizing with each other. Only then will peace be achieved. These are the principles of Ghandi and King.