Safe Spaces for all

In "Safe Spaces: Making Schools and Communities Welcoming to LGBT Youth", the authors focus on the topic of LGBTQ youth within public schools, as well as the role that educators play in promoting or hindering LGBTQ+ awareness and acceptance. Toward the end of this excerpt, the authors make a great point: simply having "good intentions" isn't enough. Educators need to publicly and positively acknowledge words like "gay" "bisexual" and "lesbian" when they are being used correctly, so that students will begin to understand that there is nothing negative about LGBTQ+; especially for youth who are still trying to come to terms with their sexuality, and who may also be dealing with mental/emotional/physical abuse because of it. Conversely, when anyone is using these terms in a stigmatizing/derogatory way, educators should point out that no, that is not how we use those words and it is very hurtful to many people. For example,, one of the educators in this piece dealt with a negative situation beautifully: he

does not scold. He does not snicker. And he certainly doesn't pretend that he does not hear. He explores the negative usage of words such as "gay" or "bisexual." He prods and questions, requiring students to define the terms. Patrick's actions promoted discussion and understanding: He asked students to think about the power of their harmful language.

This is very important, because I feel that every teacher should deal with similar situations the same way that this teacher did. I have been in classrooms before where a derogatory comment has been made about someone's sexuality, race/background, etc in front of a teacher and not a thing was said to counter that remark. This can impact the victim in ways that we may never see on the surface.

Another topic that the authors briefly touch upon is LGBTQ+ representation in the media. They explain that those who see themselves portrayed in textbooks, art, and other types of media in a powerful or intelligent light will feel included and safe. Unfortunately in this day and age, LGBTQ representation in media is still low, inaccurate and can be damaging rather than helpful. THIS LINK explains how a study finds non-heterosexual portrayal to be severely lacking in movies. In the study, they found that

of the 102 releases from 7 major studios, only 17 included characters that identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual—adding that a majority of these characters were minor roles or cameos, and that many representations were “outright defamatory.”

Student who sees these movies will automatically see the LGBTQ relationship as abnormal, because it is depicted so poorly. It does not help that, when students are in Sex ED classes, the majority of them are not informed about LGBTQ relationships and the idea that those kinds of relationships are completely normal is not even an idea that is planted into their heads. In turn, youth are not given information on how to have sex safely if they aren't heterosexual. This article explains how the number of states required to talk about LGBTQ in their sex ed classes is very small (nine states). In Alabama,

sex education instructors are required to teach that homosexuality “is an unacceptable, criminal lifestyle.”

Overall, LGBTQ representation is very low and is still extremely stigmatizing both in the media and in the classroom, as the authors of "Safe Spaces" point out. The only way to fix this is to be proactive when dealing with negative commentary made by students/adults alike, and hopefully the portrayal of non-heterosexual couples in textbooks and other educational materials will increase quickly.