On February 15th, author and activist Dan Savage will be joining our class for a discussion of his It Gets Better Project. Dan Savage is the creator and author of the syndicated relationship and sex advice column Savage Love. In September 2010, he and his partner Terry posted a YouTube video (below) in response to a number of news stories about LGBT youth taking their lives after being bullied. Over 10,000 others have posted similar videos encouraging LGBT youth as a part of the It Gets Better Project.
Please take some time to look into the It Gets Better Project and Dan Savage's other works in preparation for his visit to our class.
I hope that this will suffice for one of my comments, Dr. Johnson.
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely looking forward to having Mr. Savage speak in class. However, as a gay man who literally suffered through many horrors as an adolescent and occasional inconveniences still, I must speak from an honest perspective about it. I can say that when I was in high school, it didn't get better quickly. It is better now, but I have many friends for whom, well, it never got better. I have had friends who have killed themselves, been killed, abused, and even adult friends who still suffer due to their sexuality and the perceived "threat" it brings to the "normalized" society.
On one hand, absolutely. For most, it gets better. Those who discriminate and are cruel still exist, but for me, they mostly exist in the government and in people with whom I am fortunate enough to not really have any daily interaction. I am thrilled that adults are finally coming around and pondering that time in their lives, and looking at it without the usual romantic platitudes. (The best years of your life, my butt. If I'd ever believed that, I don't know what I would have done.) I also believe that this campaign offers hope to many young gay people.
On the other hand, though, hope is not always enough. When we're adults, though, we move on. The problem here is that we cannot only publicize the fact that it gets better. We must get at the root of the problem. Go to the schools, go for the bullies, educate the parents, educate the school staff. We must look at the bizarre, cliquish, often harsh place that is middle and high school. We need to continue to not only educate indirectly, but DIRECTLY through somehow going into schools and helping to make a change. And no, I could not care any less about people who scream that teaching about homosexuality in schools will encourage the so called "homosexual agenda"- which by the way, what is that? Really? Geez. Lives are at stake here.