Friday, October 3, 2014

Week 5 Post

Every school is different these days when it comes to acceptance of LGBT students.  I know that my high school was very accepting of every person, however, we never had any clubs or organizations trying to help the issue.  There were many girls at my school dating other girls and one of my best friends is a transgender.  It was incredibly hard for my friend to tell everyone before graduation that she would soon be a he, but everyone understood this was what needed to happen and we all still supported it.  At the end of the year, one of the girls that is lesbian even won "Most Respected" in my class because everyone knew how hard it was for her to come out and explain how she had actually been feeling for years.  Because it was a public school, no one really had the right to say anything negative about anyone for their sexual orientation.  Last year, one of my teachers even came out to us and although we were all shocked, no one judged her for it.  I feel that all these individuals have always been like this despite what Rofes says about choosing to be LBGT.  Rofes is clear that every person's childhood truly shapes how they grow up into adults as he says, "we become accustomed to searching for the sources of our current unhappiness and adult failings in the persecution we experienced as children,"  (3).  He also explains, "the oppression of children and youth constitutes the foundation out of which highly charged issues related to LGBT and gender-nonconforming youth arise," (7).  Rofes believes that the negative experiences a child has, causes them to have issues with their gender or sexual orientation.  Later in the book, Rofes discusses that although liberals have embraced gay rights, they question the effects a gay kindergarten teacher would have on his students.  He feels that homophobia is at an all time high right now and children are still getting harassed at school for the issue even though people try everything they can to stop it.  I truly hope that the school I work at in the future is accepting and does not allow discrimination to LGBT students because in the end, we are all God's children and it is unfair to think that the way a person feels inside is wrong.

Canestrari, Alan S., and Bruce A. Marlowe. Educational Foundations: An Anthology of Critical Readings. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2013. Print.

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