I received the article below via email. If anyone has a link, please let me know. I know exactly where this guy is coming from when he talked about visiting his high school. I feel exactly the same way every time I go back to speak with the GSA at Mission. Its only been four years, but sometimes it just feels like forever. I also liked how the author highlighted the issue of GLBT youth homelessness at the end of the article.
Posted by Kevin Naff, Washington Blade Managing Editor| Apr. 4 at
3:23 PM | knaff@washblade.com
Return to high school
Several recent events have highlighted the plight of gay and lesbian
youth in a society that is coping with rapidly changing perceptions
of homosexuality.
Just 19 years ago, when I was a high school senior living in Howard
County, Md., there were no gay-straight alliances. With very few
exceptions, students didn’t dare come out as gay. The notion of same-
sex marriage seemed a fantasy.
Today, there are GSAs operating throughout the Howard County school
system, gay couples are legally marrying in Massachusetts and gay
rights issues figure prominently in our national politics and
presidential campaigns.
I recently returned to Howard County to speak to the Parents,
Families & Friends of Lesbians & Gays chapter there. It was a surreal
night, returning to my childhood neighborhood where I long ago
grappled with my sexual orientation and fended off bullies as a kid.
If someone had told me 20 years ago that I’d be back to deliver a
speech on gay rights, I wouldn’t have believed it. There was an
element of triumph to the evening, but my nerves were fried just the
same.
What would I say to a high school student now attending my alma
mater? Would they view me as old and irrelevant? Or a loser for
spending those early years in the closet?
I met a group of county students, several of whom serve as president
of their GSAs. It’s difficult to convey how much has changed in 20
years without sounding like a geezer, but I wanted them to understand
that the gay rights movement is progressing at a uniquely fast pace
and that they shouldn’t take for granted the freedoms they have that
my generation did not.
The students were not what you might expect. They weren’t angry,
confrontational, withdrawn or forlorn. During my remarks, they sat
quietly while poring over copies of the Blade I’d brought with me.
Afterwards, they approached me, clearly surprised by what they’d
read, which included the usual tales of anti-gay discrimination and
violence that are routinely reported in these pages.
“Wow, there’s a lot to be mad about,” one student said.
It was refreshing to meet a young person surprised to learn that gays
and lesbians can be legally fired from their jobs in most U.S.
states. It just doesn’t occur to young people that such
discrimination would exist — and that it could be legal. Recent polls
of this generation confirm that attitudes on homosexuality, and even
toward same-sex marriage, are softening dramatically.
After a long Q&A session with the students and their parents (and
grandparents), I turned the tables and asked the family members what
inspired them to become activists. Many parents eventually accept
their gay children (to varying degrees), but it’s quite a leap to
activism for many.
One father replied that his high school-aged daughter came out as a
lesbian. He was OK with it, but was later shocked to learn that his
daughter’s close friend also came out and that her parents responded
by packing her bags and depositing them on the front lawn. It was
then he knew he wanted to get involved in PFLAG.
All parents of gay children should attend a PFLAG meeting like this
one. It was moving, empowering and a reminder of the struggle that so
often accompanies the coming out process.
Unfortuantely, GSAs aren’t nearly as prevalent in D.C. public schools
as they are in neighboring suburban counties. In fact, there is just
one GSA currently operating in the city’s public school system,
though a second is planned at Anacostia Senior High School, where a
courageous young lesbian is blazing a trail.
Danielle Staley was elected senior class president at Anacostia
Senior High last year — as an out lesbian. Unfortunately, she was
recently arrested after being involved in a fight at the school,
which she says was instigated by a former girlfriend.
The school’s principal, Ronald Duplessis, reinstated Staley, 18,
after suspending her and threatening to expel her following two
fights on March 16. It was the right decision, especially considering
Staley’s impressive accomplishments. She is a member of the school’s
varsity volleyball and softball teams and last week was awarded a
college scholarship by the Greater Washington Urban League.
Woodrow Wilson High School, in the upper Northwest section of Ward 3,
is the only city school that has a GSA, even though the Gay, Lesbian
& Straight Education Network says there are more than 3,000 GSAs
operating across the country.
It’s about time D.C. schools caught up to the rest of the country in
establishing these important support groups for students. Staley and
others working to establish a chapter at Anacostia High deserve much
credit and praise for their efforts.
Staley and the students I met in Howard County are the lucky ones.
For too many gay and lesbian young people, coming out to their
parents leads to eviction from the family home. And as the Washington
Blade reported earlier this month, resources for homeless gay youth
are scarce.
The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force recently released a study in
conjunction with the National Coalition for the Homeless on the
plight of gay youth.
Of the 1.6 million homeless youth in the United States, the study
estimates that 20-40 percent are gay or transgender, which would mean
that more than 500,000 gay youth are homeless.
That’s a shocking and unacceptable statistic in a country of gross
excess like this one. There are only a handful of shelters across the
country specifically for gay youth and federal funding for the
problem is on the decline.
“This report underscores what many of us have known for a long time,”
said Matt Foreman, director of the Task Force. “The national response
to this epidemic has been nothing short of disgraceful.”
Perhaps in another generation gay youth won’t require any federal
funding for homeless shelters. In the meantime, it’s important to
keep up the work for visibility and equality under the law and to
recognize the brave efforts of gay teens who are making strides that
most of us never dreamed possible
