Safe Spaces by August

Safe Spaces
By: Gerri August

Extended Comments

For this post I am using Nicole's post on this article for commenting.


Nicole's first quote: "Tucked inside several books (not all from the same bookseller) were handwritten messages directing her to bible verses, once that have been interpreted as condemnation of homosexuality. Kimberly was stunned and bit shaken. She worried that she was wrong to share these LGBT friendly resources with youth. Aimed at a teacher who wanted LGBT youth to see themselves represented in literature in her classroom, these anti-gay sentiments packed a powerful punch"  (pg. 91)

This is sad. The person did not even know Kimberly and yet they wrote Bible verses saying it is wrong to be LGBT. She was trying to improve the curriculum and her community by adding more resources about LGBT. I agree with Nicole, the person who did this should be ashamed for judging and writing Bible verses in the books. That is not right. This can relate to McIntosh because you do not know what it is like to be bullied or made fun of or outcasted if you are not straight. Everyone has their own opinions...but hopefully, and soon, everyone will be accepting and make everywhere a safe place for LGBT people and everyone else.


Nicole's second quote: "Classrooms lay foundation for an inclusive and safe society: a just community where common interest and individual differences coexist. To the extent that teachers, school administrators, and college professors create an atmosphere in which difference is not only tolerated but expected, explored, and embraced..." (pg. 83).

I completely agree with your conclusion for this quote. Children should be taught about this at a young age so they understand it. It is very important for everyone to understand what LGBT is. There is no need to bully someone from this "community". The more they know about this, the less likely they will be to bully or make fun of or leave out. People will be more open to admitting if they are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender if they know that people around them are more understanding and accepting and will help them through this experience. The last thing they need is to feel alone. People will help. Schools and communities need to help and teach that there is nothing wrong with being LGBT at a young age so people will know and understand and make the community safer for everyone in the long run.

Nicole's third quote: "We wonder whether the only relevant question here is a child's readiness to learn. Perhaps adults need a Ready-to-Teach initiative"(pg.86).
"I think all children should be taught about LGBT but they can't if they don't have the chance which relies on the teachers abilities to be "Ready-to-Teach" about LGBT."

Media everywhere now has LGBT people on it. Ellen DeGeneres is a lesbian and has her own show. Nothing makes her different just because she is a lesbian. Her show was almost cut when she came out. ABC Family or Freeform has a show called The Fosters which is about a family of adopted children being raised by two moms. There was a lot of controversy about the show because of what it is about. The children know and understand that their family is "different" and accept it because they know their moms love them and do everything they can to help them like any family would. Everyone should be taught about LGBT and they should have the chance to learn, nothing/no one should hold them back from teaching it or learning about it.

 

Points to share:

I know that my school had a club for people who were LGBT and every now and then they would change the name of it to fit what everyone was. So for a few months it was called FREE, then LGBT club, then LGBTQ club, and so on. I did see some people use the word "gay" quite frequently and not in the right way...they used it to offend someone or something. I wish they would look it up in the dictionary and realize that is not the word they mean and stop using it like how Patrick did on pages 97 and 98 to help stop this.