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With Don’t Ask Don’t Tell finally relegated to the garbage bin of history, soldiers are free to come out of the closet. Not just to each other, or people on the street. Some are coming out to the people closest to them.
A touching YouTube video has been making the rounds of a soldier calling his dad back home in Alabama. He’s nervous, talking to the camera about how he can’t sleep and has no idea what his dad will say when he gives him the news. The conversation that follows should be a textbook for every parent whose child one day says, “Dad, I’m gay.”
In today’s world where being different can often result in being not only bullied but beaten in school, it’s refreshing to actually be able to report some good news regarding transgender and gay teens. Today, we have two positive stories.
The senior class of McFatter Technical HS in Davie, Florida voted transgender teen Andrew Viveros as their Prom queen last Friday night. The chosen Prom King was Juan Macias, an openly gay male student.
A lesbian student is being denied the opportunity to bring the date of her choice to her school's prom
I could go back in time and chat with my high school self, I’d let her know that the prom is no big whoop. The expectations are high, and the night will never live up to the hype. Ever. Really.
But of course, when you’re in the teen moment, it can seem like there is nothing more important than the prom. Which is why I feel sad for one girl in particular who was told by her school that she can’t attend with the date of her choice – another girl.
Angelina Lange, 17, lives in Bay Shore, New York, and was turned down by the administrators of her school when she asked if she could bring her ex-girlfriend as her date.
Saugatuck Middle/High School
A West Michigan school district is proposing that middle school students learn about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues as part of their new sex education curriculum.
The Saugatuck Middle School sexual advisory committee is proposing that students watch the video “Coming Out: What Every Teen (Gay or Straight) Needs To Know.” Among other issues, the video focuses on tolerance, bullying and identity issues.
A relatively small community in Utah is breaking ground in its support of gay teens
Until the day I die I’ll never understand why some people think it’s their business what other people do in the privacy of their own bedrooms. Whether it’s rocking a doll to sleep, reading a book, worshipping Satan, or watching the Food Network in bed with their husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, one night stand or same sex partner — who cares? Furthermore, no explanation will ever satisfy me as to why anyone thinks it’s appropriate to tell other people what kind of relationships are and are not okay, whether they’re conducted in the privacy of their bedrooms or in public. If you don’t like it, look away. Or better yet, just go away.
It matters very little to me how you interpret the Bible, the Constitution or the voices in your head when it comes to how others choose to conduct their consensual relationships: When you can’t say something nice, then mind your own business.
Since 1938, The Caldecott Medal has been awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.
Since 1922, The Newbury Medal has been awarded to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
These awards are not only prestigious emblems of success for the those whose works are honored, but also very influential when it comes to what books librarians and educators choose when adding to their children’s literature collections.
And it’s that influence that makes the ALA’s recent addition of an award for gay and lesbian literature so important. The newly-created Stonewall Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award will honor “English-language works for children and teens of exceptional merit relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered experience.” Continue reading »
Arryn Tyler: Gender Bending Warrior
71st High School in Fayetteville, North Carolina held its annual “Gender Bender Day” yesterday as a part of Spirit Week, an apparently popular school tradition wherein boys and girls dress like the opposite sex, based in football and cheerleading culture. The practice is meant to bolster school spirit, but by the end of the day yesterday, morale had plummeted after the arrest of a female student, who gave her principal the finger and was then tackled by a police officer.
The scuffle began when the school’s principal, Vanessa Alford, told some 600 students they were dressed “inappropriately” for Gender Bender Day, and that they’d have to go home and change. Arryn Tyler, a 17-year-old junior, “walked to the front of the auditorium and had words with the principal,” according to ABC affiliate WTVD in Raleigh-Durham. While at the front of the room, Tyler was grabbed from behind by a sheriff’s deputy, and she admits to kicking him. The 300-pound officer then “fell on her, causing her to scrape her head and knee.”
Tyler was charged with “resisting arrest, assaulting a law enforcement officer, and disorderly conduct.” I spoke with Tyler today, who calls the police response to her actions “excessive.” (Anna North at Jezebel feels the same way, as do I. Alford has not commented.) Tyler told me despite the fact that Gender Bender Day is a school-sponsored event – at a high school for the arts, no less – Alford “complained about girls wearing hats and guys in skirts.” Could this extreme incident be indicative of transgender bashing or homophobia at 71st High School? Continue reading »
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