EnMasse

[Andyinedmonton]

http://sovo.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=6266

They've decided to ban all clubs that addresses sexuality but they know full well that most of the clubs involve people with minority preferences.

[Feral]

[Hephaestion]

[Feral]

The fact that he summarily dismisses GSAs as "sex-oriented clubs" (rather than exercises in tolerance, understanding and a means of decreasing discrimination) shows that he is, more likely than not, a bigot.

[Hephaestion]

That's the thing... bigots can be educated, and stop being a bigot. (Well, some of them can.) Queer people can't stop being queer, despite the mumbo-jumbo BS about "ex-gays". That's partly why I call it "ignorance." But there's a world of old-fashioned plain ol' *hate* wrapped up in there, too.

But I still hope to educate a few, 'coz there's no escaping it. Just like there are homophobes in every race (and even within the queer community -- how else to explain "ex-gays"?), there are bigots within the queer community too. Whether this is racial bigotry, prejudice against trans folks, or whatever, it is foolish to deny that it exists, or that we can ever escape bigotry by cutting ourselves off from the wider human community. It's with all of us, in some form or another.

I had a aboriginal friend back in university days whose family was from the shores of one of the Slave Lakes 'way up north (there's two, and I can't recall if it was the big one or the little one). Anyway, he told me about growing up and hearing friends and relatives all referring to the Inuit in sneering tones as "flatfaces".

Racism, sexism, homophobia are all things we can't totally escape no matter what culture or group; all we can do is try to decrease them, and one way of doing that is by education. That is, of course, why the bigots fight stuff like the GSAs so hard -- because what we call education, they insist on seeing as indoctrination. I think of such exercises more as "deprogramming", as what it really is, is un-learning the indoctrination one has already had. None of us are born suspicious, resentful, hateful and so on, toward Jews, or POCs or gays, or whoever. We are taught that, and things like "Ashley's Two Moms" in the lower grades, GSAs in the higher grades are attempts to "deprogram" a lot of that crap and false assumptions that are inculcated in our earliest years.

Every queer person I've ever talked to has had to go through this "questioning" period, where past assumptions and beliefs are gone through, examined and either disgarded or retained -- because we're all raised to be straight. That's the "default" setting, the assumption. And even *we* have to overcome that. Why should everyone else be any different?

With older folks, the "deprogramming" can take longer, and in some cases never works; people have invested so much in these stupid assumptions that we are taught when we're small children, that they can't let them go. I'm afraid those people just need to die off. But I'm never going to stop trying to reach out and educate people, because maybe, some day, there won't be a "default" setting. (I know, I know, but a boy can dream, no?)
_________________
"The dignity of an animal is measured by his capacity to revolt in the face of oppression." -- Mikhail Bakunin

[Hephaestion]

In a somewhat related story...

Vermont parents wig out over gay tolerance speaker

[Amy Grace]

Aside from the fact that they're not sex clubs, I most definitely agree with the study from Feral's post. When I was too worried about who was going to try to hassle me or steal my stuff or hurt me for being queer, I sure wasn't learning much about Canadian history or Poetry or Algebra. Then we started a GSA and the school started dealing with homophobia in a more direct way. My grades went up, and I'm gonna bet it was cos I didn't hate/fear being there anymore.


And, from the last article, "Learning about not bashing gays"... wow. What exactly is the problem with teaching kids to be decent to one another? It's not like her kids won't ever have to deal with -the horrors!?!?!- a queer person in their adult life, and when they do they'd do well to know how to be civil. She doesn't sound like she's doing a good job passing even that on, plus she blathers on about "gays" not being able to bring in "our beliefs". Why exactly would she have a problem with the belief that every child deserves a violence-free education, or respect from teachers and peers? (Rhetorical question -- I can think of a pile of reasons she might come up with.)

[Crippled_Newsie]

[Feral]

[Hephaestion]

I'd say this story fits the theme of this thread

[PuebloUnido]

I've never understood elected judiciaries and elected school boards.