Sunday, June 13, 2010

GLSEN WEBSITE - HYPERLINK TO GSA WEBSITE

Today’s assignment was to surf the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN) website. My original thought was, here we go, another special interest group organization. If minorities want to fit in and be like everyone else, why do they segregate themselves by forming “their” organizations? Why do we have BET? And Stonewall Democrats? These organizations seem to say, “Look at us, we’re different.”

But GLSEN is not one of these organizations. Their mission is not to cater only to gays, but to work towards safer schools and prevent damage to young lives. Their motto is that ALL students are valued and respected. They profess “empowerment” and “dialog” so that things can begin to change for GLBT students. They work to stamp out the name-calling and bullying that occur much too often in the nation’s schools. Their work is akin to that of the Gay Straight Alliance. Both organizations encourage student activism. You can visit the GSA website here. It contains an interesting article about Constance McMillen, a student activist, who challenged her school district's ban on same-sex couples attending the prom.

GLSEN held their 7th annual Respect awards this past May. These awards are given to individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation, for their commitment to all of America’s students. Among the speakers and award recipients were Gene Robinson, the openly-gay Episcopal bishop, and Danielle Smith, student advocate of the year, who said, “This isn’t a gay movement, this is a civil rights movement.” This brings up a point.

Sometime last year, I was watching CPAN Book TV. A prominent author had just published his latest book. After discussing the book, which was about the “black” struggle for civil rights, the author took questions from the audience. A black woman stood up and challenged the way gays are now using the same arguments that blacks used in the struggle for civil rights. She was upset that someone (a gay activist) had cited Rosa Park’s brave deed as his motivation for change. The woman was basically saying, “I don’t like the gays’ stealing our struggle. Their struggle is different. It degrades our struggle.” The woman was clearly homophobic.

I found it very interesting that this woman felt this way. After all, she, better than anyone else, should be sympathetic to the gay struggle for equal rights.

3 comments:

  1. Wow! Powerful writing, Joe. I think I am going to respond with extended comments in my blog for today. You wrote exactly what I was thinking, but I would never have been as clear as you. Nice work!

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  2. That was great incite Joe. The example of the woman and the civil rigths act was very powerful. I agree that like she had to fight for her rights and freedoms as a black woman that the gays are fighting for their rights as well. It's upsetting that she did not see their struggle as having much importance. Although I'm not sure it's of the same magnitude as the civil rights movement, it is definitely a struggling battle for gay people to get the freedoms and rights they deserve.

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  3. I found it interesting when you said "If they want to be part of the crowd why do they want to make up "their" own organizations-why do they seem to say "hey everyone, look at us, we're different." I had never thought about that and while I don't agree completely I do respect your opinion.

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