Blog Post 5

Homophobia has been a rising problem at school districts across the country, and it is something that even I noticed back at my old high school. During my junior year, there was a senior, George, that wanted to start a Gay-Straight Alliance Club. The principal declined this proposal, stating that it was "too controversial", despite the fact that our school already had a club dedicated to the study of catholic religion. After fighting for the organization for months on end, George was finally able to get the approval from our principal to start the club. George and his friends starting getting the word out by hanging up posters. When the other kids came to school and saw this, they would laugh, make fun of it, and tear down all of the posters. However, that did not make George give up hope on starting this organization and started to hold the meetings. Overall there was a fairly good attendance, but it was only through that year. After George graduated the organization was passed on to 4 students, who were straight, to lead the club. These students lacked the motivation to carry on their responsibilities as officers, and only held one meeting. The Gay-Straight Alliance simply went downhill from there. There is such an emphasize on being straight that many people are not accepting to the homosexual population, and I feel that something needs to be done about that. 

Rofes discusses childhood in his writing, along with the liberal and radical distinctions of addressing homophobia and heterosexism. Rofes depicted his own childhood experience as he was coming to terms with himself that he was gay. He stated that he did not believe that he was born gay, rather he was born sexual and capable of erotically responding to a range of stimuli. He also claimed that nothing in his genetic makeup predetermined that he would focus his erotic interests on one sex, and nothing biological determined that he would like men. A person starts to develop more into their own personality as a child and they discover who they truly are. Rofes states, “As a culture, we tell ourselves how much we love children and how committed we are to protecting them from savage forces and menacing threats. At the same time, by seeing children and youth as innocent and vulnerable, we participate in the creation of structures and social forces that keep children from information, resources, social organizations, and self-concepts that might allow them to produce themselves as strong, savvy people.” By saying this, it expresses the importance of letting a child become who they want to become, and society needs to be more open to that. In the next 4 years, I hope to be teaching at a school that is open to everyone. I want to teach in a school where nobody is discriminated against due to their sexual interests. I cannot stress enough my feelings on the importance of letting kids feel comfortable with themselves, and I hope that the rest of society will come to terms with that as well.