Why can't more adults be like their own teenagers, accepting people for who they are?
Today is the Day of Silence, "a project of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) in collaboration with the United States Student Association (USSA), . . . a student-led day of action where those who support making anti-LGBT bias unacceptable in schools take a day-long vow of silence to recognize and protest the discrimination and harassment—in effect, the silencing—experienced by LGBT students and their allies." Wonderful!
Then along comes a conservative Christian legal group called the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF; "Defending Our First Liberty"), spearheading an event for tomorrow called Day of Truth, in which student participants will pass out T-shirts and cards saying that they don't condone "detrimental personal and social behavior." ADF calls this an opportunity to "counter the promotion of the homosexual agenda" and express "an opposing viewpoint from a Christian perspective."
"Agenda"? I guess you could call wanting the same basic human rights as everyone else an agenda. But I'd call it a fight for justice.
The Day of Silence kids have it right.
GLBT Christians gay
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
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3 comments:
I have three children, two of them teens. I have been consistently impressed at the level of acceptance I see in them, and their friends, towards alternative folk.
However, I think it's generalizing generously, or at least naive, to say that teens are good at "accepting people for who they are". Teens, in my experience, and in that of my children, consistently judge others by what they wear, the music they listen to, the books they read (or don't read), the movies they see. If you don't fit into a certain small and rigid niche, they avoid, or worse, harrass mock, and deride you.
In urban centres, and among the better educated, it is increasingly acceptable to be LGBT - Dan Savage would say bisexualism is trendy amongst college-level young adults. But if the differences are less "trendy", there is little acceptance.
However, if Savage is right, the fact that the LGBT is entering trendy territory is certainly a good thing!
My oldest is 22, so a few years ago, I saw her face the snobbery of her teenage comtemporaries. I saw the hurtful exclusiveness of cliques. I experienced the same thing eons ago during my adolescence.
But it's been my experience that many teens do get past surface details—even before they leave adolescence—to accept the basic features of people: race, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical features. They use the surface details to sort out their own identity and their relationships to others. I think it's exactly because teens are exploring their own identities that they aren't as phobic about basic human differences as some adults can be.
Hey, Grumpymann . . . glad to hear you weigh in.
Yes, I know all about straight teens beating up on and harrassing gay teens. My younger brother Wally, one of the nicest people I know, was miserable in high school. Before he ever came out to anyone, other kids guessed that he was gay. He had nowhere to turn because we were living in southeast Texas, one of the more homophobic areas of the country at the time. He couldn't even think about getting support from our parents, two very homophobic members of a homophobic mainstream Christian denomination. No principal ever stood up for him. One or two teachers did. If I can get Wally's permission, I'll tell some of his story of those years here.
I've learned that raging against prejudice and other injustices doesn't often open closed minds, though. But quietly showing and doing sometimes does. You can read about some showing and doing that I helped organize here. Be sure to scroll down to here to read about Wally.
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