Wow such a sad story. It is great to see that Joe was willing to stand up and still go through the song instead of letting the bullies win.

This is such an empowering story and makes you think that you can make a difference even if you are the only one!

I don't want to "push my own paradigm" here but Joe's whole point is what I have been saying for years, who would choose to be a minority? It is the entire basis for why I believe homosexuality is a genetic TRAIT...not a mutation, not a problem, not something that needs fixing...just like some people are red heads and some are brunettes, some people are homosexual.

Great point by Joe - and Lindsey - about why would you want to be a minority. That being said, however, a question for you, Joe: "Given where your life is at right now, do you wish you were not a homosexual? If God (whoever your God is.. but that's a different subject!) could "make you" a heterosexual, would you do it? Why or why not?" I'm curious because you hear about these sad, mean stories that some people have to go through, and it seems that whenever you talk to them about it, they often say "I wouldn't change a thing. It made me stronger. It made me who I am today."

Thank you for sharing that story Denise. Creating a classroom culture that makes everyone feel comfortable and welcome will be important. Creating a school wide culture is going to be harder, because one teacher can only control so much.

I agree that there should be more enforcement on school policies for discrimination. Do you think that will change the individuals perceptions of the various sexual orientations? There are so many outside sources that look at homosexuality as a joke. Can schools be the agent of change or is there a better way to change peoples opinions?

Joshua, I don't know that schools can be the agent of change but if we can't rely on everyone's parents to provide their children with education and compassion towards this subject, then sure! Why not have school be the agent of change. It is terrible that we just ignore it. This isn't the 18th century. We can remain fearful or we can do something. I'm the first one to say that a persons sexuality doesn't have to be a part of their everyday in the sense that it affects every aspect of their life. I spoke to Joe about this and he gets frustrated that some gays love to bring up their sexuality in any instance. It doesn't matter! It shouldn't matter! But, when it comes to educating our youth and providing compassion for our world, we need to engage in actions that not only help multicultural persons but GLBT persons. All persons. Or, we can continue that GLBT's don't exist and wait until terrible events have us scrambling.

I agree with Lindsey so much! AND I don't want to push my own paradigm because I do believe people are born who they are and why can't people just accept others for who they are. I have issues with people, one is my dearest friend, who will argue "what the bible says", we will never see eye to eye with these people. Having brought up my friend and how her and I disagree with one another would it be difficult to push this in school? Could it become a religious issue?

Brenda, I understand that this issue does interfere with religion. Joe was Mormon and I can't imagine what he went thru with his family. (They are still Mormon.) I think that regardless of the religious consequences, schools will have to accept the GLBT population and we need to welcome them. We need to educate the rest of our student population. Look at Muslims. They are now a growing concern in our schools. We have had to make adjustments. We are allowing them to go pray and practice their religious beliefs while in school. Why can't we welcome the GLBT population knowing that we won't have to make special accomodations whatsoever-

Would you approach a student of yours that was GLBT? Why? How?
I would approach any student if I saw them being bullied, heard things said about them amongst groups, or if I noticed that they were not doing well in school, yes, I would approach them. I would just ask them after class if they could see me before or after school to talk. If they are well adjusted, has friends, are excelling, I would treat them like any other student and let them know my door is always open to discuss any topic. I am a safe zone that they can talk to.

Thx, Jaime. But I'm asking if you would approach this student, GLBT, even if they weren't being bullied? Would you inquire if they were ever bullied? Would you open up a discussion? Kind of as a preventative measure and also just to show your concern.

Would you approach a student of yours that was GLBT? Why? How?
I don't think I would approach a GLBT student just out of the blue to ask if they were being bullied or if they needed to talk unless I did that with every single one of my students. I would then have to approach every student of a different race, gender, religion, physical or mental disability, etc. etc... There are many reasons why students get bullied, I don't think I'd single one student out. But I would definitely make sure my classes know that I am a safe person to come to for open discussion and that I will help them in any way that I can if they are having troubles with anything.

I wonder how much having a supporting home environment helps with coming out for students like your friend. If you're bullied at school, I wonder how much that helps GLBT students deal with it when the family is supportive.

Thanks, Zach. I know that Joe mentioned his parents knew about his confusion but also thought it was a choice of his. He can probably better explain this. I don't remember him saying there was tension at home because of this, but I don't know how much support he really got either.

Here are a few questions that I'm going to post to help Joe get a start for his postings:
Joe, what would you like to let us future teachers know about the LGBT population in middle or high school?
What are some things that we can and should do to support the LGBT population? (to make things easier for them)
What are some things that we should NOT do? (things that could manifest negatively)
What was your biggest fear in middle and/or high school?

It's important I think to have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to bullying of any kind regardless of whether a student be gay or not. It should be a 3 strikes and your suspended kind of a set up I think. Teachers nowadays all too often are very apathetic towards bullying in schools. Push for a GSA club to be formed in schools (Gay Straight Alliance).

I wanted to let Denise know what a great job she did on writing a great summary of me growing up gay! The piece really does a great job at explaining how I really felt!

Joe,
If you could go back to high school, what would you say to straight students & what would you say to gay students?

Denise, I think your research and the way you presented it informs me on the issue of choice versus born this way. It's easy to confuse this with the question of environment or DNA, that is brought up for a lot of things. I'm finding there are maybe different levels related to choice, and choice doesn't just naturally equate to environment.

I'm just curious if anyone knows if there is any type of GLBT education in public schools? If not, there is even more need to make sure students see themselves in our curriculum.

Wow Denise, your questions are great! I just put the principal related one on my list of "6 Questions" for our Professional Teacher class assignment, and on my list for student teaching interview questions as well.

Regarding Question 2, I'm not an activist for much of anything (yet) but I would raise my hand to be considered as a volunteer to teach it. Keep in mind that I would be no expert so I wonder about licensing requirements associated with any HR issue. Are there some things that all teachers can teach in their classes regardless of their content license? My observations, say yes, for like bullying but for this?

Regarding Question 3, I had to actually watch a YouTube of it (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGLZqDXau98) to fully appreciate the concern. I'm not sure what I would do. Part of the problem is that I used to be extremely introverted, especially before I had kids. And then, I have this impulsive aspect of my personality too. So intellectually, I maybe want to say "Stop the show!" or not stop it but immediately find out who is involved and immediately pull them out and deal with them severely. All with an eye on following my professional rules and job responsibilities. The other part of me says, don't think man, dance... jump up there and join in. We can deal with the offenders soon enough. Maybe this is a question to discuss with a principal too. Sometimes the rules and procedures we are being taught get all jumbled up in my mind and conflict with my intuition. And in the classes we are taking I have flip flopped back and forth. I just flopped on a Pedagogy Assignment 2 and now am trying to figure out how to flip it back in Assignment 3.

Regarding 4, and how I would approach or would I... yes! I plan to approach "all" students and on their terms too. I have to do this just to figure out what their terms are in fact. I want them all to achieve success in learning.

My main question for Joe would be: Should there be a push to get kids to come out earlier so they can deal with it earlier? And for Denise: What would Piaget say about this? Personally, I would like to see kids be able to come out earlier and then create a learning community that helps them. And not only them. Maybe by not coming out we are not helping those students who are biased against GLBT, right? But kids are still growing too and so forcing somebody to come out or any pressuring doesn't seem correct either. What's your opinion now, Joe? Hmmm, maybe this is why we need curriculum on GLBT.

This also makes me think about those Disney movies, High School Musical, where the male start wants to be more than just one thing. Students need to take risks to learn even if it is scary, they can fail, and it can have serious social consequences. Maybe we need to be dancers first. I'm a horrible real dancer too.

I taught my two English Lit classes yesterday for Pedagogy's Assignment Three. What turned out to be an extra treat for me, was that I had to adapt my lesson a bit for a girl who could not speak. I thought, at first, when she did not accept my invitation to read aloud in class that she was deaf. She only shook her head "no". But then, she later handed me questions that she had written down for me to provide verbal answers. So she is not deaf but just can't talk?? I found out after class from my mentor that yesterday was "Own the Silence" day at our high school. It was a day recognized at our school thru the GSA (Gay Straight Alliance). (And probably a national day but I'm not aware.) Anyway, my mentor told me that this girl was being silent all day to recognize the GLBT community in our school. I was sooooooo glad to hear that we had such a club at school! And I was even more glad to see that she was acknowledging the day with being silent!!! It spoke volumes...... (pun not intended!!)

Hi Joe. We have been going through a lot of scenarios of people being bullied or harassed. It seems as though the same thing is consistently happening to not only BLGT students bit others as well. What excuse did the principal give you for not following up on the bullying you experienced? Did you ever approach a teacher or other administrator about this? If so what was the response? It seems as though a lot of people are finding some excuse not to act on this. If you have any insight from personal experience as to why this is still an issue, it would be interesting to hear why.

Zuck- You bring up High School Musical and that makes me think of Glee, etc. There are males in these movies who are great singers and dancers. Maybe this is indirectly a step in the right direction.... Maybe it will be the popularity and exposure of these shows that will introduce more of the LBGT population...

Zuck, I also wish that students felt more comfortable to 'come out' earlier. I really do. They could maybe save themselves so much pain and confusion. On the flip side, they have to do this when they are ready. When they are ready for everyone to know. You can't hardly tell the school if you aren't ready to tell the folks and vice versa. But it would be nice if we could get to the point of opening up and not being afraid to open up at a much younger age.

hi sorry for the delay in responding to all your questions! Ok so, when it comes to what teachers can do to make the environment better in the classroom is have an open door policy about for your students. Reassure them that you will not judge them for what they share with them. Coming out is a very personal thing and is different for everyone. I feel that if it was more acceptable to be gay the earlier people will come out about their sexuality. I also, feel that if teachers are open to lively open discussion on a variety of topics there could be more understanding on how people experience different things. This would allow glbt students to feel more safe in sharing their true feelings on things and not make them feel that everything controversial must not be spoken of. The more straights particularly straight males we can get to understand that if we know they are straight the majority of us gay men wont hit on them. Most gay are respectful of sexuality boundaries and will not push the envelope in my view. I do feel that teaching about glbt topics in school should be part of the curicillum. This education on glbt issues would allow them to see that gays are really just everyday people that happened to attracted to the same sex and that not all gays act effeminite or butch or all the stereotypes that society likes to label us with. Also, educating students on how bullying of all kinds not just towards individuals of the glbt community has led to awful consequences such as living in fear, cutting yourself, being lonely, and in some cases suicide. Also, it should also be made clear that currently the suicide rate among young people in the glbt community is much higher than it is for their straight peers overall. Make clear in your classrooms that bullying will not be tolerated at all in the classroom or on school grounds and that it's a three strikes your out kind of policy.

Also, bullying outside of school like on facebook or texting should not be tolerated either. The same rule of three strikes your suspended should apply. I think creating an understanding among students about what the glbt community faces and that it's not a choice. Also, I feel that an understanding of all the different minorities or those who struggle to fit in should be taught in the classroom. Also, I feel a gay straight alliance in schools would help straights feel that they are a part of it and can have a better understanding of what the glbt community is about and help them feel included in on the discussion.

if a rainiing men incident happened those students that made a scene and embarrassed that student should be punished in some way like suspended.

xcellent submission, Denise. I am so very impressed with your work on this topic.Your questions were superlative and I really enjoyed the quotes you used to deliver the summation. The idea Joe gave us to provide a Gay Friendly zone in your room was an excellent one. Make a fabulous sign and put it on your door. Print out this entire page and share it with anyone who challenges you!

1. Research your topic. 5 refs-2 hard copy 25 points
2. Synthesize 200-400 words 25 points
3. Respond to peers. 5 points
4. Introductory statement from guest. Attend 25 points