I'm feeling better, a little, at least no heartburn, but I'm having an attention span problem, so I'll probably forget half of what I wanted to write. Bear with me.
The GSA -- the Gay Straight Alliance -- meets on Thursdays. Two weeks ago, we held a workshop for the staff designed to ask them to show zero tolerance for homophobic (and other) hate speech in the classroom, halls, locker rooms. We also ran a little sensitivity exercise to help them see the sense of loss and isolation a gay kid (the whole term is GLBTQ) feels growing up.
(GLBTQ stands for Gay Lesbian Bi-Sexual Transgendered and Questioning. Sometimes the Q stands for Queer, depending on context. The whole thing sounds to me like something you order on white toast. Gay is just easier.)
Anyway. This Thursday's meeting was planned to address our need to create posters, advertise, bring the message beyond the staff and to the whole school. Minutes after the meeting began, one of the football coaches came in. With three members of the team. To join the meeting.
How incredible is that? This coach is such a wonderful young man; I knew from the beginning if we only asked, he would be a supporter. I think of him as a young man because I remember him as a student in the school, but in fact he graduated in the late 80s, so he must be older than I think he is. I remember him as a kid because his girlfriend worked in the library, and he met her at our door at the end of the period every day to walk her to her next class. Aww. And here he is, as stereotype-looking as a football player/coach could be (giant neck, blond crewcut, etc.) and he is just so good and gentle. (He teaches special ed. And I should know better than to think in stereotypes.) Last year, when he and his wife had their second daughter, I remarked to him, as parent of two daughters, that this is a good thing, and he just beamed. Two girls, no little football players? He couldn't be happier. So that's the kind of guy this is.
He talked to several boys on the team, and three agreed to come to the meeting to see what we're about. Takes guts for them just to walk into the room. I'm so proud of them. We talked about stereotyping and how damaging it can be, and although they didn't talk much, they nodded in understanding. Actually, almost all the kids in the room were intimidated by each other: our regulars by the football players, and the players by being in such an unfamiliar situation and not knowing any of the others there. But it was a start, and a real interesting one.
Are we taking off? Probably not yet. We still have very very few members. But there's another high school in the county that's had a GSA for maybe six years and it's the biggest club in that school. I keep thinking that what we need is one charismatic kid to join the club and then others will want to. I've seen it before; that's how it works. The problem is, there just aren't that many charismatic types these days, I have no idea why, and if there are, they're already over-involved in too many activities. But that's a story for another day: kids aren't the same as they used to be. This is either because it's true or because I'm old. I'm willing to accept either explanation.
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I'm watching Headliners and Legends
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So ... - 12.19.2006
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