"Hey, FAGGOT!" Not exactly what you want to hear starting the school day, right? But I can't tell you the number of days of my Mississippi junior high school life that began with this greeting.
Then again, maybe I was one of the lucky ones. A national study done by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) in 2003 indicates that 84 percent of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered (GLBT) youth reported regularly experiencing homophobic harassment in schools while 82.9 percent of GLBT students report that faculty or staff never intervened or intervened only some of the time when present. Just the perception that a student is GLBT could be enough in some schools to make a student feel threatened.
The national organization Parents and Friends of Gays and Lesbians (PFLAG) is offering teachers, principals, and superintendents a chance to help make schools safer for students. The PFLAG class suggests subtle things like having school counselors put a rainbow sticker on his or her bulletin board so GLBT students know the administrator is open to talking about their issues.
This help for gay students isn't welcomed by all, however. At the national PTA convention in Ohio, Mississippi delegate Mary Sloan, the PTA education vice president, stated that she didn't understand why "this" needed to be taught in schools (as reported in The Washington Times). She stated that "the Mississippi PTA had lost 14,000 members to the homosexual agenda and to 'school choice issues.'"
In an interview with the JFP, Mississippi PTA President Mary Hardy said that the declining membership in the PTA is not due to "one particular issue," rather, she said, "There has been a national loss of membership. Parents are younger now, and they don't see the PTA as important as the older generation does."
Still, Ms. Sloan publicly represented the Mississippi PTA when she avowed that the "homosexual agenda" was causing a decline in numbers. I sent an e-mail to the Mississippi PTA to let them know of my displeasure over Ms. Sloan's comments and stance. I expressed that the issue of GLBT harassment in schools is one with which I am personally familiar.
Ms. Sloan was gracious enough to personally reply to my criticism of her stance, which was forwarded to other members of the Mississippi PTA as well. "We oppose bullying of all kinds. We oppose bullying of … the gay and the straight," she started out.
But she then asserted that she didn't want to hear my "whining" and that all kids are picked on in school. She also said that the PTA "certainly will not promote a reproductive disability," and instead affirmed that the PTA will continue to promote abstinence. Ms. Sloan, being GLBT is not anti-abstinent. And what the hell does "reproductive disability" mean? It's not like my ovaries are barren or anything.
She closed her "professional" letter by stating that if "one of (my) people" was responsible for knocking down her mailbox, she would like to have it replaced.
The Mississippi PTA does not sponsor any class teaching its educators how to deal with situations involving GLBT students, but Hardy affirms that the PTA "is an advocate for all children." She told the JFP: "If there is a problem, we deal with that on an individual level. We don't hold a class for that, but we haven't been confronted with it much." Ms. Sloan did not return calls to the JFP.
If students don't feel they are in a safe "space" or environment, why would they approach a teacher or administrator? It goes back to the subtle nature of awareness as presented by the PFLAG class. Maybe the lack of education on GLBT issues makes educators and "allies" such as Ms. Hardy unaware that the problem even exists.
Though the PTA purports to be an advocate for all children, Mississippi educators could benefit from the level of awareness gained through this class—making schools safer, especially for marginalized populations, is a good thing. This is not about promoting a "lifestyle"—and I hate that term—this is about awareness.
It is necessary to overcome apathy and self-righteous indignation on the part of adults that contribute to the unsafe school setting for outsiders in the public school system. With so much money spent on diversity training in the workplace to avoid lawsuits over matters such as these, doesn't it make more sense to start with the root of the problem? Bullying based upon perceived differences when left unchallenged gives "bullying" a stamp of approval. The catchphrase of the PTA is "Every child, one voice." I guess GLBT students are a voice that the Mississippi PTA doesn't want to hear.
Trey Mangum is a new columnist for the JFP. He is a graduate of Millsaps College, Mississippi College, and The University of Texas at Austin.
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