In the new article, “That’s So Gay”: From a Teacher’s Perspective, in the Southern Poverty Law Center's Teaching Tolerance publication and its accompanying website (http://www.tolerance.org/print/blog/s-so-gay-teacher-s-perspective), Ginger Aaron Brush, a lesbian elementary physical education teacher in the Birmingham, Ala., area confesses that when she was closeted, the term "immediately caused me to shudder." Her typical response to students at the time was, "We don't use those kinds of words."
"Unknowingly, I taught my students that the word gay was vulgar and that it had no place in dialogue or conversation," Aaron Brush wrote. "Although I had hoped not to bring any attention to this word, I was doing just the opposite. I was bringing negative attention to the word gay and unintentionally promoting it as a word to use when one wanted to hurt another person’s feelings. By not saying anything more than, 'Don’t use that word,' I was actually saying a lot."
In the years since, the teacher has embraced her sexual identity and learned to emphasize diversity rather than creating an air of the taboo around LGBT issues. She now sees such juvenile slights as "opportunities to help my students understand family diversity, how to steer clear of gender stereotypes and to recognize bias-based bullying." Aaron Brush recommends asking questions such as “Why would you choose that word?,” “Tell me why you think being gay is an insult?,” or “How do you think that would sound to a gay person?” over merely "shutting down the conversation."
Not In Our Town: Bloomington-Normal leader Willie Halbert recalls the value of a similar dialogue roughly three years ago at the Bloomington Public Library, when a group of Bloomington and Normal high schoolers participated in a survey that revealed they all were guilty of using "That's so gay" and other terms, "not even thinking that they were discriminatory top a group of individuals."
"They were actually in tears when they thought about it," Halbert recounted. "Those youths who participated's lives were changed, and two of them actually received the (Twin Cities' annual) Martin Luther King Award for their work with NIOT and other work toward equality."
Sadly, she said, Aaron Brush's article demonstrates that three years later, "the same issues are still occurring."
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Teaching Tolerance is a publication free to teachers that provides “a place for educators to find thought-provoking news, conversation and support for those who care about diversity, equal opportunity and respect for differences in schools.” It is “dedicated to reducing prejudice, improving intergroup relations and supporting equitable school experiences for our nation’s children.” Teaching Tolerance is a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center and includes the magazine, weekly newsletters, classroom resources, film kits, and more. Accommodating the broad range of age and developmental appropriateness needed in schools, teachers from all school levels are able to use and benefit from the resources.