Sticking Up For Me, For Us and For the Future

On Monday, I left my Gender Studies class in tears. When I first walked in, one of my table mates made a "That's so gay" comment. I promptly called him out on that. Later in the class we were looking at paintings from the Renaissance and more modern times when someone said, "Homo" and another said, "I see a whole lotta fruit in that painting." I tried not to be defensive, I tried to not let it bother me, but it did. We then had to show pictures that we chose to epitamize masculinity or femininity. I chose a photo of Leslie Feinberg, a transgender author, activist and speaker. My group chose me to speak up about my photo, but I couldn't. I could not get past the earlier ignorance, I did not have it in me to try and teach people who I deemed unteachable.

Since Monday, I have been plotting what I would say to the class. All of my scenarios included using other derogitory names and inserting them where gay goes in "that's so gay". I finally had my chance to speak up in class today. Even though we were running late getting out of class, my classmates lent me their ears and I eliquaintly stated my case as to why "That's so gay" makes one look ignorant and can hurt the people around said one.

If even one of those kids leaves class with a sense of why we should be careful and think about our words, then I have changed the world. Even if someone leaves the class and makes fun of the sensitive lesbian in the gender class, s/he will have relayed this lesson to someone else's ear. "That's so gay" is such a trivial thing to fight against, but even the biggest buildings use sand to support the cement foundation. I am just one grain of salt, but I feel mightier than a boulder today!