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APPENDIX FOUR Teachers' Convention Offers Hope for Gay Students [The headline read this, I didn't like it very much. The whole idea of hope is a bit over the top]
Every once in a while, reality comes crashing in on my rose-coloured world and an old smouldering anger bursts into flames. It happens at the most unexpected times - when I read the newspaper obituaries of friends who've said goodbye too soon, when an acquaintance explains that she's safer sleeping on the sidewalk downtown than in her bed at home, when I remember being told that there are no foster families who want to deal with gay kids. It's when my anger is bursting into flames that I become impatient with the world - impatient with teachers and administrators who refuse to come out to students, impatient with curriculum developers who don't want people to know that Eleanor Roosevelt and Alexander the Great were queer, impatient with school dances where two-stepping with people of the same sex elicits threats of physical intimidation. My friends tell me to wait, that equality is only a matter of time, but how is someone supposed to be patient when 71% of self-identified queer youth report having seriously considered suicide? How is someone supposed to be patient when the majority of those youth who have attempted suicide first did so when they were only 18, in just Grade 8? How is someone supposed to be patient when 25% of queer youth have used cocaine compared to nine per cent of their heterosexual counterparts, when 28% of queer youth report their teachers make homophobic remarks, when 82% report that other students make homophobic remarks, when they feel that only 44% of their teachers and 27% of their classmates would react positively to finding out that a student at their school is gay? It's a terrifying barrage of numbers that tells me there's no time to wait, that something is seriously wrong with our school system and that kids need something done now, today. It was during one of those impatient moments, when the smouldering anger had burst into flames, that I read some promising news. This spring break, while students enjoy a week-long escape from classes, the BC Teachers' Federation will be voting on a number of resolutions and recommendations at its annual general meeting, recommendations that will set the tone in BC public schools for months and years to come. I was looking through a rather mundane copy of the Reports and Resolutions booklet for the upcoming AGM when I discovered recommendation 39, a few scant paragraphs acting as a beacon amid a sea of sleep-inducing financial reports and meeting rules. Recommendation 39 was first put forward as a resolution by nine teachers' associations across the province, including our own Coquitlam Teachers' Association. Because so many associations put forward the same resolution, the BCTF executive gave it the higher status of a recommendation. The recommendation suggests that the BCTF actively support the establishment of Gay/Straight Alliances in middle and high schools throughout BC and that the BCTF encourage teachers to facilitate the establishment of such groups. So what are Gay/Straight Alliances? They're like lunchtime multi-cultural clubs, only they're for straight and queer youth. They're sponsored and run by supportive teachers and work to create dialogue and understanding between the two. Students get together and talk about issues in the media, play board games, and complain about homework. Gay/Straight Alliances are about creating safe spaces where queer and straight kids can get to know one another, where they can dispel stereotypes, and where they can find common ground. Although recommendation 39 is a big step for BC, Gay/Straight Alliances are old news in the United States. Our southern neighbours boast more than 500 such groups dedicated to fostering positive relationship between queer and straight youth in schools. Some Americans have harshly criticised the establishment of Gay/Straight Alliances and have gone so far as to ban all extra-curricular student groups in an effort to keep these alliances from forming. These people believe that such student groups would cause otherwise 'normal' kids to end up gay. As for normal, gay kids are normal, we just happen to live in a society that treats us rather extraordinarily. And as for the idea that a student group for gay and straight kids has the power to alter someone's sexual orientation, well, just see whether any kid going into a multicultural club comes out with a different skin colour. Although I'm burning with impatience for the day when high school drop-out, suicide, and drug abuse statistics will make no distinction based on sexual orientation, I'm happily awaiting the week in March when the few short paragraphs of Recommendation 39 will promise so much to queer and straight students across the province. Statistics:
McCreary
Centre Society (1999)
Brent Power
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