As a lesbian living in a small, southern, religious town, things can be somewhat scary. Life should not be scary because you are different than other people. A group of my friends and I have started a Gay/Straight Alliance at our high school, or at least we have tried to start one. Our vice principal only had one thing against the group, she did not want anyone to get hurt. We understood that. Our principal has refused to let the club be school sanctioned. She never really gave us a reason why it could not be school sanctioned. At least, not a real clear answer. We got the usual vague answers and some that made no sense whatsoever. Of course, so she wouldn't be doing anything illegal, she didn't tell us we could not meet on campus. So we do. Every other Wednesday, we meet in a teacher's room and discuss many different topics that we feel are important or just something we feel like discussing. At our last meeting, we discussed religion and how it affected our lives. This took up the whole hour. We are all a very opinionated group, and are very vocal, at least within our group. A majority of the group are indeed Gay or Bi, but, sometimes it seems like the straight people are more upset about some of the injustices commited against the LGBT community. This is very good thing. I think it shows that our generation is far more tolerant than our grandparents' or even our parents' generations.
I am proud of my friends and I. We did something that no one else had the guts to do. There are many more LGBT people at my school than I originally thought. This only makes sense. It is not a safe thing to be out around here. Maybe one day, hopefully soon, most likely not before I graduate, that the GSA will get school sanctioned. GSA should have a page in the yearbook. There are other groups that are not supposed to advertise around the school, but they do. Religious groups that meet on certain mornings around the flag pole or in the cafe, they have flyers on the bullentin boards. I saw one just yesterday, took all of my self control not to rip it off. I should have said something at the meeting, since I did see it on my way to GSA. It probably would have caused a big hooplah though and would have destroyed the whole order of the meeting.
As historian of the GSA, I plan to document the activites that we become involved in. I hope that the documentation of us doing things that could really help the student body and the community as a whole, will help the GSA get sanctioned sooner. Until then, students are stuck living in fear that if someone finds out that they are gay, they will get hurt. Physical pain shows more, but emotional pain is more deadly. A GSA is supposed to stop discrimination, not cause it.
From an out and proud lesbian living in the south
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Julemister, Good for you.
I have to admit that I was somewhat of a homophobe when I was in high school, and even through much of college. My freshman year in high school I lived in South Carolina, and the rest in Colorado. I think the main reason for this was because I didn't know any gays who were out. Later in life when I came to know openly gay men and women as colleagues and friends, my irrational fear disappeared completely. If there had been more brave people like you in my high school, I would have made up my mind much earlier on the issue.
I recently met a gay couple who live in Boston. They were one of the first gay couples to get married after same-sex marriage was legalized in Massachussetts. They made a point that really stuck in my mind: fifty years ago people used the exact same arguments against inter-racial marriage that people make today against same-sex marriage (if you look at old quotes, even the words are almost the same). Today, some people may not feel that inter-racial marriage is right for their own families, but only the most hardened bigot would deny everyone the right to marry across racial or ethnic lines.
Hopefully in much less than 50 years we will look back at the early 2000's and think that people were hopelessly backward with respect to LGBT issues. In the meantime, keep fighting the good fight.
I'm proud of what you are doing right now. I tried to have Gay/Straight Alliance in my school. Guess what, the school administration did not give a damn. Plus, it denied my proposal from creating this club. My school is very small. It's difficult to have this club going because students in my school are not accept/respect gay students. So, basically, those queer students have to live in a double life...
I have a friend who is openly gay at my school and i hear people talk about him sometimes, most often people who do not know him, negatively just because he is gay. I often find myself getting flustered with these people.
I am a straight female, but i try to be as sympathetic to my friends who happen to be gay at the same time. One of my best friends is gay and she had a hard time coming out to me. But, once she told me I was so happy that she did. I was really surprised that she was scared to tell me, but I let her know as much as possible that i am completely fine with her sexual preference.
Some people are afraid to say that they are gay or bi just because they are afraid of how people will react to them. I think that's terrible. I believe that everyone should be able to express themselves and not be afraid to hide their true selves. It is very had for people to come out and they deserve respect for that. Whenever I hear any comment that is negative towards gay people I am normally the first to react and to defend my friends. They're my friends-gay,straight, or bi. I love them just as much. I think that I might consider starting a gay/straight alliance at my school.
I am in charge of the southeastern michigan Regional Gay-Straight Alliance.
One of my adult service coordinators came out in an extremely religious university, so she understands what you're going through.
If you need any resources or assistance, please don't hesitate to contact me.
And good for you for keeping up a good fight!