Thursday, February 25, 2010

Talking Point 3

"Gayness, Multicultural Education, and Community"
By: Dennis Carlson

1. "...gay people have for the most part been made absent, invisible, and silent within this community and at the same time represented as the deviant and pathological 'Other.'"
-i am upset that gays were referred to as the "others", as if they were not "normal people." however, i do not feel as if they are made absent, invisible, and silent anymore. maybe at the time of this article they were, but i feel that gays have definitely come a long way. on the other hand, i am sure that many lgbt people do still struggle with being silent and uncomfortable with who they are.

2. "...it is not estimated that one third of all adolescent suicide victims are gay, approximately one-quarter of all homeless youth in the United States are gay..."
-these stats are high and i was a little shocked and also disturbed when i read them. it is so upsetting that a possible 33 % of teens kill themselves simply because of being a gay person. also reading that 25% of homeless youth are gay, it makes me wonder why? are parents kicking their children out on the streets because of their chosen sexual orientation? if so, how awful!

3."If, in popular culture, being straight meant being "normal", that is, affirming bourgeois, traditional, repressive, monogamous, married sexuality, then being gay meant-by definition-the opposite."
-This quote reminds me of the of the first activities we did in class with SCWAAMP. i remember writing under sexual orientation that straight was considered the norm in our society. a gay person should be considered just as normal as a straight person is.

-i liked reading this article because all of the other articles have focused on race and education and this was a little different. focusing on lgbt was an interesting read, and i am anxious to see everyones different opinions, if any, in class tomorrow. although i did feel like some things were a little outdated, i did still like the reading. i feel like gays have come so far since this article was written with more success in coming out and marriage as well. i noticed that throughout the article "silence" was a huge idea. gays were silent and coming out was and is very difficult for them. other articles we have read have also concentrated with the idea of silence. In Delpit, the culture that knows the codes and rules of power do not teach them and are silent about what they are. it doesnt even occur to people with power and forces them to be silent almost a little unintentionally. also, in Rodriguez, he is silent about his first language and when to speak it. Publicly vs. Privately was a huge issue for him and i also think it is a huge issue for gay people as well. Being a public gay vs. a private gay is probably very difficult for a gay person. overall, i liked this article and enjoyed the easy read.

2 comments:

  1. I thought about that same feeling of silence like you and the connection to Rodriguez. But I believe although many LGBT have come further since this dated article, have they come as far in the school age years?, the years when they seem to be effected more, and cope less and can respond with drug abuse and suicide.

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  2. I don't get what’s the big deal! So what if a person likes someone of the same sex! I can understand if it’s a religious issue, but if a person feels that homosexual's are disgusting and just shouldn't be, then that is where I have a problem. Whatever happened to the terms: "mind your own business" and "if you don't have nothing nice to say, keep it to yourself"?

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