The LGBT student and the culture of respect was the theme of the 2013 William R. Johnson Intercultural lecture by GLSEN ( Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network ) Executive Director Dr. Eliza Byard Oct. 23 at Elmhurst College.
An advocate for LGBT issues in K-12 education, Byard has served as GLSEN's executive director and deputy executive director for more than 10 years. As executive director, Byard has guided GLSEN's public education and advocacy efforts, student organizing and youth leadership development programs, and professional development training for educators as well as the annual No Name-Calling Week and the Think B4 You Speak Ad Council campaign. Her work has garnered bipartisan support for GLSEN's issues and acceptance for the need to include LGBT issues in K-12 education. Byard recently spoke at the 50th anniversary celebration of the March on Washington.
Prior to her stint at GLSEN, Byard spent 14 years as a producer for various non-fiction/documentary productions. She also serves on the Board of Trustees for America's Promise Alliance, the Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Board for Sodexo, the Steering Committee of the National Collaboration for Youth and the LGBT Suicide Prevention Task Force of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention.
Ahead of Byard's remarks, H. Scott Matheney, chaplain and dean of religious life at Elmhurst College spoke about Johnson, Elmhurst College alumni and the first openly gay person to be ordained in the United Church of Christ. In 2011, Elmhurst College named its annual LGBT lecture after Johnson and presented him with a plaque. Prior to Byard's lecture, Johnson presented a replica of his plaque to the president and students of EQUAL ( Elmhurst Queers and Allies ).
Byard said she's been on a journey to promote the culture of respect which most recently led to her speaking at the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, "the day that I fondly remember as containing the two most frightening minutes of my entire life."
To promote such a culture, Byard said that "it's about moving society from a place of common ground around a principal of respect that we all stand for to a common cause, an idea of a culture of respect for which we are all willing to fight and struggle and engage."
In speaking about her journey, Byard shared that she ran away from home to boarding school as a means of staying closeted to her family and friends. While at boarding school, she said she made the mistake of busting the curve in her freshman English class and her teacher made an example of her. The following day, Byard shared that when she walked in the classroom she saw a little paper doll hanging by its neck on the cord of the window shade with the words "Eliza is a dyke" written on the doll. Byard noted that she wasn't out to anybody, however, her classmates chose to use that epithet to stop her from speaking up in class ever again. Byard said her first thought wasn't "How dare they do this to me?"—it was "How did they know?" She explained that she hid the doll and never mentioned it until 15 years later nor did she speak in that class until almost the end of her freshman year.
While still in high school, Byard said that her thinking changed to how could they do that to her and that led to the desire to do something about bullying in schools. After a career as a filmmaker, Byard joined GLSEN in 2000. She said her fears about her family's reaction to her coming out as a lesbian were unfounded and she noted that her mom helped found the New York chapter of GLSEN.
She also explained what was happening in the country 13 years ago regarding LGBT issues and the work that GLSEN was doing to "illustrate to allies great and small at all ends of the spectrum that the abuse and violence that LGBT students were suffering was an issue around which we had to find common ground."
Said common ground was found when Byard attended a meeting with the Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute and the Christian Educators Association International in 2003. In that meeting, she said, they all agreed on the constitutional idea of the three R's: rights, responsibilities and respect due to others. Byard noted that, over time, the impact GLSEN has made on the understanding of the need for bullying prevention has grown throughout the country.
When thinking about bullying, "children are testing these things out at a young age and this underscores the fact that bullying isn't a hate crime or a criminal offense. It's a dynamic among children to challenge adults about what is an isn't acceptable in society," said Byard.
There have been three steps that have marked GLSEN's journey to find common ground and build a culture of respect, Byard explained. They are "overcoming your own fear of how someone will respond, building the case and gathering the information about the nature of the problem you which to solve and why you think this is something everyone should work on together and being able to speak from the heart about what these issues mean to you and all of us collectively," said Byard.
Byard added that when she received a letter from Rev. Bernice King inviting her to speak at the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, she didn't think the letter was real. Two days later, Byard said she received a call from King telling her that GLSEN was chosen by GLSEN's partner organizations in the South to be a part of the celebration. In her two-minute allotted speaking time at the march, Byard spoke about Bayard Rustin having to hide his sexual orientation 50 years ago and that now LGBT voices are being heard at the 50th anniversary commemoration celebration. Byard said the crowd began cheering after she mentioned Rustin as a pioneer on the journey toward respect.
A Q&A session followed Byard's lecture.
See www.glsen.org for more information.
