Without Chicago in the 2016 election, the state of Illinois would have been a red state. Chicago, overall, is a liberal, blue city that overwhelmingly determines the outcome of the state. Chicago has one of the strongest ordinances for LGBTQ+ inclusion and Illinois has a progressive state law that is explicitly intentional in protecting its citizens on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation. Though research shows that Americans are becoming more accepting of LGBTQ people, does this mean the fight for equality is over?
I was coming home one day from the Illinois Safe Schools Alliance, a non-profit organization that focuses on LGBTQ+ student inclusion in schools across Illinois. I was with my friends and I remember thinking of how I'm happy to be living in a city where I can be me. As I got off the 87th Red Line Station train, I was served a reality shock by a billboard.
The billboard was an advertisement for PrEP ( Pre-exposure prophylaxis )*, a treatment used to prevent HIV transmission, and it visualized two Black men sitting on each other. Of course, I loved the inclusion of the billboard showing more dynamic couples, but what hit me hard was the writing on the board that said, "What's alls this gay shit about?" Instinctively, I tried to reclaim the board. I wrote on the side, "It's about LOVE!" For sass, I added, "Fix your grammar."
Days later, I came back from another meeting with my friends and saw that perpetrators had hit back at me. I came to a billboard that was bare. The visualization of the two men had been cut out with scissors. As emotional as it is for me to write this, it was too much of a hit close to home that I had to walk away without even putting up a fight about it to the security in the terminal. The person( s ) responsible for this sent a message and it was well recieved: Your type isn't welcome here.
While I could closet myself and regard it as a generational issue, that is simply not the case. According to GLSEN's National Climate Survey in 2015 for the state of Illinois, about 90% of students heard being gay used in a negative way, and about 80% of students heard homophobic remarks such as "dyke" or "faggot" being used. Obviously, LGBTQ+ issues are in our school communities and not just something to be brushed away to be laissez-faire about. I propose that in order to combat homophobia, we need to start in schools.
Some people may say that "faggot" or "that's so gay" is embedded in normal English language, which is not true. At Lindblom Math and Science Academy, a school on the South Side of Chicago, our Genders and Sexualities Alliance hosted a mandatory teach-in for 7-9th grade students to attend. During this teach-in, Alissa, GSA member, mentioned how the term "faggot" means a bundle of sticks or it was a derogatory term toward women. This caused many students to whisper in confusion and reflecting on what they've been saying. After explaining that slurs are not tolerated at Lindblom, we briefly explained what it means to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning. Though this information may have been new to our underclassmen, they were respectful, clapped when members of the GSA spoke about their own experiences, and in the end you could sense the palpable feeling of acceptance and love in the atmosphere. But, having one teach-in is not enough. To have safe spaces in school, teachers need to be proactive rather than reactive and foster a positive culture that embraces diversity.
Teachers started the school year off by asking students what their preferred names are and what pronouns they'd like to be called. This may seem minor, but one teacher stated that two of their students came to them about wanting to be called by a preferred name that doesn't match their legal name. Another positive way to influence culture at the school is to support clubs for sexual and gender diversity. The administration granted the Gender and Sexualities Alliance a bulletin board. We ended last school year with posting LGBTQ+ women in history. Students in the school would stop and look at the bulletin board and students have commented about the importance of visibility can have.
Students are heavily shaped by the experiences in school, so if LGBTQ+ topics are regarded as a hush-hush issue, fewer students will be educated and ignorance overcomes knowledge. I encourage teachers and school administrators to step up to the plate and use the platform they have to confront human-rights issues and educate students. This means that schools should be active in creating GSAs, building positive school climate by addressing bullying in all its forms, and training teachers to be allies for LGBTQ+ students. It only takes a few words to end the silence.
* PrEP is when people at very high risk for HIV take HIV medicines daily to lower their chances of getting infected. PrEP can stop HIV from taking hold and spreading throughout your body. It is highly effective for preventing HIV if used as prescribed, but it is much less effective when not taken consistently, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
Nathan Petithomme is a high school senior at Lindblom Math and Science Academy. He is active in social justice and community activism and aspires to be in the education field and politics.
