Gayness, Multicultural Education, and Community by Dennis Carlson (reflection with video)

As I read this article I originally planned to do just do quotes, but as I continued reading I thought of a great friend from middle and high school. He was the nicest guy you’d ever meet, and a few days after graduation he came out to me. I was shocked but I didn’t think any different of him. There have been moments where he was accused of being gay but never confirmed or denied. He told me there were many times he wanted to tell but was fearful of my reaction.  He even explained one of the days he felt ready to “come out” and knew I would be accepting, it was one of the last days in our homeroom class he asked me to make him a rainbow bracelet for a gay/straight parade he was attending and he wanted some colorful gear (because….instead of catching up on important reading for my classes I would make a bunch of bracelets during homeroom) so of course I pleased to help out.  As he told me this I remembered his face when I gave it to him he was so happy I did this for him, it even seemed like he wanted to share something with me but the bell rings, he smiles and says thank you.

I never thought the simple gesture of making a bracelet would make my friend so happy. He told me it wasn’t the bracelet itself but the fact I got out of my way to make something that represented something he believed in.  Another reason why I thought of him throughout the article was because he plans on becoming an elementary school teacher and I know he be a great teacher. J

There was a quote from the article that bothered me. “the dismissal of gay teachers was legitimated as a way of keeping young people from being exposed to improper role models…”

I find that to be so false, I never had a homosexual teacher(so I thought) but ones sexual orientation cannot be seen as a factor of an improper role model, that’s just nonsense. There is more to a person than if they're gay or straight, anyone can be inspiration to a child, they just have to have to right character.

I hope to bring up in class if anyone has ever had gay teacher? I'm curious to see what expirences other classmates had in high school.

I found this on YouTube video about teachers in the UK I thought was related to the topic.