Safe Spaces: Making Schools and Communities Welcoming the LGBT Youth. Connections Piece

While reading Safe Spaces by Annemarie Vaccaro, Gerri August, and Megan S. Kennedy, I found that I agreed with everything they had to say. The main message of this chapter of their book was to show teachers and others that they need to integrate the idea of LGBT youth into not just their curriculum, but their everyday lives. It should be seen as a normal, wonderful thing to students of any sexual preference that LGBT people are a natural part of this world. I loved their idea of "classrooms being seen as "mirrors and windows" for all students-mirrors in which youth see themselves in the curriculum and recognize their place in the group; windows through which youth see beyond themselves to experiences connected with, but not identical to, their own" (88). As crazy as this may sound when you hear this, I was thinking a lot about Rodriguez and Collier after reflecting on Safe Spaces. I thought a lot about their overall messages throughout their stories, and I wanted to talk about them in relation to the LGBT community and Safe Space's idea of integrating positive messages through school curriculum and developing a public vs. private identity in life.

First off, I would like to speak about Rodriguez's message of public and private individualities. Rodriguez stated in Aria that in order to create a public identity that society will approve of, you need to lose your private identity. For Rodriguez, his private identity was his Spanish culture that he embraced at home with his family. His school stated he would not get ahead in their classroom if he only spoke Spanish, so he began becoming an English only speaker. Therefore, he concluded that in order to become a prominent English speaker and develop an individual identity, he needed to stop speaking Spanish as a whole. So, speaking about the topic of LGBT, I feel that this idea of creating a public identity they are proud of is very important to them. Privately, they are confident in what they like, and who they are. But publically, it is not always for them to express exactly who they are; especially in the classroom setting. People, meaning students, teachers, or anyone else, are judgmental. They may only see things "one-way". They may not have the same beliefs or values other people have. So more often times then not, it is hard for students to be open about who they are and what they love. However, Safe Spaces gave plenty of scenarios in classrooms where teachers connected the idea of being LGBT as a normal, great thing to be or to be connected to. The book proved that a public identity can be made if the topic of LGBT is integrated into the everyday lives of a teacher's students. I wish Rodriguez could have seen things this way when he wrote Aria, realizing he could still hold his Spanish heritage close and make it a part of his public individuality.

I also wanted to talk about Collier. Collier believed that as a teacher, you should integrate the fact that students are bilingual into the normal classroom setting. She believed that the only way to teach a student something new is to integrate what they are already comfortable with and used to. I personally think this lesson hold true for the LGBT community, and how it should be seen as a comfortable lesson to speak about in the classroom. (No matter what age the child is). The authors of this book want teachers to be "constructive and instructive instead of destructive and provocative" (99) towards the topic of being LGBT. They want teachers to "publicly commit to creating a classroom climate of inclusivity and respect with the pledged cooperation of all students" (99). I am positive Collier would agree with the authors of Safe Spaces, and their ideas of instituting topics like these in the classroom all the time, for the sake of giving the students the background knowledge they need and should be comfortable with talking about and thinking about.



To speak about in class:
So, I hope my connections to Rodriguez and Collier are much clearer to all of you now; being that their overall message is to develop a public identity and integrate the ideas of individuality into the classroom experience.


Below is a video I found on Youtube of kids reacting to gay marriage proposals. They all have different reactions, and it is great to watch and hear about. They have more knowledge and ideologies than the average adult. (but that is just my personal opinion :)) After they watch these proposals, they are asked many relevant questions about the topic of LGBT. What they have to say is great. They are accepting, they fight for being LGBT and their rights, and they enjoy hearing about what it means to be LGBT. For some of the children, it is their first time seeing this type of love. For others, it is not, and they are completely supportive. It is a great video and completely inspiring!