As Voleron said; this, as an exception and not the norm might be a positive thing. I understand the need for a safe haven like this but I'd be concerned about it being rolled out across the school system. It's because of generations of struggle and bullying that we are where we are today and things are getting better, albeit slowly. So this seems a lot like a step back to me.

As a kid who grew up and went to elementary through high school in the 90's I was both shocked and pleased to see how my old high school's attitude toward LGBT youth was 10 years later when my little sister started attending. When I went there were maybe 3 out guys and maybe 4 out girls. 2 of the guys kept it on the DL and didn't receive any bullying that I was aware of but the 3rd dude who sauntered about blatantly checking out guys and trying to flirt with them, he got stuffed into lockers a few times, yeah. And I've had the good fortune to live in a pretty progressive state though maybe not in it's most progressive city. That's always going to be San Francisco, not LA ;)

Fast-forward a decade and I'm walking the halls and my gaydar is pinging like crazy. These kids aren't only not ostracized or forced to hide who they are, they're actually popular in many social circles. It's this kind of visibility and integration that will change the minds of each generation, like a grassroots campaign. Some schools in some states and in some countries will have it harder than others, of course. And there are still kids that choose to end their lives rather than face another day in those halls, classrooms, playgrounds and sports fields. Perhaps for them a place like this would be suitable for those cases.

I applaud the kids I see that feel safe enough or brave enough to live their lives as their true selves and not hide like I did. Doing that day-to-day will have far more positive effects on our society than they can possibly realize.

Quote by Tlek

type slower, you'll miss fewer typos. :P

Very true!! I also naturally can't spell :D

I'm almost disappointed that it wasn't the Utah case that got to the court. That would stick in the craw of the predominant theocracy here if it was because of their blatant homophobia that marriage was legal across the country. One law prof I heard said that surely the court thought of the fact back last year when they had the first chance that there were all these marriages that would be ripped asunder belligerently if they do find for the states.

While the premise of this sounds great, I have to wonder how many times the minorities of any given society have segregated and what, if any positive or negative consequences there have been. I mean is it really functioning in terms of integration and a broader understanding of what gays go through, if gays start going to these schools and it becomes the norm for heterosexual kids not be confronted with having a friend or someone you know come out? Does an early learning experience get shunted to the side?

When thinking about this, I have to take into account the racial issues I have faced, which I have to admit have had a more long lasting effect on my life than coming out as gay ever has. Being Multiracial and mobile during most of my childhood, I've had the experience of going to an all white school and a majority black school, and have to admit that the ignorance of the other side at both of these schools was REALLY strong.

While being gay is a different beast, though the differing cultural peculiarities of white/black/latino/asian/pacific islander/arab etc. (and whatnot) do play a part in how most of us view society, our own communities and the gay community in general, I think the questions and thoughts on something like an all gay school are very similar to asking myself if it wouldn't just be better to go to a racially diverse school. Or to just fight to make these social hubs a better place instead of throwing in the towel and moving to the hills to "do our own thang".

But the idea does have an alluring pull, on the other hand. Because we do have a habit of popping up everywhere under the sun. What if these schools, were they to be the norm, actually help bridge more gaps than just being gays in a heterosexual, religiously inclined society?

In Germany, where I currently live, there is a definite parallel societal system between orthodox Muslims and the Christian Germans. In the States, where I was raised, there is also a parallel societal system between black gays and white gays, with of course the respective exceptions to the rule.

But we didn't get the chance to go to a school where the binding factor was that we were all gay/Les or trans or what have you. Where we were taught that we don't have to hide, that we have a right to live our lives as the next person. Most of our lessons were hard earned and hard won and were sometimes coupled with copious amounts of pain. There are those under the ever broadening umbrella'd acronym still dealing with the 'fitting in' of it long after we've had our coming out.

Could a school like this alleviate some of that?

*sorry for the tl;dr

A lot of what I see is also some form of redirected misogyny. Feminine qualities in a homosexual man is seen as somehow shameful. The flamboyant lisp-ing queen with a limp wrist who goes ," GURRRL..." quite frequently and owns an extensive collection of rainbow accessories, amongst personal traits.

While I think this stereotype is often overused, I think that to hate a person who so happens to exhibit these qualities naturally is... wrong. Some people are "that gay". So what? It hurts no one. it makes no one less masculine.

On the Flip side, gay masculinity has also been given this harsh stereotyping, as guys who have so much testosterone, merely being in proximity will cause one's 5 o'clock shadow to come in early; Leather, jockstraps, muscles, hairiness, etc. Bears are a mainstream cultural phenomena, and the rest of the world has adapted (Homo Sapiens really do like to maintain their munitions of stereotypes, and will create a new one if their previous one is debunked, or has fallen out of vogue).

Then there's Sex itself (and please don't take this as some anti-anal wackjobbery; whatever floats one's boat, after all); we have been stereotyped as a people who's only means of experiencing intimacy if via anal sex, which we self perpetuate in our erotic entertainment (porn) because we've been taught by straight people that it is what we're supposed to do, even though they hate us for it. I myself don't like "topping" or "bottoming" (not a "g0y", though; that's another can of worms). But that would make it harder for the homophobes to identify us as walking sex acts.


I have an observation (which some may agree with) in that homophobic straight persons condensed all these features into one or two "icons". They use it to target us, identify us for either attack or use (as in they use us like equipment/tools, rather than human beings). In the case of the latter, if we do not fall into their narrow categorization of homosexual, we are considered "useless". They only want to tolerate us enough to make use of us; to decorate their houses; to cater their events; to push them at the gym for peak muscularity; in other words, to make THEM look good. Most of straight culture thinks we control media aesthetics, but it's actually them that controls our view of who we are and who we should be, even if it comes from a place of discrimination, no matter how passive.

tl;dr: people who so happen to be stereotypes are humans too; all expressions of gender are needed, we hate each other because of homophobic straight people's influence, and merely tolerating us for utilization is not enough if we want to be viewed as equal.

bonus: bisexuals exist. don't shame them.

that brings up why I struggle with the idea, I... I haven't really been in a "pro-gay" environment, it's merely been "meh, so long as you keep it hidden, we don't care" sort of gay tolerant environment... I haven't really been able to develop into my own person WITH my sexuality....
meh, it's not that important anyway, my sexuality has little impact on my life in general, aside from being another thing I have to keep hidden to keep protected.


anyway, if the area the school is in is gay tolerant, so that it would promote a pro-gay environment for the youths to blossom into fully functional, healthy people, then I am for it.

I just have a gut reaction that making yourself noticed leads to the anti-gay groups to find you, and with a school, this means they'd send one kid in with weaponry to pull off another shooting, but make it look like gay kids being gay was what caused the shooting.

This is really interesting and my immediate reaction is that it sounds like a cool idea! I think that if I'd had the opportunity to go to an LGBT high school that I probably would have. My friends knew that I was gay, and once people start gossiping, the word naturally spread to other people. While I can't remember being bullied for being gay in high school, I also didn't feel like it was an environment in which I could be completely open about it, either.

This led to me finding places outside of the school setting where I could be with people like myself, and do the social things that other kids my age were doing, like dating, making friends and going to parties and outings that were relevant to my sexuality, which is a big part of growing up. For me, school was just the place I went to take classes and as soon as the day was done, I'd immediately take off to be with my gay friends whom I felt most comfortable with. I think that being able to experience this sort of thing within my school environment would've made my school experience so much more than the job it was for me, where I was basically just punching the clock and not getting involved in any sports or activities.

I partially agree with you Meta, in that I think it's very important to build resiliency in youth. They never know what they're going to encounter later in life and it's good to be prepared for the realities of human interaction in the world at large. With that said, I feel that there are other ways to build resiliency than throwing kids in the proverbial shark tank. What brought out those skills and developed that resiliency in me, was being able to find myself and really develop 'who I was', in a friendly and supportive environment which included gay peers and older LGBT role models who encouraged me, taught me, and helped me to develop in a positive way. This didn't exist in my school and it's too bad that it didn't, because not all LGBT youth are going to be as lucky as I was to have the means to seek out their own supports. The benefit of the school wouldn't JUST be to isolate kids from LGBT based bullying, but ALSO to allow them to develop socially, which would build the strength in them that's so critical to their success and survival in the world at large.

On the other hand, I see potential issues with segregation too. Part of what has advanced the LGBT movement so significantly in areas of the world in recent years, has been the increased visibility of LGBT people in society. For youth to grow up to be accepting of us, it's important that we're visible and part of their lives so that people know us as the friends, neighbours and everyday community members that we are. As Gravity has suggested, segregating our respective populations might well end up being counter-productive to that cause, thereby perpetuating the hostile environments that we're trying to remove these kids from by putting them in an LGBT-only school. This brings us to Tlek's concerns about the school being targeted and I think that reducing that potential for danger is probably best served by not segregating the populations.

At the end of the day, I think that so long as this kind of school becomes the exception and not the norm, it might well turn out to be a good idea and a positive experience in the lives of many LGBT youth. I think that it's equally important to have LGBT components to the regular school system, which would include stand alone courses as well as inclusion in the regular curriculum. Kids need easy access to LGBT youth groups or gay-straight alliances in the school setting so that kids not attending these LGBT schools don't have to search for the supports that they need.

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If you're an LGBT youth in Canada looking for an experience similar to something you might experience at an LGBT school, check out Camp fYrefly. It's run by some of the amazing people who supported me when I was growing up!

type slower, you'll miss fewer typos. :P


but, yeah, if it is all choice based, then it could work, but if it is "transfer them from here to there so we don't need to deal with it" then it can easily turn to a concentration camp situation, it just needs to have someone that views us as an abomination, or even tries to split us into categories, for it to go wrong.

Heres the thing about this whole idea, It's deffinatly a Grey Area. It can be seen as a great possitive idea where you can feel safe going though your school years and being with like minded people. It's bad because it kinda feels like (Please don't be offended) When the african americans were segregated in america. I feel like it can be seen this way by those that do have a "dim view" but we all truly do not know how it will work out till it's actually implimented. I hope that if it does go through I hope we see more progress in society. I'd also like to see more LGBT teachers and members of the School Boards.

In my school it was not till our Principle left in Grade 11 that we got a LGBT friendly Priniciple that actually cared and protected the students. Times are changing and we all are apart of it. With this school i'm sure it will be VULENTARY and not MANDATORy.... which will be truly the deciding factor if it will be a great thing...

Quote by Gravity

Tlek that is a very dim view to take and as this would be opening where i come from i can say i feel it would be perfectly safe.

I have a very dim view of lgbt tolerance in society, and gathering us all up in one place is heading dangerously close to either reviving the concentration camps, or at least doing an x-mutant "mutie scum" segregation, the only problem with that is, as far as I know, not one lgbt person is able to heal from being brutally beaten or burned to death by someone they trust.


I want to be wrong on this, but I can't help but fear the worst, I mean, we have cases that get noticed like luka magnotta, or jordan sheard, how many get swept under the rug by someone that feels we deserved that fate?

I am in two minds over this it could potentially avoid bullying but it could be counterproductive for integrating LGBT people into society as a whole.

Also Tlek that is a very dim view to take and as this would be opening where i come from i can say i feel it would be perfectly safe.

I wonder how long before the shooting?

We get our day in court, the SCOTUS!

Hey Everyone,

Just thought to bring this up in case someone hasn't either read up or made anyone aware of the secondary deflector slots.

The following is from the recent blog post that can be found on the STO Launcher.

Secondary Deflectors

Also Tribble Servers have also been updated with some general fixes, corrections on Command Officer Abilities and so on.

Tribble Maintenance and Release Notes - January 16, 2015

Have fun reading.

Dax

I was watching The Social on our Dining room TV at work and all of a sudden they bring this topic up. Now this is a topic that reminds me of a past topic we discussed about a LGBT village or town. This is something I feel is a great idea. It will help minimize the bullying of LGBT kids of all ages. Bullying for me started when I was in grade 3 and I didnt know why people were doing that. If this was around when I was starting High School I believe I would go into that school. Since there is all girl schools and all boy schools there should be all LBGT Schools and I aprove :)

Pink News: http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/01/15/uks-first-lgbt-school-planned-for-the-manchester/

The Social: http://www.thesocial.ca/news/headlines/first-gay-school-could-be-coming-to-britain

Please put your thoughts into the Comments bellow :)

Sorry 'bout the presumptive pedantry, j00 guys.

Been thesis reviewing the kind of student that you'd rather just hand the stupid degree, to get 'er out of your hair and onto someone else's problem, y'know?

tl;dr: I'm a little edit-happy.

:evil:

Quote by Ereiid

Quote by Ngagecloak

Aww, who am I kidding. the new Starfleet ships will look like the prolapsed genitals of a syphilitic Gorn

Edited, based on precedent

:lol:

thanks sej LOL

Quote by Ngagecloak

Aww, who am I kidding. the new Starfleet ships will look like the prolapsed genitals of a syphilitic Gorn

Edited, based on precedent

Quote by Dax_aussie_boy

Again this is just an idea. Whether or not its feasible or not at this stage of the game is a completely different question all together.

Edited for you.