Regardless of whether the quote is true or not, there is no denying that GLSEN should have been involved in the educational process. While GLSEN has done much, there is still much more to do. Jennings states on the GLSEN website:
75 percent of America's students still do not have legal protections in place; More than 80 percent of our high schools still lack GSA's or similar student clubs; Nearly 70 percent of high school students admit that they personally use homophobic and derogatory epithets frequently or often.
Ms. Massresistance seems to believe that its all a sham and gay and lesbian youth do not have higher incidents of suicide. Remember that Article 8 wants the Governor to veto the spending for suicide and violence prevention for youth. Massresistance wants the Governor to veto all the funding for the Commission for Gay and Lesbian youth. This infuriates me because these ignorant people keep denying the truth.
- Gay and lesbian people exist, we're not going away, we've been here since the beginning.
- Gay and lesbian youth exist and are five times more likely to attempt suicide, three times more likely to miss school because of feeling unsafe and three times more likely to have been injured othreateneded with a weapon at school(Youth Risk Behavior Survey Results - 2003)
- Gay and lesbian couples can adopt and/or have children
- Gay and lesbian couples can get legally married in Massachusetts.
I did not come out until I was 27. I came out because a student at my high school was bashed in school for being gay. That boy then took his own life because of thharassmentnt he experienced. I vowed to never again hide in a closet.
GLBT teens need to know that they are normal and that there is nothing wrong with them. They can be teachers, doctors, engineers, parents, etc... They have nothing to be ashamed of. These hateful people: Massresistance, Article 8, Mass Family Institute, etc... want to turn back the clock and change these kids, we want to accept them as they are.
We don't choose to be gay, the only choice we have is whether to hide it or not.
Silence = Death.
6 comments:
MR's quote appears to trace back to a "SPECIAL REPORT" from that pinnacle of the journalistic endeavor, MassNews. Here's a link:
http://tinyurl.com/cnrpt
MassNews' article claims that "The speech [MR quoted] was titled Winning the Culture War and was given by Kevin Jennings, Executive Director of the 'Gay and Lesbian and Straight Teachers’ Network,' at the 'Human Rights Campaign Fund Leadership Conference' on March 5, 1995."
For whatever that's worth.
Thanks for your post. I think it's a bogus source however (not you giving, rather the source itself) It's typical of the right wingers to reference another right winger. Why didn't they list the whole presentation. You always have to ask what was left out since they love taking things out of context.
Gay, straight, bisexual: how much does sexual orientation matter to a teenager's mental health or sense of identity? In this down-to-earth book, filled with the voices of young people speaking for themselves, Ritch Savin-Williams argues that the standard image of gay youth presented by mental health researchers — as depressed, isolated, drug-dependent, even suicidal — may have been exaggerated even twenty years ago, and is far from accurate today.
This professor believes that the hype about gay youths is just that, hype.
the new gay teenager
3624 Total Respondents,
3% Gay/Lesbian/Bi
44% attempted suicide = 50 "gays"
General (straight population)
7% attempted suicide = 260 "straight" students attempting suicide.
Therefore five times (260/50) more money should be spent trying to prevent straight suicides.
You are making the argument that a gay life is more valuable than a straight life. They are all kids!Why do you try to segregate the straights from the gays? They all should be offered access to the same counceling.
Who's advocating that straight kids shouldn't get counseling? No one is arguing that point. By your own analaysis and you also do not post your sources or references for your "survey" that a much larger percentage of gay youth are attempting suicide. THAT's a problem. So if you want to talk about numbers talk about numbers when you have almost half the population attempting to kill themselves. Your post is meaningless.
Chill out babe!
The survey came from the blog link. I prefer to deal with numbers rather than percentages, since dollars to fund preventitive programs should be based on those needing assitance.
You only prove my point that you beleive 50 gay lives have more value than 260 straight.
I pointed out that we should be looking at the entire number 310. I
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