Reflection
"Safe Spaces" by Annemarie Vaccaro, Gerri August, and Meghan S. Kennedy was a text I could really connect to. A really close friend of mine had a very hard time coming out to her family and friends all through high school because they felt as though they could not be accepted. My friend Ciera was born with not only a different name, but a different gender. Her family is extremely religious and after her coming out as transgender, they kicked her out and told her to never come home. Since then she relies on friends and her college to provide her with a place to live, and its extremely difficult for her to get a job because no one wants to hire her while she's in the middle of her transition. She has lost many friends that she has had in the past because they think its weird to watch as she transitions from male to female and they can't quite wrap their minds around it.It is really important to me that people who identify as LGBT have a safe place that they are able to feel comfortable, especially in schools. A lot of times, school is the way for them to get away from the things going on at home, especially in my friends case. If they don't find a safe haven at school, they will never be able to feel truly safe. I also think its very important to be able to talk about the LGBT community in schools, because if we had learned about transgender people in school and what exactly happens, all of Ciera's old friends would have been able to understand what was going on and that even though she is becoming a female, she is still the same person that she was before.
Questions/Comments/Points to Share: One question that I have is about how we can make the kids comfortable who don't even feel comfortable in their own homes? The reason my friend never said anything to her friends about being Transgender is because her family has engrained it into her head that she would never be loved or accepted if she transitioned. We can only help so much in the schools, but in order to help anything, we have to get to the root of the problem.
Madi, I thought you argument about feeling comfort in different settings is important. This is one of the main points raised in safe spaces when it mentions that without the education an attention on LGBT safe spaces will never be created for these people. It has to start somewhere.It may not be completely accepted but it can become better.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you shared a personal connection to the issue, I feel like if those against the LGBT community had somebody close to them involved, they would have a different and more understanding perspective. I only hope that someday parents don't have to think about their children that way. Good job :)
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