BLOG 11

Hope McCarthy

Blog 11

Quotes 

After reading “Queering Our Schools” and the RIDE document, I wanted to pull out a few quotes and expand on them. Now, there may be some opinion pieces in my writing but I believe when there are opinions as strong as the ones I have, they should be heard. I believe that parents, teachers, and students would benefit from reading the RIDE document to freshen up on laws, and be reminded of how to act humane. The first quote I chose is from “Queering Our Schools”

“There are reasons why teachers and administrators are reluctant to adopt schoolwide approaches that open up discussions of LGBTQ rights and ho-mophobia. We worry about backlash from parents” (23).

The first statement that came to my mind when reading this line was “That is an excuse, not a reason”. I understand wanting to keep the parents happy however what about the students that actually attend the school every day? Those are the people who come first. Under no circumstance should a school be reluctant to teach diversity and inclusion because out-dated opinions could surface. If the discussion is opened up at home, simply talk about it in the right manner!

    The next quote I pulled from RIDE is a simple quote that should not be needed, but is placed for particular individuals who do not conform. 

“The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects the right to privacy, free speech and freedom of expression. The Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.”

To me, it is simple: the first amendment and knowing basic acceptance. Freedom of expression can be translated to a student who is transgender. They are simply expressing the way they feel inside. As for the Federal Rights act, I feel this should be a norm by now. There is no reason to discriminate in the world we live in today; there are so many opportunities for everyone and they should be given to more than people of privilege.

    Another quote from RIDE exemplifies that the State we live in began the expectation of acceptance long before others, and that is something we should be proud of!

“In May, 2001, Rhode Island became the second state in the country to explicitly

prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression, thereby

protecting transgender people from discrimination in employment, housing, credit,

and public accommodations (R.I. Pub. L. 2001, ch. 340)”.

    The state of Rhode Island was ahead of times in 2001. Considering we still struggle with acceptance and support today, R.I pushed this law through as soon as it could. It may be sad that it had to expand on gender identity in discrimination terms. However, this is something to be proud of, and I believe we should keep expanding as much as we can.

Attached here is a link to the human rights campaign and it gives a map on what States do and do not have laws on LGBTQA+. It also goes into more details on which laws are stated, law enforcement info, and date.