Gay-friendly clubs
thrive in North Jersey schools
By CAROLYN FEIBEL,
NorthJersey.com from the Web, January 21, 2007
High school clubs that address sexual
orientation and gender identity have more than quadrupled in North Jersey since
2000.
This rainbow revolution is part of a national trend that has students openly
discussing gay and lesbian issues in school-sanctioned clubs.
Some of the clubs adopt a purposely vague moniker, like "Kaleidescope" or
"Spectrum." But most use the name "Gay-Straight Alliance" -- GSA for
short. All see themselves as no different from any other issue-oriented
club, such as Amnesty International or environmental clubs. There are at
least 16 of these clubs in Bergen County, and 125 throughout New Jersey.
What's most surprising about GSA clubs is what they're not -- namely, social
clubs for openly gay or lesbian students. Members don't ask each other how
they identify, and many members aren't gay. Some are straight students
with gay relatives, or are simply interested in exploring the cultural and legal
aspects of gay life and promoting tolerance and diversity.
"Our sexual orientation isn't discussed," said Veronica Falborn, a GSA member at
Westwood Regional High School. "If you want to, it can be, but we just
want to spread respect and tolerance."
"I wanted to make some sort of safe place," said Sean Ezrol, an openly bisexual
senior who helped revive the dormant GSA at Tenafly High School. Ezrol,
who has a lesbian mother and a gay brother, said he was sick and tired of
hearing slurs like "fag" flung around the locker room.
The Tenafly club and other GSAs participate in national campus events like "Ally
Week" every year. They give out rainbow ribbons and ask their peers to
sign pledges to give up anti-gay language.
Nationally, the number of high school GSAs has grown tremendously in the last
five years, and groups now number over 3,200, according to the Gay, Lesbian and
Straight Education Network, a resource organization for K-12 schools.
"We are dealing with the first generation of young lesbian, gay, bisexual or
transgender people that are coming out largely in high school," said GLSEN
executive director Kevin Jennings. "The plan 25 years ago was to wait
until you got to college or moved out of the house."
Although popular culture has embraced such gay celebrities as Ellen DeGeneres
and Rosie O'Donnell, Jennings thinks the Internet has largely fueled the trend
of coming out earlier.
"It's not so taboo anymore and everybody seems to know someone who is gay or
lesbian," said Kelly Peterfriend, a Westwood guidance counselor who advises the
GSA.
That's not to say it's easy to join this club, especially for young men.
Mike Lipnick, a heterosexual junior, has been teased for joining the GSA at
Westwood. He's the only male member. In Teaneck and Tenafly, most
club members are female.
"Men think it's emasculating," Ezrol said. "They're not going to be seen
as manly if they come."
Privately, some students have told Ezrol they are gay, but they can't come to
the club because their parents disapprove or because of other activities.
Nevertheless, knowing GSAs exist seems to send a message of acceptance to every
student, whether they join or not. According to a national survey, gay and
lesbian students who attend a high school with a GSA report feeling safer and
skipping less school than those who had no such club.
"We know GSAs work," Jennings said. "They help create a greater sense of
safety and belonging. ... They should be in every school."
In some Southern states, socially conservative Christian groups opposed to GSAs
have tried to change laws so that parents must preapprove their children's
extracurricular activities. But that's not a big issue in the metropolitan
Northeast, club advisers said.
"We're in close proximity to New York City," said Brennan Heffernan, another
Westwood GSA adviser. "You have so many different types of people around
here, every income, every religion."
The Westwood members are planning a field trip to New York City this spring.
They will visit the gay community center in Greenwich Village and the site of
the Stonewall riots, a series of violent conflicts between police and groups of
gay and transgendered people in 1969.
At a recent meeting, five members designed T-shirts, which they'll sell to
promote the club and pay for the trip. Afterwards, they discussed a number
a topics, from TV shows with lesbian characters to how to respond when
classmates use the phrase, "That's so gay."
Kids use "gay" as shorthand for "stupid," Lipnick said, and it's wrong.
"I've gotten a lot of my friends to stop using that language," he said.
At Teaneck High School, Spectrum members read and discuss gay-themed short
stories for teens. Last year, the students wrote state legislators, asking
them to support gay marriage instead of the civil union bill that eventually
passed.
But the students seem to benefit the most from simply having a safe place to
socialize and share, said adviser Mara Hughes.
"It is nice to see a lesbian student sitting next to a straight student and she
says, 'Gosh, I hate it when my girlfriend does that,' and the straight student
says, 'Yeah, I hate it when my boyfriend does that, too!' " Hughes said.
"It's [good] just having them see the commonality in teenage relationships."
E-mail:
feibel@northjersey.com
* * *
Student sexuality
The first Gay-Straight Alliance began in 1988 at a high school in Concord, Mass.
Today, there are at least 3,200 clubs nationwide.
6 percent of students (age 13-18) identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual.
20 percent of students have a close school friend who is lesbian, gay or
bisexual.
52 percent of all students frequently hear homophobic remarks in school.
90 percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender students report being
harassed or assaulted during the past year.
Source: Harris Interactive and the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education
Network (2005): "From Teasing to Torment: School Climate in America, A
Survey of Students and Teachers."
|
