Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Homosexual Youth and Suicide -- The Politics of Deceit, part 1
You want to talk about the politics of deceit?
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has certainly been a fertile battleground on issues of sex-ed and homosexuality. It would do us well here in Montgomery County to see exactly what has gone on in other places not so long ago, before the fight came to our doorstep.
Let me tell you about GLSEN's "pioneering work" in Massachusetts. Here is a long quote from Kevin Jennings, Executive Director of GLSEN describing the crafty tactics used in Massachusetts in 1995:
"If the Radical Right can succeed in portraying us as preying on children, we will lose. Their language -- 'promoting homosexuality' is one example -- is laced with subtle and not so subtle innuendo that we are 'after their kids.' We must learn from the abortion struggle, where the clever claiming of the term 'pro-life' allowed those who opposed abortion on demand to frame the issue to their advantage, to make sure that we do not allow ourselves to be painted into a corner before the debate ever begins.
"In Massachusetts the effective reframing of this issue was the key to the success of the Governor’s Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth. We immediately seized upon the opponent’s calling card—safety—and explained how homophobia represents a threat to students’ safety by creating a climate where violence, name-calling, health problems, and suicide are common. [We will examine in part 2 just how they used bogus suicide statistics to their advantage.] Titling our report, ‘Making Schools Safe for Gay and Lesbian Youth,’ we automatically threw our opponents onto the defensive and stole their best line of attack. This framing short-circuited their arguments and left them back-pedaling from day one.
"Finding the effective frame for your community is the key to victory. It must be linked to universal values that everyone in the community has in common.
"In Massachusetts, no one could speak up against our frame and say, ‘Why, yes, I do think students should kill themselves’; this allowed us to set the terms for the debate.
"In Massachusetts, we made creating an environment where youth could speak out our number one priority. We know that, confronted with real- live stories of youth who had suffered from homophobia, our opponents would have to attack people who had been victimized once, which put them in a bully position from which it would be hard to emerge looking good. More importantly, we made sure these youth met with elected officials so that, the next time these officials had to vote on something, there would be a specific face and story attached to the issue. We wanted them to have an actual kid in mind when they had to cast their votes. We won the vote in the Senate 33-7 as a result.”
[These quotes come from an article published in The Massachusetts News.]
Hey Montgomery County BOE -- we want schools that are 'safe' for all children as well. Not only one side has a lock on safety. Schools where children are free to be themselves and not pushed into identifying early as something they are not. A school environment where parents feel safe to express concerns about their children and the curriculum that they are being taught.