Some pics from my school bulletin board.

[Smarmie Doofus]

If it stops some kid from jumping off a friggin' bridge it's well worth it.

Let's honor GLBT HISTORY month. Before it's over. Yes... folks... it's true. We do in fact have a history. And it's pretty friggin' spectacular.

I posted some of these pics to GLBT forum last spring. Time to unleash this upon the general (DU) public.

Teachers feel free to borrow... or steal... any ideas or even pics. That's the whole idea.

In case the pics aren't that clear: I did Michaelangelo, , Da Vinci, Leonard Bernstein, Aristotle, E. Roosevelt, Brando ( Yes I claim him for OUR side), Alan Turing, Alice Walker and a whole bunch more.

Folks... we're just scratchin' the surface here.

[jkshaw]

1. Good job. I weep every time I think

about the treatment and death of Alan Turing.

[roguevalley]

33. awesome. the times are changing, slowly but surely. this makes

me proud.

[Starry Messenger]

2. k & r

[Name removed]

3. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[uppityperson]

4. k&r

[classof56]

5. Well done! K&R!

:kick:

And congrats!

[TriMera]

6. k & r.

When I see this board, three words come to mind: pride, contribution, and legacy.

[Bluenorthwest]

7. That is some fine work...

Thank you for posting it here, and especially at school.

[Diclotican]

8. Smarmie Doofus

Smarmie Doofus

Verry good, absolutely worht the hard work you withouth doubt have made to make it as it is

But Im not sure that old Aristotles was gay?... My knowlegde about the man is limited to my readings of history since I learned to read (one of my favorit subjects by the way) but I am not sure that Aristotles was gay... But on the other side, many greeks had an interest in his fellow man, and close friendship, often mutch closer than most of what it called "normal" today..

And thankfully the times is better for the gay community than it have been for a long time, even tho in many parts of the world, the strugle for the same right is not won yet... But in time, as the world progress, i hope that gays should have the same right as hetrosexuals, the same rights as we se as natural...

Diclotican

[madfloridian]

9. Outstanding display. Recommended.

:hi:

[ThomCat]

10. That is so very incredibly Awesome!

I can't tell you how much I would have loved to have seen something like that when I was in high school. I would have made a huge impact on me.

Hell, it's making a huge impact on me now. :)

:loveya:

[Smarmie Doofus]

22. I really appreciate that , Thom Cat. n/t

[ruggerson]

11. recommended - this should be on the home page

Thanks SD, you are the best.

[femmocrat]

12. Good for you! Great display!

You must teach in a very enlightened district.

[Smarmie Doofus]

50. No. It's quite unenlightened.

It gives lip service to the idea of' diversity. But does nothing to teach kids about homosexuality. It's ignored. Essentially it and THEY ( homosexual people) are ignored. The district lies by omission.

And basically... that's the problem, isn't it?

[auntsue]

13. I read all the comments

and here's my two cents - I was in high school in the early 60's. It was all about men, white men. western civilization. Women's achievements, were not mentioned, nor were women authors. No people of color except for the "natives" who were subjugated. Language used the pronoun he as in "everyone will bring his book to the front table" Even when speaking to a class of mostly girls. Even Disney movies were: girl is sad, she meets boy, becomes fulfilled , lives happily ever after.
Little by little educators began (under pressure from agitators) to include women's accomplishments, black and other ethnic achievements. The idea that girls can be doctors or fire fighters, or anything they can dream, began to take hold. So now girls don't feel second class, and boys and girls of all colors can dream big.
I think perhaps starting in middle school when discussing an historical figure who is known to have been gay, it couldn't hurt to say "By the way he (or she)happened to be gay." Kids who feel they are gay are probably right and it can give them hope to know that there are many kinds of gays - just as there are many kinds of straights - so these kids can know that the flamboyant folks that the news shows on pride parades do not represent the reality of being gay. Gays are just people who are: artists, writers, dancers, nurses, doctors, football players etc- who are also gay. I know this is wordy but I do know a lot about kids. I was a teacher for 17 years and a social worker for 7 years. It's not catchy and no one choses it - a kid knowing that some people are (and have been) gay does NOT make a kid want to be gay. I figured out that I am gay, I didn't choose it. The only choice I have is how I live with my self, I do hold my head up and live the best way I can.

[Lyric]

14. +1, and welcome to the neighborhood auntsue!

:hi: :hug:

[snot]

18. Excellent advice, for the good of al kids, however oriented.

[lonestarnot]

15. K & R

[dsc]

16. great work

I have to admit I haven't tried to have a bulletain board. For one thing, I think one in a hall at my school would be vandalized and one in my room would get me in huge trouble. In short, I don't have the guts you do, but nice job man.

[Smarmie Doofus]

23. Actually I think you're braver than I.

NC... and all.

I don't think the admins here would permit it to be vandalized. Not because they like it. (They don't.) But because they don't want TROUBLE or attention of any kind.

Mostly the admins ( and the staff, for that matter) reacted with studied, calculated silence. Kind of comical actually, since the board was opposite the most heavily trafficked staff restrooms in the building. They passed it whenever they they went in and faced it whenever they came out.

[dsc]

43. ours would claim they had no idea what happened

do like having it across the most used staff restroom though. Our building isn't really designed to have a most used staff bathroom so I don't have that option. Our bulletain boards are across students restrooms.

[TriMera]

17. Kick n/t

[mahina]

19. Bless your heart!

Super work, mahalo for posting. I'm sure you are going to make a difference to somebody, and you are planting the seeds for compassion and understanding. Imua!

[onestepforward]

20. Awesome display! K&R

[Touchdown]

21. That is wonderful!

:applause:

[PA Democrat]

24. Great job.

[LWolf]

25. Is that high school?

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

On the other end of the spectrum, I was at the back of the room, observing my student teacher with my 8th graders yesterday. She had them using small whiteboards as part of her lesson. I observed one of my students writing notes to his friend on the white board. Then he wrote "faggit!" and turned it toward his friend, just in time to see me watching. He quickly erased it, but earned a session with me out in the hall.

He claimed that he, of course, was "just joking." That he knew that the word was a pejorative, but that since he was using it on his friend, and they "called each other names all the time," it was okay. I asked him if he ever called his friend words like nigger, wetback, etc.. His eyes got big and he denied using those kinds of names. Then he claimed he didn't know what "faggit" meant, so we had a vocabulary lesson. Then we had a discussion about the use of hate speech as a "joke" at school, or ever. We talked about recent suicides across the nation. He mumbled an apology and swore never to use that word again.

If he does, I'll write him up. Not that it would do any good; our rural, far-right, fundie community is pretty damned homophobic. Not a lot of parent support on this issue, so it's better handled in house without them.

[Smarmie Doofus]

26. Special Ed HS. Closer to a vocational school than an academic HS.

Everyone here has some kind of learning issue.

You handled your issue intelligently and with integrity.

We're urban... but there is a truckload of homophobia here .... both conscious.... and to be fair.... mostly UNCONSCIOUS.

Since there's *no* administrative leadership on this issue...anywhere, really.... I think we have to take the initiative ourselves... where and when we can.

In this case I decided to use the "2 by 4 to the noggin" method. Other methods ... perhaps more subtle...are appropriate to other situations.

[LWolf]

60. That's really the bottom line.

What can we do to achieve the best outcome? There's never a standardized answer.

[myrna minx]

27. K&R

:applause:

[kctim]

28. So which subject

should teach who is or is not gay?

[Smarmie Doofus]

53. History , English/Non-English lit, Psychology.....

....Social studies, Sex Ed , Health Ed, Science.

Others.


No ?

Edit to add: CURRENT EVENTS

[deaniac21]

29. Alexander the Great was one helluva ass kicking gay guy.

[nyc 4 Biden]

30. ...

:fistbump:

[BlancheSplanchnik]

31. Excellent Bulletin Board--So encouraging!!!!!

We all need good role models and to feel worthwhile.



Is that you in the last pic, Mr Doofus? You have one of my fav screen names......

[Smarmie Doofus]

51. 1.Thanks. 2. Definitely 3. Yes. 4. It's an old family name.

I come from a long line of Doofi.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

59. *snort*

:rofl:

pleased to make your acquaintance
:hi:



:D

[kenfrequed]

32. This is great!

Although we must be cautious about the term 'gay' I think it is important to recognize that many, many historical figures practiced homosexuality. The alternative is a stupid assumption that everyone is straight until proven gay with time machine.

[pasto76]

34. you all need some gay veterans to step out and be part of this

Of course the gay haters will point to how they violated UCMJ and stuff by being gay in uniform, fence sitters and most normal people will not be able to deny the contributions they have made. Gay vets of iraq and afghanistan would speak with even more authority.

[Myrina]

35. Marlon Brando was gay?

:shrug:

[defendandprotect]

37. "Streetcar Named Desire" .... ignored homosexual issue in original play....

HOWEVER, Marlon Brando had homosexual affairs -- think he personally confirmed that.

Many others in Hollywood, it seems -- Paul Newman --

Interesting that a male loving another male is seen as feminine --

while a male loving a female is seen as more masculine!

Bi-sexuality, of course, is another taboo subject in America!


EDITED to include this ....

A Streetcar Named Desire
A Streetcar Named Desire is a stage play with elements of tragedy and pathos. ... the play with references to Blanche’s first husband, a homosexual ...
www.cummingsstudyguides.net/​Streetcar.html - Cached

[AlbertCat]

41. Bi-sexuality, of course, is another taboo subject in America!

Taboo? It doesn't exist! You're either straight OR gay in America. Got it?

Goes with all that "with us or against us" and "black & white... good & evil" baloney.

[defendandprotect]

49. + 1--

[Smarmie Doofus]

38. Brando.

from wiki:

>>>Brando had numerous affairs with both women and men. In Gary Carey's 1976 biography The Only Contender, Brando is quoted as saying, "Homosexuality is so much in fashion it no longer makes news. Like a large number of men, I, too, have had homosexual experiences and I am not ashamed. I have never paid much attention to what people think about me."[citation needed>>>>>

[defendandprotect]

36. Wonderful .... and how lucky the students -- !!

[GreenEyedLefty]

39. Awesome!

[asdjrocky]

40. Wow, that's powerful.

Everyone should share this.

[mcollins]

42. What a great job!

I am very impressed.

[Kind of Blue]

44. Well Done!

I always did poorly in math as a kid and there were always innuendos around that it was because Blacks aren't good at math and neither are females. I happened upon a math book years later that gave a little biography of mathematicians at the start of each chapter. When I found out that Math began in Egypt and specifically Algebra (from al-jabr) was of Moorish North African origins, my mind expanded. Went right back to school with that knowledge knowing that I could do anything and love math and tutored it over the years.

It may not seem important to some people to know these facts but it makes a world of difference, actually changing a person worldview and how one fits in it.

Thanks for what you've done. I know your kids will be coming back or looking you up to tell you the impact you've had on their lives :loveya:

[AtheistCrusader]

45. Nicely done.

I like the cut of your jib

[alp227]

46. VERY important in this troubling time.

With the five suicides this season and last night in Los Angeles a brutal attack on a transgender woman it's necessary and very important to stop the hate and open people's minds. Thanks for posting.

[Smarmie Doofus]

47. It IS a troubling time. The suicides themselves are....

....slap-in-the-face reminder of how bad things still are.


We've created large urban ghettos for adults that make life bearable.


But how much has the attitude of the larger culture really changed?



It's hard to know what to do about it. I do know that that schools are the obvious place to start when you're talkng about changing social attitudes.

[Wednesdays]

48. That quote in the top photo reminds me of the scene in Schindler's List

SS Hauptsturmführer Amon Göth, to his men about the liquidation of the Krakow ghetto: "Today is history. Today will be remembered. Years from now, the young will ask with wonder about this day. Today is history, and you are part of it. Six hundred years ago, when elsewhere they were footing the blame for the Black Plague, Kasmierz the Great, so called, told the Jews they could come to Krakow. They came. They trundled their belongings into the city. They settled; they took hold; they prospered in business, science, education, the arts. They came here with nothing. Nothing. And they flourished. For six centuries, there has been a Jewish Krakow. Think about that. By this evening, those six centuries are a rumor. They never happened. Today is history."

[Smarmie Doofus]

55. Is the Jew-free world fantasized by the Nazis really...

... that much different from the way MOST ( not ALL) heterosexuals see a de-GLBT'ed history?

I think not.

Thanks. You get it.

[lovemydog]

52. good!

[lightningandsnow]

54. Wow!

Awesome!

:hug:

[Smarmie Doofus]

56. Respectfully. May I ask the MODS to restore the subthread?

There was a long and interesting-looking back and forth that I really wanted to read carefully when I had the the time . ( I have the time on the weekends.)

There was some fairly contentious but nonetheless illuminating debate. Unless it's restored it's... well.... HIDDEN FROM history.

Thanks much.

[Smarmie Doofus]

57. Thanks, DUers. The work goes on. nt

[Dinger]

58. Wow, Wish I'd Have Seen this Earlier So I Could Have Given It A Rec

So I'll definitely give it a kick! Excellent, excellent thread!